@plub , could you please clarify which cameras you are using in the stereo configuration? OV7251?
If the larger pattern was still detected by the procedure but was not accepted as a sample, this means that the pattern took up too little space of the desired area. You need to fill the desired area in each step almost completely, so that the sample is accepted.
Also, is your checkerboard printed on paper and attached to a very flat surface without wrinkles? A poor calibration pattern can lead to poor results.
Can you please post the result of the calibration? intrinsic and extrinsic parameters that are generated by the calibration procedure, even though it fails. Also please share the reprojection errors.
Alex