Chess Sets I Love and Use

I decided to start a topic where I show the Chess sets that I love and use.  I will be adding to this topic once or twice a week until I have all of them listed, described and pictured.

I feel that each of the sets I picture have a high value, at least for me.  You will see some that did not cost much money and some that cost more money.  Understand that I am pretty cheap at heart and will always look for a discount or lower price, always.

This past Wednesday I met my playing friend, Wayne, at our local Panera Bread Company cafe for some games.  This set is pretty much my "Panera Bread" set.

The board is a custom made leather board by Mario Sanchez of Australia.

The pieces are the HoS B H Wood set in Golden Rosewood.  Note that the bases are quite broad and this set has an excellent balance when playing.  I do own a few Ebonized sets but I really prefer my dark pieces to have a color to them.  The Golden Rosewood is a fine grained Sheesham   I really like the contrast of this set on this board.

The clock is a Chronos GX with the green buttons coming from SamTimer.

The board was a bit pricey, but is was custom made in Australia.

The pieces cost me less than $100 from The House of Staunton.

What a beautiful set you have there. Can the leather board roll up like vinyl?

The leather board does roll up but is pretty stiff compared to vinyl.

Under a $100 Wow that is a good deal! I love simple and basic chess set designs. That is the every man chess set in my mind. Wonder how you got it for under $100 when they are selling it for $169 now? I really like that set but at $169 it seems to simple and basic at that price in my opinion. Sweet deal you must have gotten at the time of your purchase.

https://www.houseofstaunton.com/the-b-h-wood-chess-pieces-3-75-king.html 

Wayne and I have been playing Chess like this every week since 1996.  That day, I won all but one of the 7 or 8 games we played.

I will be posting a bit more today and most likely tomorrow.  I am taking pictures of the sets as I use them.

Today, I am in an office, more specifically an eye exam room.  When I have time I want to have a 3D set to analyze with.

There is not a lot of extra space in this room, as you will be able to see from the pictures.  So I am showing you my small footprint analysis set.  This is the ChessMate TravelMate Pro.  It is magnetic and the magnetism is of the very strong type where you can hold the setup completely upside down with the pieces not moving at all.

I had a bit of extra time so I went out to my car and got the Mario Sanchez made boards.  The first pictures in this topic are of that set with the 2.25" square size.  I also have the smaller analysis sized board from him.  The first picture is of both sets in their carrying tube.  I did this to give a size perspective.  

The set I use with this board is the "3" Standard Staunton chess Pieces #4" from The Chess House.

I also carry a DGT 960 clock in this set.  I use this set for analysis when I have more room but still want a smaller analysis sized set.  I also use it when in a cafe, like Starbucks, and we have to use those small cafe tables.

Nice. I also have a 3" set as well. Not by choice but happened to be by accident. I was sent a 3" Popular Staunton set from House of Chess by mistake. House of Chess hadn't sent me a return label so I decided to keep the set. I posted a picture of it in another forum under Library size chess sets I believe. I went and got a 15" folding wooden case/board off of Amazon for under $20. I just threw away the cheap Walmart special wooden pieces that came with the board/case and placed in my Popular Staunton 3" set. There is enough room in the folding board/case to also included a DGT 960 travel chess clock. Defiantly a nice little set up to play with or go over games and puzzles without taking up too much room. I like your set up as well. Green is my favorite color. Red would also be a beautiful color as well with Ebonized Boxwood sets.

And now I present what has become my favorite Staunton set to play slow time control games.

The pieces are from The House of Staunton.  Specifically they come from the creation of Frank Camaratta.

It is the HoS Craftsman Series Luxury Chess Pieces - 3.75" King.  This is in the Blood Rosewood and Natural Boxwood combination.

The board is from Brad of the Colorado Woodworker renown.  This is a 2.25" square size with the woods being a Brazilian Rosewood for the dark squares, Maple for the light squares and Cherry for the border.  Yes, this is a 4 piece magnet held together board.

The clock is the V-Tek 300 in Black with the Red buttons coming from SamTimer.

I also use the ChessNoter electronic score keeping device you see pictured.

