While I understand why Earth got the a-h files, I would suggest giving them to the skies, while Earth gets the middle ones (j-q). This makes the files be in alphabetical order when the board is setup, and as an added nice bonus, the "missing" files i and r keep the color alternation. vg a1 white, b1 black, ..., h1 black, (i1 white), j1 black, ..., q1 white, (r1 black), s1 white, ..., y1 white, z1 black.
While I understand why Earth got the a-h files, I would suggest giving them to the skies, while Earth gets the middle ones (j-q). This makes the files be in alphabetical order when the board is setup, and as an added nice bonus, the "missing" files i and r keep the color alternation. vg a1 white, b1 black, ..., h1 black, (i1 white), j1 black, ..., q1 white, (r1 black), s1 white, ..., y1 white, z1 black.