Have my chess board that I created. I also centered it already, I figured out the move geometry to origin early on.
Also love the rendered look of the checkerboard texture, even though this is a chess board. Maybe I will make a Checkers set after this.
*Technically I have made a checkers set in the past, but that was using Maya
Nice checkers set! I prefer it over chess anyway. 
Actually, since I’m a student I get a free license for the Autodesk stuff, and when I’m done with this course I am planning to move to one of them next (3ds max, most likely).
Take advantage of that, for sure. 3D Studio Max plays more similarly to Blender from my past experience with the menu layout. It is still very different but much closer than Maya. 3D Studio Max is better for environments and Maya is better for animations, though really it comes down to which program you know best.
