First nice chess set

Yes, my point is that I find 2.25” squares a little too big for these pieces, although usable. 55mm feels perfect to me. 2” is also usable, and it’s what the set ships with if you buy the board from World Chess, but many people find that a little cramped.

Got it now.  I had misread your earlier statement to mean that the 2.25" board was to small for the pieces.  In fact, your point was just the opposite, i.e., that the pieces were, in your opinion, too small for a 2.25' board.  Thanks for setting me straight!

Not to worry. Since I’ve got this set, and all three sizes of board, would anyone find it useful if I posted comparison photos? If there’s interest then I can do it, but otherwise I won’t take up the bandwidth.

@againseriously - Photos are neither here nor there to me.

I'm always game to see some nice chess photos, especially featuring one of my favorite sets.

@againseriously I would definitely appreciate some pics

OK, here's the official WC set I bought a few months ago on three different boards: 2.25", 55mm, and 2". The last one is the official WC board that ships with it if you buy the whole set (or at least it was when I bought it).

Thanks for taking the time to do it. Can definitely see how they are a bit more spaced out on the 2.25in board. Looks better to my eye for either the 55mm or 2in.

The photos look great. I don't mind cramped setups at all so the official board is appealing to me, but as usual I'll take the pretty slim border veneer.

 

On a related note, how is the carving quality of your pieces? On my studio WC set they definitely cut some corners on the bishops and there are some small gouges on a couple knight snouts, but I've been expecting/hoping the full set would be a little better in that regard. 

The carving and finish on mine is OK, maybe a touch lax in spots — there are no outright flaws, but it isn’t anything like a luxury set either. On the other hand, my set did have a significant number of pawns with loose weights right out of the box. I decided to live with it rather than pursue them for replacements, but that was annoying for the price they charge. Overall I’m happy with it because I like the design, it handles very well, and it’s something fresh to counterbalance the historical reproduction sets I own, but the QC does seem to be an issue. That isn’t unique to the World Chess store though. These days it seems that similar issues can crop up with any seller.

Their support is great in my experience and they're very willing to quickly exchange pieces so you might want to try swapping those pawns out. Good luck and enjoy the set. 

@againseriously Great side-by-side comparison photos. I'd be happy with both the 55mm or 2.25in. I can see the tiny bit of extra space might be appreciated in the middlegame where pieces are coming off fast and furious.

To put it in perspective, the difference in size between 55mm and 2.25in is VERY small. We're talking about the width of a coin. The width of 2 credit cards. The width of a grain of rice. You get the idea.

Going by "The Formula" this 1.5in base King set should have been a perfect fit for a 2in sq board. But as one can see, it's not always about King base. And the formula is just a rule of thumb — a basic guideline. Not a hard concrete rule. I think the WC chunky bishops and knights throw the formula out of whack. 

I can only guess how a 50mm board got "officially" bundled with the WC set. Maybe the designer of the WC set was not an avid chess player. Maybe the designer surrounds himself with "yes" people. Maybe the designer just LIKES a more crowded board since it is subjective. 

That official 50mm WC board is really slick looking. I like it!

@againseriously Can you confirm the hexagons are inlaid? Part of the wood veneer? Or printed/painted? Thanks.

The set from chess barons is legit, correct? They seem to be the only one that has them or has had them in stock recently.

@Pawnerai Yes, I also like the board a lot. I never use it with the WC set, but it’s one of my favourites for use with other sets. Regarding the hexagons, to me they do look like inlaid veneer the same as all the other squares and detailing. If they are paint or decals, they’re extraordinarily well done. Unless someone demonstrates otherwise, I believe they are inlay. Regarding the sizing, I share the feeling that the chunky upper profile of the pieces throws off the usual guidelines. Another factor is that the difference in size between the king and the other pieces is less than in some traditional designs. If you size just according to the king with this set, the relativly larger impact of the other pieces isn’t accounted for. That’s actually one thing I really like in this set, because I generally prefer when pieces are a little more uniform in size. But it does mean that special attention is needed when choosing a board.

I think I get it now (maybe). Looking at a library set on Chess Baron, the king base diameter is 1.3" and the ad copy says the "set can easily be accommodated with a board of 1.5 inch squares." Doing the math of Square = 1.33 x king_base, I'm getting a value of 1.729. Does that mean that the suggested-by-the-rule-of-thumb square size would more likely be 1.75" but due to the shape of the pieces and so on, a 1.5" would work? Did I get that right?

"The code is more what you call guidelines than actual rules." - Capt. Barbossa

1.3 is 86.7% of 1.5, so that set on 1.5” squares would be pretty far from the usual guidelines. To my eye, the base on the kings doesn’t look unusually large relative to everything else, so it’s likely to be very much on the cramped side, although some people don’t mind that. And yes, 1.3 / .75 = 1.73, so a 1.75” square would be closer to what the guideline would suggest.

One last thing, since the OP mentioned also considering the HOS Dubrovnik with 3.75” king. I just received that set yesterday, and was happy to find that it works very well on a 55mm board. I was a but worried that I could only use 2.25” based on the king base size, but in fact the set overall is a bit more compact than the WC set.

It kinda sounds like if I were to get a set of pieces without a board, I should be making some paper boards in the size range that I think the pieces would fit, both metric and US customary (I was previously unaware that both were made, but that makes sense, of course), and see how they feel on each of them before pulling the trigger on a nice board. 

Hello everyone, if you are looking good quality and really good price maybe look at some polish chess shop websites? I bought my first wood chess set: staunton nr 5 german (king 3.75 inch - 9 cm) chessboard padouk wood nr 5 with rounded corners and box for about 67 ⍷.