And another question is where would you go to have the most accurate yet still the nicest looking and playable reproduction made?
Carl at Official Staunton has shown his abilities to do this with the PIatigorsky set.
Camaratta with The House of Staunton has "created" a good number of reproductions that stand out.
Now, where can we go to have a World Championship Russian or Soviet set made that looks like the ones used in all those Soviet World Champion tournaments?
Carl, are you noticing?
Eyechess wrote:
And another question is where would you go to have the most accurate yet still the nicest looking and playable reproduction made?
Carl at Official Staunton has shown his abilities to do this with the PIatigorsky set.
Camaratta with The House of Staunton has "created" a good number of reproductions that stand out.
Now, where can we go to have a World Championship Russian or Soviet set made that looks like the ones used in all those Soviet World Champion tournaments?
Carl, are you noticing?
If they can do an all wood version of my original on the right. I AM IN 
Hello Mr. Suarez,
If you're also talking chess book dealers, you left a few off like Chessco, ChessCafe and Chess4Less. Currently, Bob Long sells under a different name and to select customers, ChessCafe is out of the book business, but Chess4Less -- part of the London Chess Center located in the U.S. -- is still doing well.
I used to buy a majority of my books and sets from Chess Digest because Ken Smith ran a class operation. Unfortunately, he passed away some time back from complications due to diabetes and his daughter was more or less forced to sell to Edward Labate, someone I would never deal with again. Once was more than enough due to his lousy packing -- it wasn't the USPS this time -- and telling me "we're through" when I asked for a few replacements due to some bad damage. I believe you'll find his picture accompanying the entry for Schmuck in the dictionary.
As far as sets, I think your list is pretty complete. Unfortunately, with the younger generation tied to their hand-held devices I'm not sure they care about owning a physical set unless they participate in Over-the-Board tournaments; then it's strictly utilitarian, a cheep plastic set that doubles as a banger for blitz.
I'm afraid the days of chess elegance have passed unless you're a collector or you're a grandmaster at the U.S. Championship having a set supplied by House of Staunton for business exposure and advertising. In other words, the market isn't very big and a business has to be guaranteed sales before venturing into the very limited market of Soviet and Russian reproductions. I'm surprised there are as many as there are.
So good luck in getting someone to make a variety of Soviet reproductions. Frankly, a lot of people want to forget the old Soviet Union including Garry Kasparov, but you can't forget the underlying Byzantine beauty of so many Russian treasures. Their vintage chess sets, though many cheaply made, have a style all their own. It's like collecting Matryoshka dolls, and I should know since I have more than a few of those. You may have to contract the reproductions yourself.
Best,
Bob
Thanks Bob.
I did buy most of my books, back then, from Ken Smith and his Chess Digest. It was great because when you bought so much worth you could choose from a list of books to receive free.
I also really liked and used his study suggestions. I went from 1200 to 1550 from that in about 3 years time.
I also used to buy from Chessco, aka Bob Long. When we moved up to Peoria from near St. Louis, I made the drive to Davenport when he had an open house kind of sale. And I actually attended one of his Chess festivals with Andrew Martin from England there. Is he still around and selling, you say? I'll have to try to find him on the internet.
I also bought some books from Chess4Less. For quite awhile they would have books available that were not yet released here in the US because they were London based.
And I used to buy quite a bit from ChessCafe. It's unfortunate how they have dropped off.
But today, for books, I find I am buying ebooks on the Forward Chess App and some on Kindle/Amazon.
When a book is not available as an ebook I have bought from Amazon, USCF Sales and Chess4Less.
Hi Mr. Suarez, may I call you Ron?
Yes, Ken Smith and Chess Digest were great. Ken's study suggestions were always very good for Class E through Expert. It's from his course that I learned of Yakov Neishtadt's excellent book, Test Your Tactical Ability. The book has only recently been expanded by Mr. Neishtadt and reprinted by New in Chess as Improve Your Chess Tactics. I know the original improved my tactical vision immeasurably.
Bob Long is still in Davenport. He had planned another get together in 2015 (I attend one, also with Andrew Martin, in 2010), but he was in a car accident. Separately, his girlfriend passed away, and he had a mini-stroke in the last six months. Very bad luck, but he's now beginning to make a comeback. Click here for his blog. He can be contacted at info@chessbutler.com.
Yes, ChessCafe was one of the finest, most erudite sites around when Hanon Russell owned it. I particularly liked the book reviews by Taylor Kingston and the columns running the gamut from Dan Heisman to Mark Dvoretsky to Hans Ree were first-rate.
