House of Chess Travel Sets first impressions

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$)

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!

What I like:

1. Rosewood/Maple board is nice to see. Dark squares are not so deep, but also not so light as Sheesham, and the wood grains are straight and uniformed. The AN on the 13" board is inlaid with maple, very beautiful. But strangely again, some inlaid squares are not clearly bordered to each other like CB board, a few squares even have cracks.

2. 13" set comes with a 2.56" weighted broad base Rosewood/Boxwood chessman. I like this set of chessman very much. The wood finish is very good, similar to that of HOS Rosewood Zagreb, but with lighter purple color and natural luster. This set is small but still nicely weighted and nicely detailed. The Rook top (in between the turret) is cleanly finished out, something CB sets fail to do. The king's crown is huge and beautifully rounded at the edge. The knight is typical Staunton style with enough details. The bishop is unique shaped and with very clean cuts, something CB sets fail to do. Then the 12" magnetic chessman is a little disappointment, seems too much wax or glue to wrap out the wood losing the natural luster of the wood. I observe the demo pictures from HOC sites. It seems to me that their more expensive 12" set (80$) with AN board has more beautifully finished chess pieces with natural wood luster. But I cannot be assured without seeing the stuff.

But there is one problem when matching this chessman (30mm king base) with the 13" board (35mm square size). The chessman is just too wide! I think they may match 14" board (38~40mm square size) better.

So these two travel sets still cannot make my perfect travel set. 12" is a little too big for carrying everywhere on the trains etc. 13" is perfect moving around at home for study and play with kid, but the included chess pieces are just too wide and too crowed.

My general impressions with HOC are very mixed. It seems that their board quality is not so good as CB, even the metal button component looks better than CB's, the other aspects are all inferior to CB's. The hinge tolerances, the wood straigtness, the inlaid qualities. But the inlaid AN is really nice.

But the 2.56" broad base chessman impresses me a lot. The details are very well touched.

So I am going to buy HOC 2.75" Emperor (I think it should be Galaxy) Chess pieces (only available from the 12" drawer set) to match this 13" beautifully AN inlaid Rosewood fold board. 

And I am also very interested with HOC 3" Galaxy narrow base sets. They are beautifully shaped and detailed, weighted, and with good variety of woods (Ebony, Bud Rosewood, Mahogany, Wenge, Walnut, Rosewood, Sheeshm, Boxwood) and hugely discounted. And they will be also matched with 38~40mm boards due to the narrow base. 

Btw, I have one 14" CB travel set coming on the way. This one should have the square around 38mm, which will be good match to that 2.56" broad base HOC set and those Galaxy 3" (narrow base) sets.

I try to sum up what I saw. For sure they may not be correct since I have only a few sets from CB and HOC.

1. CB has better travel/magnetic board

2. HOC has better travel chessman. HOC's 10" and above sets have Staunton style knight, 9" and below have German style knight. CB always has German style knight for their magnetic sets. I prefer Staunton Knight.

3. HOC has much more wider portfolio on travel/magnetic sets. CB has only Sheesham wood. HOC has Sheesham, Rosewood, Bud Rosewood, even Ebony on some sizes. HOC has inlaid AN.

4. They both have some unique models. HOC 13" set is interesting, the board is good with AN, the chessman is good being weighed and with nice details. But sadly size is matching. CB has 14" set. These two are not magnetic.

Sadly, they both seems not have the perfect travel magnetic set. That should be an Albastros Venezia made with India chess craftship. 

1. about 10 inch box

2. about 1.2 inch square, so the border should be narrow

3. inlaid board, with/without inlaid AN

4. board rosewood/maple or boxwood, pieces sheesham/boxwood. I just don't understand why Indian makers are insisting using the same wood for dark square and dark pieces. They should NOT be the same color. And darker pieces are not easy to be found if lost when traveling.

5. chess peices not heavily waxed to have more natural luster, but not so dull as Albastros Venezia.

6. chessman should be wide base enough, king base to square should be at least 0.75 or about. chessman should not be too high, looking like match sticks on the board.

7. box should not be high, as thin as possible. No need for EP foam holders. Just two seperated spaces like CB 14" model. This again will help make thickness less.

8. no smelling fake leather case. Give us some nice cushioned Nylon case like used by middle end binoculars. The good wood products deserves this.

Thanks for the write up. I'm also looking into buying a travel set but I have not yet started the search.

Please, what is AN?

AlphaNumeric

Vertical axis: 1~8

Horizontal axis: A~H

After my initial post, I got another set from House of Staunton CS9494, that one with Galaxy style 2.75" chess pieces and 12" Bud Rosewood drawer board.

I have to say this Galaxy style 2.75" chess pieces is gorgeous compared to those normal magnetic chess pieces.

So now for me,

the best magnetic travel set may be:

HOC 12" Rosewood board (1.2" square) + HOC 2.75" Galaxy Bud Rosewood magnetic pieces

the best non-magnetic travel set should be:

HOC 13" Rosewood board (1.37" square) + HOC 2.75" Galaxy Bud Rosewood non-magnetic weighted pieces

HOC or CB is always selling combined set using the same wood for dark square and dark pieces. As I said before, this kind of wood choice is not best for playing IMHO. I tried several combinations, finding that Budrosewood pieces on Rosewood board, and Ebony pieces on Sheesham or Walnut board quite pleasing and easy to recognize.

HOC is open for customization. So even HOC is not selling those two combination as I recommended, maybe they can customize. Actually 2.75" Galaxy non-magnetic weighted pieces are not shown on HOC site at all, but they replied that they can (for sure) do it. 

