height of chess tables at congresses

[donaldheron]

The past two times that I have played in Blackpool I have thought that the height of the tables was too high. Two years ago I tried to get round it by putting one chair on top of another and this seemed to work until I nearly fell off so I stopped. This year, after I had seen many reports that sitting down is bad for a person anyway, I tried standing a lot of the time. Again this worked ok to start with but, as time went on, I got tired and played less well. I would not be writing this post had it not been for playing in a league match v David Begg of Pentland Hills on the Tuesday. To my horror their tables were also too high so I stood to play my game only for David Begg, when it was my turn to move, to come round to my side and stand right next to me, practically touching me and towering over me in a most intimidating manner. When I complained to the arbiter he said that he was upset that I had not politely asked him to stop. I thought it was against the rules to speak to your opponent during play. However, I have since discovered a 2015 FIDE document on standards of chess equipment which state categorically that the height of chess tables should be 74 cm. This document also mentions sizes of boards and pieces - I can think of some clubs and events that might to meet these standards either. Of course all this is academic unless we are playing under FIDE rules which, most of the time, we are not. By the way I am sure that some people will say that I should just take a cushion. For Blackpool travelling by train this would be difficult as I am already at my limit as to how much I take with me (luggage racks on trains are not that big). As for other places - this might be possible if I knew in advance. I am working on the Shirov solution - learning to go through games without a board or set but for now this takes me a lot longer (maybe in time, with practice I will be just as fast without a board and not need to see the board other than to see what the last move was). Any other ideas would be welcome.