Mr. Russell sold the site to Mark Donlan and went on to dedicate himself full time to publishing OOP chess books or "21st century editions" of classics works (click here for a look). Mark Donlan kept the site going quite a few years with the help of book sales and then took it his own direction.
I spent $25 to keep access to what is now a pay only site, but snapshots of the site can be accessed through The Wayback Machine. I have many, perhaps most of the monthly columns downloaded and cataloged on my computer. It is indeed sad that this once monthly go-to site for me is now more or less inactive. I wonder if it will eventually go the way of Chessville.
I haven't moved to eBooks or the Everyman interactive chess book yet, but since my house is overflowing with chess books I may in the future.
All the best,
Bob
I will go where, of course for price and choice, but when people act decently I feel that, in return, i must be loyal to them.
So my choice is/will be:
1) Chessbazaar
2) Because of Carl, the sites where he is inside
3) as i like antique... anywhere i may find some interesting set
4) flea market site
I would add the Chess Piece to your list of chess vendors for chess pieces and boards. They have a nice selection of sets available at competitive prices. I presently own three of their sets. The owner, Steve Livingstone, is very knowledgable and pleasure to deal with. The website may not be the easiest to negotiate, but it's worth the effort.
http://www.thechesspiece.com/index.asp?PARTNER=bgc&gclid=CLLKxOvnsrsCFSdp7AodtB4AHA
Wow, I would suggest the exact opposite regarding the Chess Piece and Steve Livingstone. I'm eight months into a purchase with that company and have yet to get satisfaction. Mismatched pieces. Incompetence when replacements are sent. And a lack of common courtesy by refusing to reply to the occasional e-mail asking when I'm going to (finally) receive the replacement pieces he promised months ago.
Wow, I would suggest the exact opposite regarding the Chess Piece and Steve Livingstone. I'm eight months into a purchase with that company and have yet to get satisfaction. Mismatched pieces. Incompetence when replacements are sent. And a lack of common courtesy by refusing to reply to the occasional e-mail asking when I'm going to (finally) receive the replacement pieces he promised months ago.
Moxie,
Sorry to hear about the delays in getting replacements. My dealings with Steve have only been positive. I hope the replacements are satisfactory.
I'm sure Steve and other domestic vendors have been effected by the rise of Chess Bazaar and other Indian vendors selling direct and offering deep discounts. They can't compete on price (and stay in business long), they can only compete on quality, which is a much smaller niche market. It makes for a great market for us consumers, but not so great for domestic vendors.
So buy your sets while prices are still affordable. Once the Indian vendors drive out domestic competition, they can set their own prices, and a few Indian vendors will control the entire market.
We cannot truly make a judgment on a place or company or even person based on a single problem happening. Nor can we say a company is superb and excellent because of a single good experience.
There aren't that many retailers out there. And a good number, like the Chess Piece, have been in business for a good number of years. If the majority of what they did was bad, they wouldn't be in business for very long.
This applies to all the companies including The House of Staunton, The Chess Piece, Chess Bazaar, Official Staunton Company, The Chess House, The House of Chess and the others.
For instance, there is one poster here that had a problem with a set he received from The House of Staunton. No matter how he and they worked the problem, that situation was never truly fixed. I can tell you from personal experience and talking with friends, both on here and not on here, that this is not the normal at all for this company. Sometimes we need to take a step back and out of the situation to clear the air and start all over. Of course the company needs to do this as well.
I am an eye doctor and I have a number of friends that also are eye doctors, both surgeons and not. I have one friend that is a retina specialist. He is an excellent doctor and actually has received international awards for the quality of his work and research in ocular techniques, specifically retinal techniques.
Guess what? He has had some people and cases that didn't turn out well. There were problems.
What I have learned over the years is that the mark of a true, high quality professional is not whether there are problems in his work or not. The true mark is what this person does when those problems arise and how he handles the situation. No one is perfect or 100% without problems.
Buying and selling Chess sets is pretty darn similar in this. Just because a piece develops a crack does not mean the wood was not aged properly or handled properly. Perhaps there was a flaw internal in the wood that no one could see until the problem manifested itself.
In the case of being a Chess retailer, they might have run out of inventory to provide an exact replacement for defective pieces.
