ChessBazaar's Imperial Collector's set (Sinquefield Cup)

Does anyone have the chessbazaar sinquefield cup imperial collector's set?

It seems like a very good price and for that price obviously cannot be compared to the HOS offering.  But aside from the knight, the pieces don't look that spectacular.  The bishop's mitre could have a better cut and aesthetic to it.  Same goes with the shape of the rook and queen.  

I was wondering if anyone who has the set could review it, especially if they purchased it in bud rosewood.  Would be great to hear how it feels and plays in the hand.

Thanks

I have both the ebony and the bud rosewood, bought in the early days of CB when they were not called sinquefield. I wanted to write a full review, but I have some problems with the Internet at the moment, so if you can wait a couple of days I will try and do that.

In my opinion anyway it is a decent set, heavy and big, and I like the design of most of the pieces, especially the knights, rooks (very sturdy) and kings, a bit less the queens and bishops.

It is a nice set to play with, but both my sets have a couple of probs of stability and bad finishing which spoil a bit the experience. More on this in the coming review. Hope that helps

Thanks Aristotele! I look forward to hearing your review in due course!

We also had looked at the HOS version here. Would have loved to own it, but the price tag is somewhat out of our budget at this time. Very cool picture gallery though is on their site to look at. Their Mammouth ivory one also seems to be a similar set, but obviously out of the price range for the majority of us folks. Well, it's ok to dream we suppose. Enjoy your CB set when you get it as well.  

http://www.houseofstaunton.com/the-2014-sinquefield-cup-commemorative-chess-pieces.html

The Sinquefield Cup set is a work of art IMO. The price is through the roof though. I doubt if any FM or GM player would spend that kind of money on a chess set. There are a lot of nice chess sets in the 1-200.00 range to satisfy most people.

I am not a collector by any means. But I have been playing chess for many years and I have decided now that over the next few years I want to add some chess sets to my collection to enjoy playing through games.  I couldn't justify the HOS prices (especially once you add shipping) and so that's why I look to chessbazaar for more affordable reproductions. On top of my list is the 1849, but the knight in the imperial collection is very nice and hence my query.

Obviously in some cases lower price means you have to give and take on a few nicer perks - like the nice "scoop" in the bishop's mitre on the HOS set. I think if chessbazaar just improved the bishop on their imperial collecter set it would be much better and worth an increase in price.

The thing for FMs and GMs is that I think you need a smaller, lighter set when 'really analysing' games than 4 inch sets.  The nicer wooden sets are too heavy and beautiful to be banging and shuffling pieces all over the place as you move from one variation to the next. For that purpose I am thinking of getting a chessbazaar dubrovnik in 3.6" sheesham - light and easy on the eyes.  Perfect for analysis - at least Bobby certainly thought so!

But I'm sure all the very top players have seem really fine sets too. I think Karpov is even a chess set collector himself.

solved my probs with the internet sooner than I though, the review is online.

RC - couldn't have said it better myself.  I totally agree with you.

i just don't understand why HOS sinquiefield makes the same wood in 2015 commemorative. There is no uniqueness between years ( 2014 and 2015) only the plaque and gradmasters signatures, i guess, correct if i am wrong.

Hi Mac, I know this is an old thread but I emailed Vik more than once asking him why not make this set to the tournaments specs that were used at the SInquefield Cup. His answer was it costs almost the same labor wise to make the set 4.4" or 3.75" so give the customer more. 

I also totally agreee with you about the 90% quality with a fraction of the price. 

What he fails to realze is some of us want accurate reproductions and not a giant set.  My opinion which isn't worth much as an old man is if he would have made this set in 3.75" he would have sold 10 fold.  

I have way too many 4.4" sets and would like more in the 3.75" to 4.1" range.  But I also do feel that if the actual specs of the SInquefield Cup set were adhered to with his (CB) normal pricing structure he would have hit a home run.  

CB, just release 3.75 version of this set, and it is very reasonable price with coupon. i ordered ebony and boxwood.

Looks nice.

I have the Chessbazaar Sinquefield in rosewood, 4.33".  It is an impressive set - well made and heavy.

For the money it's unbeatable value.

Does anyone have both sized sets from CB in this series?  Is it just me or does the 4.33 carved knight look much better than the 3.75 carved knight?  Looks that way to me in the pictures CB has posted but maybe different in real life.  The 3.75 looks to me the way it is pictured lacking some deatils especially the ears but maybe I need a new pair of glasses.  

When I saw the pics on of the new smaller set I had the same thought on the knight Mike, so it isn't just you :)

Would be nice to get some feedback from members who bought the set

I took another close up look. My question to CB which will never get an answer is why not pay your carvers another $20 to refine the knights and charge another $25 more for the set?  That should do it. They would be $1445.00 under their competitor and they would fly off the shelf. I do not think by raising the bar and the price to $225.00 that would have stopped at least 10 people on here from instantly ordering a set. I just don't get the CB thinking anymore. It's too late now for that as I know they will not do the knights over untill they run out. How many sets they have made is always kept top secret. Not knocking Vik at all as he runs a very sucessful company. Just wish he would listen a little more to his customers. I will wait for the next round to come out and see if the knights improve.

I purchased the 2021 Sinquefield Commemorative  Set (#2 of 10) from House of Staunton  and absolutely love it!  The ebony pieces have such beautiful underlying “currents” to them. They are simply beautiful works of art. The look, the weight and the “feel” of these pieces are second to none IMO.  I felt this way so much so that I purchased a second set (from the concurrent Rapid and Blitz event with the same exact style pieces) for a lesser price to be used in my tournament and club games —the Commemorative  Set will be preserved for my personal study and some occasional tournament use.  

I highly recommend this set

***as for chessbazaar…. I own  two of their sets and BOTH (both) have cracked pieces. One set (that I paid over $300 for has at least 6 cracked pieces and it’s only two months old and it has only been used for study. Every day I check to see if another piece is cracked.  When I reached out to them, they said their limited lifetime warranty was “limited” to the first 48 hours you own the set… a very limited warranty…. They did agree to mail me one replacement piece (the first I noticed was cracked the day it arrived) but one month later, I still haven’t received it.   —Buyer beware with Chessbazaar

Axxe....I hope you get much pleasure from that new set.

I can't wrap my head around Chessbazaar's attitude and their absolutely absurd interpretation of Limited Lifetime Warrantee!....What a great way to attract new customers,who frequent Chess.com.....How do you spell "D..U..M..B"?