I'll add in a comment to this.

If your project is ever going to be ported to other handhelds/platforms with different display dimensions, then the entire presentation layout needs to be flexible as to how it appears on the screen.

I was thinking of two dynamic layout options and settings, one for landscape and the other for portrait mode.

Within these menus, every setting would be configured by the end user.

The board, size of board, where it's positioned, coloring, board coordinates being on/off, chess pieces, size of pieces, coloring, etc.

Also where the chat window is located, the size of it, font, font size, font coloring, etc.

Short cut keys, where on the screen, font, font size, font coloring.... stuff like this.

Basically every piece and part of the screen layout could be movable and arranged differently according to a person's preference. Maybe even have a "preview" mode before the user saves his configuration to make sure that's what he or she wants.

It might be overwhelming at first for a newbie to configure all of this, but if it's packaged with default settings and the ability to restore the them, this definitely might be the best direction for your project.