chess pieces swapped. The picture is representing more truthful color.
The delivery of HOC is quite impressive. Very fast and very low additional fees.So I got them just after one week after the ordering.
However my first impressions are quite mixed.
Disapoint 1: smell is disgusting. The fake leather wrap smell bad, the glue for sticking that EP foam holder is just smelling horribly. I throw the two wraps right away. And I took out the whole EP foams right away. And I leave the two boards on terrace to let go the smell for a whole day.
CB is also using EP foam to hold the pieces and I think CB is also using some glue to stick them. But you can smell almost nothing from CB set.
Disappoint 2: tolerances. The hinge is not so tight, the lines are not so straight. When fold out, there is a big gap in the middle. I have to put some papers under one side bottom to lift it a little bit higher to make the gap disappear.
Disappoint 3: the four sides (except bottom and down) are dyed. I just don't understand this. Why HOC is afraid to show the natural beautiful grain of Rosewood on these sides. And the two in-between sides where you can see the inlaids are also dyed. But then the light maple (not the usual Indian Boxwood, another thing I cannot understand) cannot be dyed, so you will see some dyes messed out here or there. Very bad decision and treatment to dye the board!
CB D0144 14" travel set vs HOC 13" travel set
Before purchasing from House of Chess (HOC), I had three travel sets:
1. Albatros Venezia, box 265mm*265mm, square 29mm*29mm.
Like: perfect size in every aspect. box is small enough, however square is big enough due to the narrow border, chessman size is in perfect harmony to board. The narrow border even has Algebric notations. No wonder this is the no1 selling chess set in Amazon.de.
Dislike: board is not inlaid/veneered. Dark squre should have be dyed. Wood is Hornbeam, Beach, Mahogany. Don't know which wood is the reason, but whenever I open the box, I can smell some strange sour wood smell. Chess pieces are dull and not finished with luster like the Indian made ones.
2. Albatros Staunton 4, box 420mm*420mm, square 42*42mm
Good value for the size. But everything the same dislikes like Albatros Venezia. After playing with CB 3" Staunton, I defenitely have no interest with this set anymore.
3. Chessbazaar 10inch, box 254mm*254mm, square 25.4mm*25.4mm
Like: perfect board work. The hinge tolerance is very tight, every lines are straight and bite to each other when fold out without any gaps. Also perfect inlaid process. Dark squares are made of Sheesham, squre ones are made of Boxwood, you can see the inlaids clearly when the board is folded in.
Dislike: the size. 1" square is just too small, so are the pieces come with this set. And the peices are also very tall, looking very funny like match sticks. Actually the box size is not much difference compared with Albatros Venezia, but the squre is much smaller due to the wide border on CB set compared to the narrow border on Venezia.
Very bad chess pieces details. The rook's turret is almost gone. The knight is simplified German style, not the more detailed Staunton style.
The box is unnecessarily high.
So finally I have no perfect travel set from these three sets. If CB can copy Albatros Venezia and make it with India chess woods and craftship, that will be perfect.
When I just found out the rich portfolio of House of Chess for travel sets, I am quite excited. Very quickly, I bought two sets from HOC:
1. 12" Rosewood simple magnetic set (60$)
2. 13" Rosewood non-magnetic set with AN (60$)