Also, some thought should be placed on the wood types used in the board and how the match or contrast the chessmen. If you want to study up on woods we have some articles written about woods for both boards and chess pieces. For boards, check out Wonderful Woods for Chessboards . For pieces, look at Wonderful Woods for Chess Pieces . This is an interesting question.
Many players take along their chess sets wherever they go.
If you fall into this category it makes sense to purchase chessmen that can take the abuse of the road. Most tournament or club players understand this, and usually buy heavy staunton plastic pieces. These pieces are usually less expensive and therefore easily replaceable if they break. Below is an image of a very fine set of plastic pieces generally used at lubs and tournaments. Some club players will choose a nice wood set also.