Chess Bazaar World Championship Set vs. Official World Champ Set

Here is a comparison of the Chess Bazaar set to the Official World Championship version purchased from Chess Baron.  My review and opinion will be at the end:

In the pictures, the Chess Bazaar piece is on the left with the Official Version on the right.  And that's the Chess Bazaar set in its Plano box in the background.

These are the Black kings.  The CB one weighs 62 grams with the Official one being 60 grams.  The base diameters are the same.  And as you can see, the Official version is thicker in the body.

The White Kings are here with the CB version being 61 grams to the Official weight being 60 grams.

Here are the White Queens.  The CB version is 56 grams with the Official one being 58 grams.  And once again the bases are the same with the Official body being thicker.

The Bishops are above with the CB version being 47 grams to the Official 48 grams.  Yes, the Official one is thicker here also.

Above are the Knights.  The CB one weighs 53 grams compared to the 48 grams of the Official set.  In the last picture you can see the white bottom of the Official set compared to the usual green bottom in the CB version.  And as you can see, the Official version is much stockier built.  At the end I have more to say about the feel of the pieces that I first noticed with these knights.

Here are the Rooks with the CB one weighing 46 grams compared to the 44 grams of the Official one.  Here is where the CB piece does not compare well to the Official version at all.  The Official version has a larger base size and it still thicker than the CB one.  The Official piece is noticeably a nicer one than the CB.

And here are the pawns.  The CB one weighs 26 grams to the Official one's 25 grams.  Once again you can see the Official one is thicker and wider in the base than the CB version.

Alright, here are my thoughts on the sets.

Chess Bazaar has definitely improved their product quality.  I noticed they no longer sell this set on their site.  So, even though there are some things I do not like, they are doing well.

These two sets prove a few things I have said in the past.  First, the pictures themselves are not that demonstrative of the quality of a set.  Sure, big differences are noticeable but a number of things cannot be seen in the pictures.

Also, you usually get what you pay for.  When you pay more, you USUALLY will find the quality to be higher. 

And in this case both statements are true.

I first noticed it in the Knights.  Then I went back and picked up all the pieces as if I was going to play with them.  Remember, I did not like the CB set when I played a game with it.  I even closed my eyes to better appreciate the feel of the piece in hand as if to move it.

The Knights of the CB set seemed bottom heavy and not in a nice way.  They were out of balance.  Whereas the Official set felt a lot better in the hand.

The other pieces were very similar in the difference of how they felt during play type of handling.  The Official set won out.  Interestingly the Kings felt similar between the two sets.

I was quite surprised to see the two sets weighed the same.  But this points out the fact that weight is not the sole determinant of quality of a Chess piece or set.

If you want a set that looks nice and you will only play occasionally and not much with it, the cheaper version is great.

If you want a set that handles and plays well, then the Official set of the one to go with.

RCM has a version of this set that I have not bought and I do not need to.  Its measurements of both size and weight are different enough to rule it out.

KnightsForkCafe and Mohan_Kumar_Chess really attacked and insulted me saying many wrong things about me and also saying that I said a number of things I did not.  And they did a lot of that over my decision to get this set over the RCM one.

I am an optometrist and have no financial interest, make no money, from or in any Chess business, anywhere.  I pay for all my sets.  Yes, I also always work to get the lowest price for the highest quality.

In this case, the Official set is worth the 2 1/2 times the cost of the CB set.

Honestly, I really do not like this set original or reproduction. I just can't get over the knights which I consider to be unappealing. This is of course my opinion.

Having said that, I get what you're saying about the original version being much better. To some, the differences you mentioned might be small and perhaps not worth the extra price tag but for other that small difference might be everything.

I've been thinking about getting a Dubrovnik 1950 set and have been looking at the SC version vs the Noj version. The SC version is really really nice and I think the SC knight is much better than the original because there is much more detail in the face of the knight. It is also less expensive than the Noj version. The problem is I want a version that is as close to the original as possible. To me, the SC version is not the same as the original. The Noj version is much more accurate to the original. For this reason, I would prefer the Noj version even though it is twice a much as the SC version. For some, this difference might be meaningless but for me it is everything. 

After looking at both sets again, I have to say I am really impressed with Chess Bazaar.  Sure, this set has some design flaws, but for the money, it’s better quality than a lot of other, more expensive sets. It’s also the only CB set I own that does not handle well.  And I own 6 of their sets, all in the lower price range.

Also, to hand it to the company, they no longer sell this set. So they are not producing poor quality stuff.

Those are some weird looking Knights, nice set.

