At least one plastic Tournament legal chess set. A couple nice wood sets to play freinds with. Thats about it but, I have a lot more wood sets than I should.
How many chess sets do you need?
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One for OTB play. Anything else can be done on a PC or phone.
Number of sets that one "needs" = 0 (as distinct from number of hours of sleep that one needs to survive)
However, number of sets that one desires to have can be unlimited and depends on one's preferences and budget.
I have about a dozen sets, but many of them are missing pieces or slightly damaged. I have a tournament set and clock and each of my sons also has a tournament set. Of course, none of us have played a tournament in almost 2 years now.
You don't have to bring your own sets in tournaments here, so you could say two pocket sets would be enough in a strict sense (as Nimzowich said once, it's good using one of them for the main line and the other for variations when you are studying games). But I also own the official plastic set for national leagues and a nice wood set my wife gave me once, it's so pleasant to play with them!
Funny story as to perceived "needs": About 5 or 6 years ago, my oldest son (who was then in high school) suddenly decided that he "needed" to play in a USCF chess tournament and therefore "needed" a tournament chess set and clock. (Of course, his "need" wasn't so strong as to motivate him to spend his own money to finance his foray into chess.) I obliged and bought him a chess set, signed him up for a USCF membership and drove him to his first tournament.
After watching him play in his first 2 tournaments, I decided to start playing chess again myself. (After all, if I'm going to spend all this time chaperoning him, I mgiht as well have some fun also.) So I decided that I "needed" to get my own tournament chess set and clock. I also signed up for a family USCF membership since it seemed like a good deal. (I also bought more than $1,000 worth of chess books that I was sure that I "needed" and most of which remain unread to this day!)
Once I started playing again, my youngest suddenly took an interest in chess and decided that he "needed" to play in a tournament as well. For a while, I held off on purchasing a third tournament set on the theory that the three of us could share (after all, how likely was it that we would all be playing white during the same round?). Moreover, I wasn't convinced that my youngest would continue to play after he experienced his first 2 or 3 tournaments.
After 6 or so tournaments, I finally broke down and bought my youngest son a tournament chess set. It was such a pain to swap sets and find each other between rounds. I decided that we "needed" to have a third set if all three of us continued playing USCF tournaments. Of course, after purchasing the third set, we played 2 or 3 more tournaments and then stopped. It appears that we really didn't "need" the chess sets after all.
Nov 14, 2014
0
#7
pt22064 wrote:
Funny story as to perceived "needs": About 5 or 6 years ago, my oldest son (who was then in high school) suddenly decided that he "needed" to play in a USCF chess tournament and therefore "needed" a tournament chess set and clock. (Of course, his "need" wasn't so strong as to motivate him to spend his own money to finance his foray into chess.) I obliged and bought him a chess set, signed him up for a USCF membership and drove him to his first tournament.
After watching him play in his first 2 tournaments, I decided to start playing chess again myself. (After all, if I'm going to spend all this time chaperoning him, I mgiht as well have some fun also.) So I decided that I "needed" to get my own tournament chess set and clock. I also signed up for a family USCF membership since it seemed like a good deal. (I also bought more than $1,000 worth of chess books that I was sure that I "needed" and most of which remain unread to this day!)
Once I started playing again, my youngest suddenly took an interest in chess and decided that he "needed" to play in a tournament as well. For a while, I held off on purchasing a third tournament set on the theory that the three of us could share (after all, how likely was it that we would all be playing white during the same round?). Moreover, I wasn't convinced that my youngest would continue to play after he experienced his first 2 or 3 tournaments.
After 6 or so tournaments, I finally broke down and bought my youngest son a tournament chess set. It was such a pain to swap sets and find each other between rounds. I decided that we "needed" to have a third set if all three of us continued playing USCF tournaments. Of course, after purchasing the third set, we played 2 or 3 more tournaments and then stopped. It appears that we really didn't "need" the chess sets after all.
That is pretty funny! Yes perhaps I should have said wants! But then some of us would just fill up our houses!
A good tournament set with a rollup board, a good bag and chess clock is what you might need (if you play OTB of course). Anything else is luxury.
disclaimer: I recently bought a full size wooden set for reading books, and also have a secondary tournament plastic set (non-weighted), a little chess table with pieces in my living room, and a cheap plastic set in the trunk of my car. I do not need these last ones.
For the adventurous types, it seems like every possibility should be explored. Thus
- One magnetic chess set that you can use to analyze games, or play casually
- One pocket-sized set to play on a plane or on a bus
- One tournament-grade set with a wooden board and wooden pieces
- One plastic set with a roll-up board
- A fancy decorative set to have on display in the living room
- A demonstration board that you can hang on a wall
- A really expensive and unique set that costs over $1000 in all
I probably missed something, but it looks like seven sets in all.
I'm five out of seven at the moment.
Nov 14, 2014
0
#10
2:
One rollup shitty board for tournaments
One nice board that you can look at and wish you had someone to play with
@kimbacal: You realize that you need to seek professional help, as does everyone on this thread? It is worse for you, though, because when you infuse a woman with the OCD colletors' disease, they treat the collection like shoes. You need all styles an colors in each category that Crazy mentioned. And you can't be seen with last fall's collection. Essentially, your disease is multipled by a factor of 100.
