How do you feel about the boxwood pieces in your collection?
Are the other pieces the apples of your eye?
Does boxwood get relegated to second-class status under your regard?
How do you think this makes the boxwood pieces feel?
Are we running out of controversial topics? (no, that canât be itâŚ)
Personally, I prefer boxwood for tournament play â I wouldnât use anything else. The beautiful grain patterns on rosewood is too distracting to be my top choice for tournament games. Ebony pieces are too expensive (and the light and dark pieces will âfeelâ different if you have a boxwood/ebony set). My all-boxwood set (natural and âebonizedâ) is âjust rightâ.
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So-called âblackâ pieces that are literally black in color are the hardest to see. The reason is obvious, because black pieces absorb most of the light, and light is necessary for vision. I dislike the resulting silhouette effect, and the invisibility of detail.
Dark brown is better than literal black. To me eye, very dark green / blue / red is best.
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What matters is the CONTRAST. I have no trouble reading pure black print on a white page, for example.
I think the contrast between my âblackâ pieces (which are really a very, very dark brown if you want to be technical, but they LOOK black) and the board I use is very nice.
If I were to use rosewood pieces, I would probably have to go with a green and buff board, but I prefer my combination (oxblood and buff leather board from House of Aragon with 2.375" squares, âClubâ-sized Classic set in natural and ebonized boxwood from House of Staunton).