I know that a number of years ago, I had a Rosewood and Maple Superior Signature Chess board from Frank Camaratta and his House of Staunton. A friend of mine, that does picture framing for a living, noticed a small bubble flaw on a square with this board. So I called Frank (he still owned the company at that time) and he said this was no problem that they would send me a new board and I returned the one with the flaw. Well, the replacement board was thinner and a lot flimsier than the one I originally had. When I called, they told me that the only boards they now had were from a new manufacturer of the boards and they could not provide one of the same thickness and quality of the original. I was stuck. In hindsight I should have told them to send my original board back to me, but I didn't think of that at the time, darn it.
MoxieMan, I hope this problem gets worked out for you. While I have never bought a set from The Chess PIece I know 3 guys that have. And all of them were happy with the product and deal.
The problem comes when we expect something that the company will not be able to provide. I'm thinking of Chess Bazaar. They had problems with their red pieces actually "bleeding" the red on people's hands and faces when moist. Their solution was to give a 30% discount on another set to those with the problem pieces. Some expected more, but I can only speculate that they operate on such a low profit margin that they could not do more. Many also want and expect better quality of workmanship from them. Well, their prices are low so they have less money to pay for the higher quality workmanship.
When it works, it works great. Testament to this are all the happy CB customers that have posted on this forum. They are happy with their products from there because they have received at least what they expected to receive.
totally agree... and i think it is same for people.
we are not only a moment, or what people see in a certain context.
if someone see me when my body or my head hurt me, that person may think i act as a animal...and he will be right( because of pain)
if someone see me when i do not feel too much pain, that person may think i am a really nice man...and he will be right (because no pain)
but truth is: the two are true, it just depend...
However there are some places that no one complains about, at least regarding quality or service.
Everyone that has posted on this forum and bought a set from Noj seems at least satisfied. I know that I am very pleased with the quality of the 4 sets I own that they made. In fact I will put up their GM Pavasovic set against any others in that same price range and even higher. The workmanship is exquisite and the original design of that set is superb. Robert Macmillan (rcmacmillan) does agree and has posted such on this forum, as he also owns one.
Carl and his Official Staunton Company also shows no complaints on this forum regarding quality or service. I know that the first set I bought from him, exactly one month ago, is very well done and it arrived here in the US in about 3 business days from London. And I have read nothing but very positive reviews and comments on the set I just ordered today, the Piatigorsky. And Carl's prices are within the reasonable range for the product he sells. He is making it affordable to own some very nice Chess sets.
Yes, there have been complaints about other places in the past. Hopefully these companies have corrected and improved their quality and service.
The House of Staunton is one of the oldest retailers, today, and arguably has the largest inventory of sets they offer for sale. And the price range of their offerings covers the complete spectrum from under $50 to more than $3500, for one set of pieces.
Because of this high volume and long history, they have acquired problems. A lot of complaints on this forum have been about their service. However, since Scott has taken over as manager, 3 years or so now, the vast majority, if not all, of those service problems have disappeared.
From what I remember, the quality issues have all been with some of their lower priced products. Their more expensive sets seem to have better quality control and attention given to them. Nonetheless, reasonably priced sets can be bought from them. I own something like 11 or 12 HoS wood sets, for instance. And I never pay more than I absolutely have to. Some might consider me cheap, until they compare me to the typical Chess player. Now that's cheap.
Eyechess: House of Staunton ... offerings cover the complete spectrum from under $50 to more than $3500, for one set of pieces.
Fightingbob: Their Mammoth Ivory Chess Set goes for an insane price. See this webpage and prepare for a shock. They better be perfect, and I mean perrrrrrr...fect.
Eyechess: Their more expensive sets seem to have better quality control and attention given to them.
Fightingbob: Not always, as I posted in other threads about the fate of my Capablanca Series set in Denver's dry climate. Nearly half the pieces cracked or badly warped. My cheaper Reykjavik II never did that.
After much pestering and pleading, House of Staunton replaced the entire set. The response may well have been friendly and swift under Scott's leadership. We will never know.
Eyechess: I own something like 11 or 12 HoS wood sets, for instance. And I never pay more than I absolutely have to. Some might consider me cheap, until they compare me to the typical Chess player. Now that's cheap.
Fightingbob: Whoa, that is a lot of sets, Ron, and why pay more than you have to. That's not cheap, that's frugal. I'll show you cheap.
