Russ: thanks for the pictures. I love the wide bases. I may have to order a set.
Yes the bases are slightly on the wider side. Excellent for stability! If you like what you've seen so far, I think you would enjoy playing with this set!
In case you are in the market for a new board (2.25 inch squares!)....
This week I ordered a board from Brad Borkowski (aka Colorado Wood Worker)....he messaged me today to say he has finished the board and will be shipping it out to me this coming Monday.
The board I ordered was the Brazilian cherry/Maple/Walnut board with 2.25 inch squares for $130 + $30 shipping. I expect to receive it in about a week. Note the design/build/appearance of the board is similar to my Drueke board (with cherry vs walnut for the dark squares). Of course the Druke was/is a legendary manufacturer of chess boards, but are comparatively expensive at $225 for 2.25 in. squares. We will see if the quality can compare to Drueke, (I'm hopeful)!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/ColoradoWoodWorker
http://www.druekegames.net/products/
Here is another boardmaker, Bill Nelson, using the same web host...
https://www.etsy.com/shop/BillsWoodPile?ref=l2-shopheader-name
Both of these "woodworkers" have been recommended in the chess.com forums...
Here is the board (described above) that Brad Borkowski is making for me, before final finishing...I'm expecting that the finished board is going to be gorgeous.....
I'll post pictures of the final product when I receive it....
CB is going to have a Mega sale on March 1. Maybe they'll offer big discounts on everything.
Really? Did you get an email? New month, new budget ... heh, heh, heh.
Got my set in this morning. Incredibly fast shipping, I ordered Wednesday evening at 8pm, received by Tuesday morning, 10:30am (eastern time).
Overall, the set is a very nice, well made.
I do have a few complaints - 1) The King height is 4", not 3.75". In fact, all of the pieces are slightly larger than the page at Chess Bazaar states. Like this is truly a 4" set, not a 3.75" set. 2) The weight of one of the Rooks is 35g, the rest are 44-45g. This is way outside an acceptable difference, I can see 10% maybe. 3) The Queen crowns are not uniform at all. Of the 4 Queens included, all 4 of them actually have some flat "points" on the crown. In other words, there is no "point", it is flat on the end. Some of the flat ends are more pronounced than others.
I am not overly impressed with this set from CB. The last set I got from them I very impressed with. Not sure what I am going to do yet, just keep it and move on or complain to them about it.
Really? Did you get an email? New month, new budget ... heh, heh, heh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HecM0JqmKL4
The pieces I received were also closer to 4 inch King than to 3.75 inches as well. But I don't view that as a negative. In fact I view it as a bonus. The critical point is that the King base is as advertised - 1.625 inches.
As for the Queen's coronet not being pointed. It is my understanding, based on forum discussions of that issue, is that is on pupose for the Blitz set, as blitz players had complained that the points on the Queens coronet were being sheared off during blitz games, so the points on the coronet of the blitz pieces were purposefully blunted to prevent or minimize this from happening.
Finally, it appears you are saying that, of the four rooks, three of them weigh 44-45 grams and the fourth weighs 35 grams? If so, that would definitely be a problem. You should contact C-B immediately about it and request that they send you a rook of the correct weight. Now I am off to weigh my chess pieces!
Weighed my GM Blitz set rooks. All are around 44 grams +/- 0.5 grams. All is good...
Thanks for the reply Russ. My problem with the height is that I already have 2 4" sets, I only have 1 3.75". Was looking for that size.
As for the coronet, that would make sense if none of the points were pointy. Some of them are, some of them are not. Of the ones that are not they are actually flat, like this:
\_/
Thanks for the reply Russ. My problem witht eh height is that I already have 2 4" sets, I only have 1 3.75". Was looking for that size.
As for the coronet, that would make sense if none of the points were pointy. Some of them are, some of them are not. Of the ones that are not they are actually flat, like this:
\_/
I just looked more carefully at the coronets on my 4 queens. There are only 2 points that are noticeably "flatter" than the rest of the points, as you illustrated. And I had to look twice to make sure of that. To me, the degree of "flatness" of the two points is essentially insignificant - I would never have noticed it had you not brought the issue up. This is not to say that your problem isn't more severe though...
Thanks for the reply Russ. My problem with the height is that I already have 2 4" sets, I only have 1 3.75". Was looking for that size.
As for the coronet, that would make sense if none of the points were pointy. Some of them are, some of them are not. Of the ones that are not they are actually flat, like this:
\_/
Regarding the King height issue you brought up. It just occurred to me that maybe the finial (little cross) on the top of your Kings (and mine) is taller that what it originally was when this set was first measured for advertisement purposes. Depending on the height of the finial, the king's height could be equal to or greater than the nominal 3.75 inches, which is what CB states. This of course is pure speculation on my part, and I am not suggesting that I necessarily believe it to be the case - I brought it up only as a (probably remote) possibility.