Just place an order for a set of 2.75" Bud Rosewood weighted Galaxy.

Really looking forward to receiving it and match it with that 13" AN Rosewood board.

HOC said they also have Ebony wood for customization. I like Ebony, and since I already have one 2.75" Galaxy not weighted and magnetci format in Budrosewood, maybe I should choose Ebony. But since this beautiful 13" board is Rosewood and in my opinion Ebony match better with lighter dard square boards, such as Sheesham or Walnut instead of Rosewood, so I still choose Bud Rosewood. I may sell that the 12" Budrosewood magnetic drawer set later or just keep it for that beautiful red Budrosewood board, even I don't like to play on the red board I still think it as strikingly beautiful.

This is what it will look like with the 2.75" Galaxy Budrosewood on the 13" Rosewood board.

The pieces now are magnetic and very light. So they are prone to wobble and they may stick to each other very often. But you can see the size match is really good, better than on a 12" board I think.

To the left is a 3" Ebony Galaxy set on a CB 14" (1.5" square) Sheesham folding travel board. It's really gorgeous. The 3" Galaxy chess pieces have much better finish than 2.75", but they share the exact same beautiful and very practical design.

When the customized chess peices arrive, I think I will have the best 13" travel set, and the best 14" travel set

Just got my customized 2.75" Galaxy weighted, nonmagnetic Budrosewood/ Boxwood chess pieces. I have to day it is a gorgeous set!! And it is perfectly matching that 13" AN folding board! Why the hell HOC is not selling this combination by themselves??

I also got one 15" (1.5" square)Rosewood/Maple chess board from HOC. I am totally stunned by the high quality! It is much much better than the folding chess board from the same vedor of HOC. The veneer alignment, the wood grain, the finish, every aspect is better. I am in love with this board from first sight!

I have to buy more boards from HOC, different size, different wood.

The 2.75" Galaxy weighted pieces feel so good. In the beginning I thought even the finish is better than that magnetic set I got before. But when I took the magnetic Galaxy out and compare side by side, I found that the finish quality is very similar, no obvious differences. I think this kind of better quality feeling is from the weight. The weight make the pieces feel more substantial in the hand and then make you feel them superior in quality than those lighter ones.

I also got another two types of woods 3" Galaxy chess pieces, one in Walnut and one in Wenge. I found the Walnut feeling better than Malhogny. And the very uniformed grain from Wenge wood is also very fascinating.

Bravo, HOC! You really make good chess stuff!

This is 3" Galaxy Ebony/Boxwood on a CB 14" (1.5" square) Sheesham/Boxwood folding board

This is 3" Ebony/Boxwood Galaxy on a 15" Rosewood/Boxwood board. Gorgeous combination!!

And HOC is selling it on eBay at 130USD! It is just like a steal!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wooden-Chess-Set-Pieces-Ebony-Wood-Galaxy-Staunton-King-Size-3-Chess-Board-/121511053631?hash=item1c4a9f893f

The HOC 2.75" weighted set is just so good, so I am going to buy it in Ebony/Boxwood too.

And I like that 13" Rosewood/Maple AN folding board, but I would like to have it in Sheesham too. 

So I just wrote to HOC to see if I can have a customization for the above two.

My customization from HOC finally arrived after some weeks of waiting:

Board: 13" Sheesham/Maple folding board with Inlaid AN - with single empty compartment, no EPM foam

Chessman: 2.75" Ebony/Boxwood Galaxy set, weighted, non magnetic - with a small felt bloth bag enclosed as that enclosed in the 3" Galaxy set. 

This is the ultimate traveling/folding/non-magnetic set in my opinion. It is just so good in every aspect. 

This combination set is better than Chessbazaar 14" folding set:

1. smaller - 13" vs 14"

2. Chess pieces better weighted and more elegant - CB 2.75" Staunton style chess pieces are too light at about 400g, not as heavy as this 2.75" HOC Galaxy set at about 500~600g. The Galaxy set from HOC is very elegant and quite unique.

3. square inlaid thicker - about 5mm vs 3mm

4. board buckle better quality - CB's buckle is horrible

5. with AN, and the AN is INLAID!

6. single compartment, a felt bag enclosed - better than that two compartments in CB board. Why? A bag to hold all pieces in and then put the bag into that big single compartment and lay it as flat as possible and then close the board. The pieces will not collide to each other to hurt each other and make noises! CB should enclose two bags for their two seperate compartment. But sadly no. I think I need to find some appropriate bags for this purpose.

This combination is also much better than that HOC 13" set:

1. Chessman more elegant - HOC 13" set comes with a broad base set looking much inferior to Galaxy series

2. wood combination is better - rosewood pieces on rosewood board is not the best recognizable setup in my opinion. I like Ebony on Sheesham the best.

3. square inlaid thicker - 5mm vs 3mm too. this surprises me since they are both HOC made.

4. pure wood color - HOC 13" Rosewood board is dyed in many parts. I don't like it.

5. compartment design - This is much better than those EPM foam compartment with holes for each piece dig out. Very fast to deploy and put back the pieces. And the pieces will be held in the bag (tied) and then put into that compartment. The pieces will not collide each other when the board is carried and moved around. I hate those dig out EPM compartment. Very slow to take out and put back the pieces. And they smell a lot.

Just wonder why HOC is not making and listing this combination as my customization on their website as regularly available.

I will later tonight take some photos of my customization and post them here.