Not chess, but Go has a similar situation. Most boards aren't actually square boards, but slightly rectangular (eg. each cell is a rectangle). Before anyone tol

Not chess, but Go has a similar situation. Most boards aren't actually square boards, but slightly rectangular (eg. each cell is a rectangle). Before anyone told me that, I would sometimes sit down at a board and get the sense that something looked wrong; but I could never put my finger on what it was. I suspect that chess might have a similar situation, where someone who has played enough, even if they were never consiously aware of the convention, would get an off fealing if it were set up wrong. (Although, in the case of chess, it is truly a convention. With Go there is an objective sense in which one orientation is better than the other).