In 1994 I was responsible for finding a nice location for the Colorado Open Chess Tournament. I spent days searching out locations, calling hotel managers and negotiating prices. After deciding on the best location for the price, I took my recommendation before the Colorado State Chess Association Board where it was approved unanimously. I then drew up a table layout for the hotel maintenance crew to follow, and also constructed signs with directions for the players.
Due to the premium location in a nice, big hotel conference room with excellent lighting, the entry fee was between $5 and $7 more. During the annual meeting, not one lousy player raised his hand to play in this venue again, not if it meant this higher entry fee. That was my last over-the-board tournament as those schmucks can play in the men's room with the urinal overflowing for all I care.
Yes, quite a few chess players are notoriously CHEEEEEEEAP.
fightingbob, I did say, "more than $3500". I didn't mention the, in my opinion, super ridiculous price of their Mammoth Ivory. The point is that they do have wood sets that sell for under $50 all the way up to wood sets for over $3500. Now, I think paying over $600 for any wood set is ridiculous, and I never have. As I said, I'm tight on the budget when buying chess stuff and only buy when I can find a sale or discount.
I remember when I moved to a small city, 40,000, Quincy, Illinois and re-started a chess club there that had died about 7 years before. I got the previous member list from the old president.
I was wanting to get the club really going and one of the old members protested all get out that I wanted to charge $6 a year dues to get the club semi-stocked with stuff. I even went to local merchants and got product donations, like 6 packs of Pepsi or whatever. I then ran a membership tournament where the entry fee was the dues amount, $6. I had enough donated stuff so there was something for everyone, and I had a drawing between rounds to see who got what. So for the $6 the person had entry to a tournament AND got something in the drawing AND had his annual dues paid. This guy still complained that he didn't want to spend the money on Chess. Go figure. I ended up shaming him into paying.
Yeah, HoS definitely have had their problems with serving their customers. But, I haven't heard of any real problems, unsolved and dissatisfied, since Scott took over.
Anyway, there really aren't that many places to buy quality sets. The House of Staunton, Official Staunton Company, The Chess Piece, Legend Products, Your Move Chess and Games, and maybe The Chess House are pretty much the only ones really out there giving the quality stuff for sale. Sure, there is Noj and some other country specific places, but their offerings are limited in Chess piece style.
If we want to buy a nice chess set, we are pretty much forced to buy one of their products.
Now, please don't anyone take offense if I left out the name of a company they feel sells great stuff. I'm just human and some of these places are out of my radar range at this time. Please post the names of these places so we all can have the information.
Hello Ron,
I think your cheap so and so has my cheap so and sos beat, but there were more of them in my Misers Tale. 
Frankly, it's nice to know I'm not the only one who has run into this.
Best,
Bob
After my very limited exprience with
1. HOS (one Zagreb 2.875" Rosewood)
2. HOC (two Galaxy 3" Ebony/Bud Rosewood/Mahognay/Boxwood, 13" travel set, 12" travel magnetic set)
3. CB (three 3" Ebony, one 3" Bud Rosewood, one 4" Dominator Ebony, 14" folding set, 10" travel magnetic set)
I have the ranking as following:
Quality: HOS > HOC > CB
HOS: I have only set from HOS. But the quality is just perfect to me. Around 900g for a 2.875" set, very heavy and stable. Even Rosewood does not look so luxarious as Ebony/Bud Rosewood, HOS just make the wood look gorgeous. Felt is perfectly cut and glued and the material look good enough. Woodwork is also perfect for me. And the finials on Kings can be switched.
HOC: The HOC Galaxy series are just so good. Very affordable price. Same level wood craftsmanship as HOS set. Shape are just so good. Felt are nicely cut and glued, but the material feels a little cheap.
CB: Many small issues. Cuts on the Rook's turret are not aligned on those 3" Reykjavik style Rooks. Cuts in the mitres are not clean (even 4" Dominator). Heads of Pawns are not clean with some dings (even 4" Dominator). Polishing is not as smooth and glossy as HOC 3" Galaxy (even 4" Dominator). Felts are always with problem, different materials even within one set, not round cut, not well glued. Even the 4" Dominator, the felts are mushy and not clean. So from my limited experience, CB's small issues are quite consistent throught out the entry and middle level products. Maybe their luxury product (>300USD) have better details, but I don't know since I don't have one. But I can say that their below 200USD products do not have the same attention to details as HOS and HOC.
Service: All are good. HOS not needed yet. CB Sapna is alway very fast and helpful. HOC Sunny is also very helpful.
