Boards and piece sets

Five board styles, eight piece sets and any colours you like. Every image on this page is a screenshot of the program.

The boards

Each board comes with its own surround, so the whole window matches: grained wood around the wooden board, deep navy around the blue one, veined stone around the marble. Choose one in Options › Board; your choice is remembered, as is the size and position of the window.

The wooden board with the Legible pieces — **Wooden** - warm maple and walnut squares, the classic tournament look. Shown with the Legible pieces.

The blue board with the Rounded pieces — **Blue** - cool slate and ice squares, easy on the eyes at night. Shown with the Rounded pieces.

The marble board with the Marble pieces — **Marble** - black and white stone, with a matching set of marble pieces.

The ballpoint pen board with the ink pieces — **Ballpoint pen** - a board and pieces drawn by hand in blue ink, as if sketched in the margin of a notebook.

A custom green and cream board with the Simple pieces — **Custom colours** - any two colours for the squares, previewed before you accept them. Here the familiar green and cream, with the Simple pieces.

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Custom colours

Options › Board › Custom colours… opens a small editor with a live miniature of the board. Pick the light and dark squares yourself, or press Surprise me for a harmony chosen from a colour wheel - complementary, analogous or monochrome pairs that stay readable. The last colour pairs you used are kept in a history, so a favourite is always one click away. The surround is drawn from your dark squares, darkened and grained to match.

Eight piece sets

The pieces were drawn for The Baronet. Some are traditional Staunton shapes, others are meant for small screens or for young players who are still learning which piece is which. Choose them in Options › Pieces.

**Classic** - traditional Staunton pieces with a soft shadow.

**Simple** - clean, flat silhouettes, very clear at small sizes.

**Marble** - carved stone, white and black with real veining.

**Legible** - the default: high contrast and a clear outline on any board.

**Ballpoint pen** - hand-drawn in blue ink, made to go with the ink board.

**Stylized** - an elegant modern take on the Staunton design.

The eighth set, Bold, completes the list in Options › Pieces.

Made to be looked at for hours

A chess board is something you stare at for a long time, so small details matter. The pieces are rendered at the exact pixel size of the board on your screen, including Retina and high-DPI displays, instead of being stretched from a small image. Moves are animated smoothly, and the coordinates sit outside the squares where they never hide a piece.

The same boards and piece sets will be in the phone version, where the board is also the first thing you see.

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The Baronet Mark IV - 0.300 · Windows 10/11, 64-bit · macOS 11+, Apple Silicon & Intel · Updated September 2026