Chess & Draught Piece Size Guide

Guide to matching Chess pieces to chequerboard square sizes

Please note this is only a very approximate guide using some of the common sizes of our chequerboards and chess pieces. We are using the height of the King as a guide to how big the base is usually (approx 45% of the King's height), whereby what size square you would need on your chequerboard / chessboard and vice versa. The size of the squares of the chessboard should be approximately 1¼ to 1⅓ times the diameter of the base of the king.

Of course all this is subjective and the bottom line is that it up to the individual person's preference.

Key:
< means slightly smaller than
> means slightly larger than

Rough Guide to Piece Sizes vs. Chequerboard Square Sizes
Chequerboard Square (Metric)	36mm	40mm	44mm	47mm	51mm	54mm	58mm	62mm	65mm
Chess Piece King Height (Metric)	64mm	70mm	76mm	83mm	89mm	95mm	102mm	108mm	114mm
Chequerboard Square (Imperial)	<1½"	>1½"	1¾"	>1¾"	2"	>2"	2¼"	2½"	>2½"
Chess Piece King Height (Imperial)	<2½"	2¾"	3"	3¼"	3½"	3¾"	4"	4¼"	4½"

 

Please click chess for chess sets or chequerboards for our selection of chessboards or draughts.

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Guide to matching Draught pieces to draughts board square sizes

As above only this time we're using the diameter of the draught piece as a guide.

Chequerboard Square Size	Recommended Draught Size	Minimum Draught Size	Maximum Draught Size
34mm - 1⅓"	24mm - <1"	22mm - <1"	26mm - 1"
38mm - 1½"	27mm - >1"	25mm - 1"	29mm - >1"
43mm - <1¾"	30mm - >1"	28mm - 1"	32mm - 1¼"
45mm - 1¾"	32mm - 1¼"	30mm - >1"	35mm - 1⅓"
47mm - >1¾"	32mm - >1¼"	31mm - >1¼"	36mm - >1½"
50mm - <2"	35mm - >1⅓"	33mm - <1⅓"	38mm - 1½"
55mm - >2"	39mm - >1½"	36mm - <1½"	41mm - >1½"
63mm - 2½"	45mm - 1¾"	41mm - >1½"	47mm - >1¾"

 

Please click chess for chess sets or chequerboards for our selection of chessboards or draughts.