Yes, that's my friend Wayne that I played.  We were paired this round.  And we have no one to blame but ourselves as we are the only 2 certified TDs in the club right now.  I was dying a miserable death early in the middle game, but decided to turn a bit beserker before resigning.  I was something like 5.40 down according to the computer in this part of the game.  Well, he missed a double attack and lost a Rook.  We ended up drawing.  By the way this is not the opening we played.  I just quickly made some moves for the pictures before we started.  He played an English Defense.  Of course he doesn't know any openings like this.  The computer named the defense today.  When I tell him this is what he played, he'll laugh and say he didn't know anything like that or what he was supposed to play per the line.

Now, this is my favorite tournament, slow set in Staunton for a few reasons.  Remember I am a Chess player and not a collector except that I own too many sets.

The Bud Rosewood is really, really nice.  And the carving and workmanship on the pieces is excellent from the beginning to the finish work.  The most important thing for me is how the pieces handle and feel with weight and balance during play.  No one can beat Frank Camaratta's design of Chess pieces in this.  And very, very few can even compete.  By the way, I paid quite a bit less than $400 for this set so it is not that expensive at all for the high quality.

The board is also great.  The wood is of a high quality and the colors and finish are superb.  My second favorite board you will see next week which is the exact same as this one except the dark squares are American Walnut.

The V-Tek 300 clocks are really the best in that they are very durable, very, very easy to set up and use, and they really do the job.  With the Rosewood squares on this board I use more sets with red in them and the occasional Black, ebonized set.  So this black clock with the red buttons complements the rest nicely.

Very nice thread.Nice sets as well and I know quite well how passionate you are about your chess 'stuff".Admittedly,I have come to respect your love for all things chess.

OK,that was the good news.......Bad news is,I go to Panera three times a week with the wife(nice place/healthy food)......but.......their coffee has gone down hill over the last few years.-

Thanks, magictwanger.  There’s more coming.

I would have to agree about the coffee going down hill. 

Yeah I would use that set for only long games. Very beautiful set. I might even be afraid to take it to club. It would be a set I only play with at home.

Well, at our club, the fellows are used to me bringing nice stuff so they take better care.

Of course I gauge the quality of set to the time control.  And I have sets for each category, as you will see as time goes by in this topic.  I’ll picture sets as I use them occasionally bringing out an extra set for showing here.

The best chess set are the ones with nude characters. 

That's cool you have players who respect your equipment. The clubs I go to do as well but there is a club I go to once in awhile at a Panera where it is a bunch of kids. I normally take only plastic or low end wooden sets around them. 

Eyechess:  How big is your club?  What's the name and location?  Thanks!

Very nice pairings.  I feel inspired to get a green board now.

Anyway this is a set I used a couple of weeks ago at my club. 

One thing I do notice.As you all have come to "know",chess is both a fantastic/challenging game and an art onto itself!

From the actual play(I love some of the positions and calculations that show a great attack and or mate....wish I could do that regularly,btw.......Yet I am understanding this more-so every day).......

To the absolute beauty and uniqueness of the huge variety of chess sets and boards available.

It all adds up to a truly unique hobby!

Sorry for my length,but I'd like to add that I re-discovered the "Fabulosity"  of chess about 3 years ago.

I had one account that was a local library and was wandering about,after finishing off my business(I owned a company that printed all of their newsletters)......so,one day I stumbled on to their small chess books section.

Two books caught my eye and it took a few months before I realized I needed to get more involved.One was The Complete Idiot's Guide(I actually bought that book and loved it,because I knew pretty much nothing previously.Other than basic moves.

The other book was a book on unique chess sets(I forgot the name....sorry).....Now,this book got my juices flowing,as there were so many stunning sets and boards on full display and in color.....A gorgeous production! I know Chuck knows the name of that book,as his memory is better than mine.Probably his chess too....Ha!

Bobby Fischer said "Chess Is Life"......I say "Chess Is Art Too".......I probably did not coin that phrase.

Keep up the good work Eyechess.

Btw,I do notice that for those folks who do not play the game,when I am asked what interests I currently have,if I answer I like chess....The response is kinda' "Ho-Hum"!