Advice in Buying A Good Chess Set

2/3. Since this is a home/family set, I'd suggest 3.5" to 4" kings. A literal middleground is the recommended FIDE/USCF height of 3.75", but to me, piece-to-board proportions are the most important factor. For example, my 4" HoS Liberty and Latvian (Mordovian) pieces are MUCH less crowded and easier for me to analyze with on a 2.25" square board than the 3.75" Bobby Fischer Ultimates.

4. The aspects that make my pieces feel great in the long term are the way they look, handle, wear, inspire, and make me feel. Historical, cultural, and sentimental significance are also big factors for me. One of my absolute favorite sets that checks all of the above is the aforementioned Latvian (Mordovian) reproduction I purchased from RetroMaximum (Etsy) in the midst of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2022. I think I can speak for many of the CB&E regulars when I say there's a certain "je ne sais quoi" about finding a set that feels special and speaks to you. I've continuously chased this feeling since I dove into chess in May of 2022, which is a direct result of all the passionate contributors to this forum section. A special thanks to all of you.

5. I have no personal experience, but I hear DGT can be fun for online games, or useful for storing local games to review/analyze/study. However, you don't necessarilly need DGT to enjoy online games, as there's now open source software that accomplishes this via webcam.

Below are non-exhaustive suggestions based on personal ownership, research, and opinion (in no particular order):

Romanian/Hungarian:
- Sandór Bíro's national set via birosandor64@yahoo.com (I own two)

Brazilian:
- Dirk Dagobert's offerings via personal website (I own one vintage Braganca. These aren't official national sets, but they're the highest regarded Brazilian sets amongst chess clubs/players in Brazil)

Croatian (Dubrovnik) Designs:
- Gregor Novak's offerings via Noj Slovenia (waitlist full until 2025, but considered the crème de la crème of pieces by many here)
- Oldset's offerings via Etsy
- Mandeep Saggu's 1950 offerings via Staunton Castle

Soviet Designs:
- RetroMaximum's offerings via Etsy (I own one)
- Oldset's offerings via Etsy
- ERWoodLeatherShop's offerings via Etsy
(All exceptional carvers based in Ukraine)
- Gregor Novak's offerings via Noj Slovenia (waitlist info noted above)

German Designs:
- DGT's offerings (I own one non-electronic)
- Dener Mejía's offerings via Incaisa (specifically the stunning Alpha Sumo collaborative redesign by Pawnerai, who's one of the great contributors to CB&E).

French Design:
- Improved French Lardy via Royal Chess Mall

English Designs:
- Mandeep Saggu's offerings via Staunton Castle

Boards:
- Rechepado Ferrer's offerings via multiple vendors
- ColoradoWoodWorker's offerings via Etsy
- SakisTsiogkasWood's offerings via Etsy

For home use - friendly games with no time control, analyzing etc - I prefer a smaller board, say 40 mm squares. As for the pieces if you can fit in two pawns diagonally in a square that´s about right. The pieces shall be nice but not (too) fancy.

Who sells this set?

@Sciencejiho wrote:
“Speaking of which, do you think waitlisting for over 3 years is worth the time? I believe in 3 years I might want different chess pieces for variety, and if I order new chess pieces by then, it'll probably take additional years to get the pieces anyway.”

I will not judge if it is worth while or not, let’s just state facts to understand why that is the way it is.

Demand facts:
1) Queen’s Gambit fever + Corona Virus + lockdown = Sudden interest, popularity and demand for chess articles (books, pieces, boards, clocks, software, streaming, chess.com users,…)

2) Passionate “Dear chess lovers…”Dubrovnik videos from Jonas a.k.a. Izmet Fekali (Fecal Excrement in english - a joke of course for people that do not speak many languages) + the audio of Bobby Fischer stating that Dubrovnik is his favorite design + a video from a brazilian collector in Dubrovnik that bought, for thousands of euros, the set used by Bobby Fischer and Spassky during the rematch + amazing craftsmanship from NOJ to recreate the most important historical versions of the Dubrovnik chess set = the creation of a magical aura, an unexplainable wish, a “burning desire” for this particular set.
It is the Harley Davidson of the chess sets. People want to tattoo a dubrovnik knight in their arm…

Supply facts:
NOJ doesn’t want to use a CNC machine to mass produce it and make more money. They want to make it manually to keep this amazing lost art alive. I don’t know how many set they can produce per week and they have also other products and other stuff to do (I suppose they want to enjoy life too).

In short: A supply demand issue with some very good timing, intelligent marketing and a lot of craftsmanship and passion for chess in between.

That is only my humble perspective.
Think for yourself and draw your own conclusion.

PS: I prefer the Dub 1950 Stauton Castle version over the Royal Chess Mall. Bishop is nicer. Personal taste.
Good luck!

@VTVXIV - thanks for excellent guidance and context. And noting the extracts above …yep…I couldn’t have said it better myself since I dove in to the playing and collecting pool at the start of the pandemic. 👍

I might add another point too… even though we might think we are buying ‘the one’ set …in the end, if it is not quite right for our needs we can move it on, trade it, gift it… the actually experience of seeing the sets and their difference helps to evolve our individual thoughts - what we like, what we don’t and how that changes over time.

Wow. a great list @VTVXIV

@VTVXIV 30+ sets! I think most readers are drooling at the thought of seeing all of them. I know I am. You know we’re all addicts here and we need a fix. Haha! Anyhow, post a few. Perhaps you can start your own thread like @Powderdigit, @PDX_Axe, @Magictwanger, etc have done to showcase their sets. Or you can do what I did. I just posted relevant photos in other people’s threads. That works too.

Ebonized and staining is just a fake color. So I also love black and brown chess pieces.

It just makes more sense to buy real black or brown chess pieces. Instead of fake black or brown chess pieces.

As here we are giving advice on buying a good chess set. Not a cheap chess set. As price is not a object in this case.

Well, I guess we´ll have to agree to differ... And there is no such thing as fake colour. Colour is (reflected) light, no matter of which material reflects it. Mona Lisa is not fake even if Leonardo applied paint on the wood and neither is the wood worse because of it. Staining wood properly takes skill, no less so than carving it.

And I did not know you were going to fall down the rabbit hole of ridiculousness just to disagree.

I laughed when I read "I feel your addict/fix comment in my bones! I” As for your thread, cool! I can’t wait to see what you have for us.

Ahh a BCE plastic set! I remember when Izmet was promoting these. It is cool to see these at a bar... No need to worry about the pieces getting damaged if there are spills and the pieces are easily identifiable even after one too many beers.