If I am going to buy more chess staff, I will foucus more on HOC due to the better wood craftsmanship and their attention to the details such as felt and cuts. But I will also recommend CB due to the following reasons:
1. CB has 3" entry level Ebony/Bud Rosewood sets at around 60USD after their normal disount (20% off). HOC does have a 3" entry level Popular series Ebony set at around 50USD, but the shapes of Knight are not so good to me and the bases are not beveled. I like beveled bases. HOC has a 3" Monarch (base not beveled) Bud Rosewood at around 80USD (with shipment fee included).
2. CB is dynamic and always bringing new sets into market. The Chetak II really looks fantastic for me.
I want to recommend HOC due to their gorgeous 3" Galaxy sets. These narrow base sets match boards of 35mm, 38mm, 45mm size. The quality are just perfect to me. I really want to try more sets from HOC. I even want sell my Dominator to fund for this. Some 3.75~4" Ebony sets from HOC are around 160USD and they look just so good from the pictures. If their wood craftsman can be the same level as their Galaxy sets, then I suppose the quality will for sure be better than CB Dominator.
I cannot recommend HOS due to their huge shippment fees and very high addtional other fees to Europe.
And another question is where would you go to have the most accurate yet still the nicest looking and playable reproduction made?
Carl at Official Staunton has shown his abilities to do this with the PIatigorsky set.
Camaratta with The House of Staunton has "created" a good number of reproductions that stand out.
Now, where can we go to have a World Championship Russian or Soviet set made that looks like the ones used in all those Soviet World Champion tournaments?
Carl, are you noticing?
I will open store soon with sets that no company produces with affordable prices.you can reserve this set for free right know,just contact me.
We like to buy Chess pieces and boards and also clocks. We also like to talk about it all and sometime show pictures.
We who buy this stuff really are needing the companies and retailers to provide what we want so we can buy it.
I remember when I first started playing Chess and wanted to buy books and sets, boards and clocks. Here in the United States, this was before the internet, we were really limited to only about 4 or 5 places to buy stuff, and that was the ole' mail order with catalogs coming in the mail.
In today's modern technology and communication abilities we have about,...wait for it,...4 or 5 places that we look to to buy Chess equipment.
The House of Staunton has taken the place of USCF Sales where the USCF actually operated its own sales. Your Move Chess and Games is still there where they used to be called ICD. The Chess House is also still there with Raphael Neff taking over from Don Oswald and moving the company from Kansas to Washington.
We no longer have Chess Digest or ChessEx. The Chess Store and Wholesale Chess have come in, taking those spots.
Sure, there are other places but they do not offer as wide a variety of Chess stuff as these places.
Today, we also have a few, no more, places in other countries. There are a couple to a few places in India that seem to promise a better price for better product because they are so close to the production places.
We also have companies in specific countries like Spain and Slovenia that offer their country's style products. But, these are indeed niche markets and not as broad of a choice.
Of course we also have Carl and The Official Staunton Company. He/they offer a nice variety of Chess sets at a high quality and decent price.
The fact remains that there really are not a "lot" of Chess retailers for us to choose from.
These companies, or individuals running them, really are trying to do a good job, providing good quality, good service and a competitive price.
Of course, when we see a discounted or lower price we need to realize that either the quality and/or the service might also be lower than the higher priced options. And this is true no matter what company we are talking about.
I have seen people get emotional about companies and the products and service they give. I have also seen people get emotional, angry, at others that decry the problems from some of these companies.
The people that frequent this forum deal quite a bit with these companies. And yes, we do see and hear about problems. But we also do see and hear about the "successes" of product. Witness The Official Staunton Company and their latest Piatigorsky set, Noj and the Dubrovnik Original 1950 and Dubrovnik II sets, and The House of Staunton and their Players Series sets, for example. We have read about and looked at pictures of these sets showing how nice they are. This gives us ideas and motivation to own one or all of them. Yeah, I am about to order the latest Official Staunton set...
So, what companies do you folks like and use for what specific sets?
For me it's:
1. House of Staunton: Morphy Series, Players Series, Fischer Spassky, Mechanics Institute sets.
2. Noj: Dubrovnik II, both Walnut and Red, and their GM Pavasovic set in Walnut.
3. House of Chess: Yugo (Zagreb) 4" in Bud Rosewood
4. Rochester Chess Center: Ultimate Rosewood Chess Set.
5. Official Staunton: Fischer Spassky set, Paul Morphy, both Ebonized and Sheesham, and most probably Piatigorsky.