Carnage- Give this a try for the spacing.
Code:
<td width="33%">
<center>
<table id="chessboard" width="100%" border="1px">
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td class="alt1" align="center" width="12.5%">a</td>
<td class="alt1" align="center" width="12.5%">b</td>
<td class="alt1" align="center" width="12.5%">c</td>
<td class="alt1" align="center" width="12.5%">d</td>
<td class="alt1" align="center" width="12.5%">e</td>
<td class="alt1" align="center" width="12.5%">f</td>
<td class="alt1" align="center" width="12.5%">g</td>
<td class="alt1" align="center" width="12.5%">h</td>
</tr>
$output
</table>