As Nalien said, the direction they face tells you what piece they are, and you can switch off the light up on all but the carbuncle, sadly. Easy way to keep people from getting confused is to make a rank in your FC to allow the 2 playing at that time to be the only ones moving pieces, and tell them not to rotate pieces. Pop on snap to grid and it moves them very neatly over the squares on the monochrome flooring, making the movements neat and clean. Our rank is, obviously, called Nymian Chess. The bonsai are panted black and white, depending which side they're on, and face opposite directions, again giving clear indication of their side of the board. Sadly, the Ishgardian chess pieces are SO TINY... If you would like to see how small for yourself, go check out the main HQ in Camp Dragonhead. They are on the table. They CAN, however, be painted black and white.