For a board with 1.4 in squares, your best choices would be analysis chess pieces. Between your two options, I prefer the rosewood / mahogany pieces.
When you start to feel adventurous and would like to play with traditional Eastern European designs, consider the Zagreb style. These are on HouseOfStaunton.com:
https://www.houseofstaunton.com/the-zagreb-59-series-chess-pieces-2-875-king.html
For a board with 1.4 in squares, your best choices would be analysis chess pieces. Between your two options, I prefer the rosewood / mahogany pieces.
When you start to feel adventurous and would like to play with traditional Eastern European designs, consider the Zagreb style. These are on HouseOfStaunton.com:
https://www.houseofstaunton.com/the-zagreb-59-series-chess-pieces-2-875-king.html
Thanks so much for your thoughts. I do hope to own a Zagreb or Dubrovnik someday - the finials are very attractive. I wanted to stick to a Staunton style first though, as this is my first proper set.
Do you think the bud rosewood/mahogany pieces have enough contrast between light and dark armies? I'm worried that it'd cause more mental strain during speed chess, but I've not really played OTB speed chess so I'm not sure what the considerations are. As I live in Singapore, getting it exchanged for another set is prohibitive for me, so I really want to get this purchase right. Maybe buy the bud rosewood/mahogany set + a boxwood/ebonized boxwood set? If the bud rosewood/mahogany set isn't contrasting enough, I could swap them to get a bud rosewood/boxwood set and a mahogany/ebonized set, then sell the latter with a laser etched board. Your thoughts?
This set I think would go nicely with the board: https://www.chessbazaar.com/chess-pieces/economy-tournament-chess-pieces/the-collector-series-wooden-staunton-chess-pieces-in-sheesham-box-wood-2-6-king.html
Thanks @sound67, but I've already considered that set. The king's base is slightly too wide, and I prefer the more heavily weighted nature of the other 2 sets that I listed. Any thoughts about my concerns regarding the contrast between mahogany and bud rosewood?
Here's another set that I'm considering, but the base is slightly too wide... https://www.chessbazaar.com/offers-zone/backorder/tournament-series-staunton-chess-pieces-with-german-knight-in-sheesham-box-wood-3-king.html
The Bud Rosewood would work, but I believe getting the set in The regular Rosewood would give a better contrast. The House of Chess Galaxy pieces come in the Rosewood as well.
If you like Black for the dark pieces then getting the Ebonized will also be fine.
The link given in the OP goes to the set with pieces and board. If you want you can buy the pieces without the board.
The Bud Rosewood would work, but I believe getting the set in The regular Rosewood would give a better contrast. The House of Chess Galaxy pieces come in the Rosewood as well.
If you like Black for the dark pieces then getting the Ebonized will also be fine.
The link given in the OP goes to the set with pieces and board. If you want you can buy the pieces without the board.
Thanks for the thoughts! I'm pretty sure the link I put in the OP is for the pieces only, but thanks for the heads up. I think I'm set on bud rosewood for the dark pieces, but I like the look of the mahogany pieces over the boxwood pieces for the light pieces. So the question mainly is: would bud rosewood as the dark pieces and mahogany as the light pieces cause too much confusion during speed chess?
Hey all,
I recently bought a second-hand wood folding board for about 4.50 USD, and am planning to restore it by sanding it down and refinishing it. The pieces that came with it are garbage wood resin ones that you can buy off Aliexpress, so I'm planning to buy a nice set to go with the board. The board is 36 cm/14 inches square, and each square is 3.6 cm/1.4 inches wide. Here are some pictures of the board:
I can't really identify the wood in the board, so I'm a bit afraid of getting a set that has the pieces blending in. I would appreciate any help in identifying the wood.
My current top pick is House of Chess' "Bud Rosewood/Mahogany Wood Chess Set Pieces Galaxy Staunton 3" + 2 Extra Queens", but I'm not sure if the contrast between bud rosewood and mahogany is too slim to allow for speed chess. I really enjoy the darker woods and that you can see the grain more clearly on mahogany, but would bud rosewood/boxwood be more practical? I know @rickyro has all the HOC Galaxy sets, so hopefully you see this and can give some input.
The other set that I'm considering, other than the other HOC Galaxy wood combinations, is Rochester Chess Center's "3" Analysis Wood Chess Set - 4 Queens". This set is very nice too, but I greatly dislike how the rook is nearly the same height as the pawn.
If you have any other sets you would like to recommend please do so! Thank you!