In fact, upon more careful measurement of my Kings, the height, including finial is 3.875 inches. So, in my opinion, not significantly different enough from either 3.75 or 4.0 inches, to be too concerned over.
Hmm, not a good response from CB about my underweight Rook.
Here is my email to them:
Greetings!
I just received my order of
The GM Blitz Edition Staunton Series Chess Set in Ebonized Boxwood & Natural Boxwood
Order # 109229
Upon inspection I have a problem with the weight of one of the White Rooks.
One White Rook weighs 34g while the other three (both Black and the other White) weight in at 44-45g.
It is quite noticeable when handling them.
What can be done to rectify this situation?
I appreciate any help you can give me on this issue.
Sincerely,
Richard Sava
And the response I got back?
Hi Richard, I am sorry to hear the issue with your chess set. Please note that all our chess sets are hand crafted and each process is done manually so it is not possible to standardise them. This is the reason we take a leeway while mentioning the weight of the chess set.
Hope you will understand. Please feel free to contact me back if you need any further assistance.
they mention a 10% leeway on their website - so taking that into account and using a 10% leeway should mean no more than 4g - 5g difference, not a full 10g. 10g is a huge margin.
I have responded saying this is unacceptable. We will see what the response is. I am not getting the warm and fuzzies from them.
I believe that CB states the weight of the entire set can vary by 10 percent. In your case, it appears that the weight tolerance range for the entire set has fallen upon your rook alone. And then there's also the possibility that differences in other pieces could cancel out some of the problem with the rook. So, your set could very well be within CB's specifications. I'm not saying they're right though.
One would reasonably expect that the weight tolerance specification should apply to each piece individually. In this case CB apparently applies the specification to the entire set in aggregate. Not a good business policy for them.
If they do not correct the problem to your satisfaction, I would suggest you inform them that you will make sure that their unsatisfactory policies and customer service will be broadly "advertised" all over the chess.com user forums, which is likely to have a significantly negative impact on their business.
In fact, you could create a user forum thread inviting anyone who has ever had a negative experience with CB to post it in the forum thread...and then continue to send updated links to the thread to CB as the foum grows!
Call it "Negative Experience with Chess Bazaar? Post Here!"....
Pehaps that would get their attention.
Here are a few links you could also forward to them, which might shake them up...
Chessbazaar.com problems....chess.com forum threads...
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/my-experience-with-chess-bazaar
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/poor-quality-and-service-from-chess-bazaar
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/chessbazaar-boards-which-are-cracking
Russ,
I would also be interested to hear if your Queen looks like this. All 4 of my Queens are like this to one extent or another.
Just wondering if I may have gotten a "red-headed step child" of a set.
Hopefully good news. As a follow up to my reply that a 10g difference is unacceptable, I recieved an email this morning stating that
Dear Richard,
Sorry for this problem with your chess pieces. Your satisfaction with your purchase from chessbazaar is very important for us.
Being a valuable customer, we are ready to send you a white rook of R0304 with approx. 40-gram weight in replacement but we need to check this in our inventory.
We'll update you regarding this as we get any input from our inventory team.
Appreciate your patience on this matter. If you need any other assistance, please revert us back!
'HAPPY CHESS PLAYING'
Fingers, toes and other body parts crossed that this gets resolved. I am encouraged a little by the email. At least they did not respond that that was how it was.
Russ,
I would also be interested to hear if your Queen looks like this. All 4 of my Queens are like this to one extent or another.
Just wondering if I may have gotten a "red-headed step child" of a set.
Richard -
Please refer to my posts #49 & #52 if you have not already read them. None of the points on my 4 Queens' coronets are quite as flat as the one you labeled "very flat". Most of the points are just barely what you call "kind of flat". Again, CB "flattened" the points on purpose for the Blitz set. That is why they named it the Blitz set. During Blitz games the sharp points of normal Queens had a tendency get chiped or broken. So they flattened the points to prevent this from happening, and also made the Knights one-piece, as the two-piece knights would come apart during Blitz. It is my understanding that these modifications were requested by Blitz players.
In any case, since I was aware of the flattened points on the Queens when I made the order, I have nothing to be disappointed about. In fact, as I have mentioned earlier, I am quite happy with my set.
Glad to hear though, that CB may be willing to replace your light-weight rook!
You might try sending them the photo of your Queen with the "very flat" point and ask if they will replace it also. It might be worth a try. You have nothing to lose by asking.
Here is the board (described above) that Brad Borkowski is making for me, before final finishing...I'm expecting that the finished board is going to be gorgeous.....
I'll post pictures of the final product when I receive it....
Curious to know if you received the board yet, and what your opinion is about the quality. Looks like a great board and I'm interested in purchasing one.
Russ: thanks for the pictures. I love the wide bases. I may have to order a set.