@crazy: Nice list, but you missed some. You need a Bluetooth board like the DGT one with DGT clock that Carlsen-Anand are playing on now.
Also, you need boards in all materials: wood, stone (marble etc.), glass, bone, ivory (well, maybe not ivory for humane reasons), etc.
Nov 14, 2014
0
#12
Actually, fixing, that's a bit the way I am leaning. I would keep my nice Dubrovnik set and a wood board, and then either my wood german knight tournament sized set set or my full sized plastic set and a rollup board. And I do wish I had more people locally for OTB.
Very small travel sets have probably been displaced by phone and ipad apps. No more little button magnetic guys.
Analysis sets...(1.75 in board appropriate) still probably useful, and could double as a larger travel set.
So I guess I'd keep 3.
Nov 14, 2014
0
#13
:-) Chicken, if I don't control myself I will have more chess sets than shoes. Hence the reason for this thread!
pt22064 wrote:
Funny story as to perceived "needs": About 5 or 6 years ago, my oldest son (who was then in high school) suddenly decided that he "needed" to play in a USCF chess tournament and therefore "needed" a tournament chess set and clock. (Of course, his "need" wasn't so strong as to motivate him to spend his own money to finance his foray into chess.) I obliged and bought him a chess set, signed him up for a USCF membership and drove him to his first tournament.
After watching him play in his first 2 tournaments, I decided to start playing chess again myself. (After all, if I'm going to spend all this time chaperoning him, I mgiht as well have some fun also.) So I decided that I "needed" to get my own tournament chess set and clock. I also signed up for a family USCF membership since it seemed like a good deal. (I also bought more than $1,000 worth of chess books that I was sure that I "needed" and most of which remain unread to this day!)
Once I started playing again, my youngest suddenly took an interest in chess and decided that he "needed" to play in a tournament as well. For a while, I held off on purchasing a third tournament set on the theory that the three of us could share (after all, how likely was it that we would all be playing white during the same round?). Moreover, I wasn't convinced that my youngest would continue to play after he experienced his first 2 or 3 tournaments.
After 6 or so tournaments, I finally broke down and bought my youngest son a tournament chess set. It was such a pain to swap sets and find each other between rounds. I decided that we "needed" to have a third set if all three of us continued playing USCF tournaments. Of course, after purchasing the third set, we played 2 or 3 more tournaments and then stopped. It appears that we really didn't "need" the chess sets after all.
Were you buying Staunton chess sets or something?
More than $1000 in chess books before reading any? I think you added an extra 0 by mistake. you meant $100.
>> One nice board that you can look at and wish you had someone to play with
Aww. That's kinda sad. and also part of the reaon I am holding off on buying that $11,000 custom Staunton set from HOS...
Nov 14, 2014
0
#16
I like to have a mid range wooden set on tap in my apartment, plus another mid range wooden set for travel to and from half respectable venues (i.e. not games outside my local coffeeshop with homeless fellows offering me odds at the cost of 25 cents). For the coffeehouse chess, I use a beat up set of wegiel No. 4 Stauntons and a generic 14'' wooden board. I have additional sets, of course, but I've never really needed to extend myself beyond this rotation, making said sets redundant for everything beyond switching up the look of my home board.
I HAVE several magnetic set.
I have a set played with cards.
I have 24 plastic set with roll up boards.
I have one board that hangs on the wall made of buttefly wings.
I have several small wooden sets and boards.
I have a chess demonstration board.
I have a formica large board for chess and other games.
I have all these and need them all because I teach chess to beginers in the after school program and I run tournament for scholastic players.
I have quite a few chess sets, though I was happy with just this one for many years:
Which is of course the typical "USCF Club Special" design (which is basically the French Lardy design), with a 3¾" × 1½" king. The folding woodgrain board (approximately 2" squares) was easy on the eyes, much better than a sterile green and buff board in my opinion. I used that set for about 10 years.
At some point I decided that I'd like to have the same chess set I'd been using for years, except in all wood. About 15 years ago I saw a USCF ad for the "Club Special" pieces in boxwood:
http://i.imgur.com/tLw3bMx.jpg
Which was exactly what I was looking for, and as you can see, the price was excellent. The obvious choice for a board was a classic Drueke solid block board with 2" squares:
I've since bought a couple of far more refined (and expensive) sets of pieces, ones that look very close to a classic Jaques Staunton set, but I keep coming back to this boxwood "Club Special" set. It is what I'm used to and I don't feel like I have to handle it with kid gloves.
A couple of years ago my father made me this box out of red oak to store those pieces in:
1
I have been suffering from a bit of overbuying of chess sets, much like guitar players get with guitars. Its a well known phenomenon and they call it "GAS" or guitar aquisition syndrome. So, I have been asking myself, "How many chess sets does one person need?". Assuming you play in tournaments and you need at least one tournament legal set, what others would you have? A travel set for the train? A decorative set? An outdoor set so you don't have to take your good set to the park? A blitz set? An analysis set for next to the computer? A true minimalist could satisfy many of these with one good plastic set and rollup board. What do you think? If you could keep only one or two sets, what would they be? And FWIW, for some people, a decorative set is as important as any of the others so please no nasty comments about collectors.