@Eyechess - Thank you for this excellent review. I like how the sets were reviewed side by side, piece by piece, with objective criteria, followed by personal observations from player's point of view. It's very informative, helping to understand the subtle differences between the two. To be honest, I am not a fan of the Championship design, but that's s only because of the way the knights look. All other pieces in the set "look" great, however, whether they are official version or repro by CB. Your photo showing the front profile of the knights is very interesting. There are traces of Eastern Island Moai, which @PeterR2 has already pointed out above. Funny how the CB knight has slimmer body than the official's, when all the other pieces by CB have thicker body. The design is growing on me. Anyway, keep up the great work and I hope to see more comparison reviews in the future.

I agree about the set, especially Knights, not looking good.  But when you see the set in use during the Championships, it looks a lot better.  The Knight did not look so bad in play like that.

This certainly is not my favorite set.  I don’t like black pieces and this set is not as nice looking as some of my favorite Staunton designs or the Dubrovnik’s and GM Pavasovic from Noj.

But there are times I will use this set at Club.

I'm guessing it is because of those knights.

This set was just made available in plastic! At a plastic price! S&H still too high, but I pulled the trigger anyway. I've had and never liked the early Chess Bazaar repro with these awful knights:

Excellent comparison, Ron! Did this still an official FIDE championship set? I'm surprised by the FIDE's obsession with the German Knight set as their official set. No doubt, it's a great and every green set, but why don't FIDE reach out for new designs, let's say every 3 years for the tournament?

I will go with the other reason for infringement on the design.  I do know one major chess purveyor stopped selling it on just that reason and now all the rest are following.  It's a fact.

Believe it or not, this thread with photos of closeup shots of the Official World Championship has been immensely valuable. Thank you once again, @Eyechess, for taking the time to post the photos.

Lately, that ugly knight started to look charming, and, dare I say it, even beautiful. The transformation was sudden, almost like a duck that turned into a swan in Andersen's fairy tale. No, I wasn't drinking beer. For reasons unknown, the design just grew on me.

But I've refrained from taking the plunge. Why?

Well, our family, like most of you everywhere, have been mostly confined to our home due to the pandemic during this holiday season. The bright side is that we have used this opportunity to immerse ourselves in numerous games of chess using the newly acquired DGT Centaur. Not just for playing against the computer but to play against each other when it's turned off simply because it's there, on a table in the living room, always.

So I thought, "Wouldn't it be nice if there was a library size version of the World Championship set so it can be played on the DGT Centaur?" Maybe even pretend as if we're playing at London in 2018, a place and time that seem so far away this year of 2020.

@Eyechess and @ArtfulDodger67 mentioned Chess Baron, although for different reasons. But I looked up their website and found that there indeed exists a library size version of the World Championship set! It's referred as "Club Size" but it's actually a 3 inch King. They're completely sold out, however. I went to the official retailer, aka worldchess.com. They have them, though backordered. It's called the "Official World Chess Club Set". It is "87% of the full size" version. I just placed an order for one. So now you know why I didn't take the plunge to get the official (full-size) version :-). 

Anyone have one? The smaller version, that is.

Maybe you're right.

It has been mentioned that the official club version pieces have barely any weight to them.

Is this some kind of test? Chess by India?

Description for the club version says, "the weight of the king is 25 grams (the total weight of the set in the box is 808 grams)." Is that too light?

@Eyechess I don't play much so I don't know what you mean by 'balance'. How would I know if my set has balance? 

Informative write up. The first thing I look for in a set of chessman is the knight detail and the Official World Championship knight falls well short of my expectations. Here's the knight from my generic 'Made in India' 4" (100mm) ebony and boxwood Staunton chess pieces.

Isn't he a thing of beauty without being over intricate! My only disappointment in this set is the differences in weight, the Black pieces are on average 20% heavier than the White pieces. It isn't really noticeable in the hand and the pieces have a good feel to them. The full stats are

King 103mm high x 41mm base, Black 81g, White 66g

Queen 97mm high x 41mm base, Black 70g, White 56g

Rooks 57mm high x 31mm base, Black 34g, White 31g

Bishops 76mm high x 310mm base, Black 36g, White 29g

Knights 68mm high x 31mm base, Black 40g, White 35g

Pawns 51mm high x 29mm base, Black & White all 21g

So my questions are - Is there any differences in the weights between the Black and White pieces in the Official World Championship set or the Chess Bazaar set? What are the individual piece heights?

No, I meant exactly what I wrote.

”In this case,...” - Considering the two sets I own and reviewed, CB reproduction and the Official version,...

”..., the Official set is worth 2 1/2 times the cost of the CB set.”  Yes, it is my opinion that the value of the Official set is easily 2 1/2 times higher than that CB set.