Official FIDE Championship Set - Fool Me Twice

Some of you may remember my post back in December where I shared pictures of my "new" official FIDE championship set I bought directly from World Chess. The set had many problems, including cracked pieces, worn ebonization, scratches, and in general looked like it was very heavily used in addition to being poorly made, with poor quality control (if not outright malice) allowing it to be sent out to a customer. I ended up returning the set while having to pay return shipping myself.

When I bought those pieces though, it was as part of a set, including the board. I wasn't really interested in the board and only wanted the pieces. A few weeks ago I found out that World Chess now had the pieces alone back in stock. I really do want the set for my collection, so I decided to take the chance and order the set from them.

The TLDR is while the prior set was clearly used and poorly crafted with poor quality control, this newer set is only poorly crafted with poor quality control. So, credit where credit is due I guess. Pictures below.

I actually did a live unboxing on Twitch, and separated the pieces into one of 3 sections as I went. "Perfect" pieces that appeared to have no problems at all. "Imperfect" pieces, that had small problems that I either wouldn't have noticed at all if I wasn't looking so closely after my first experience, or if I had noticed them I probably wouldn't give them a second thought. And then the "bad" pile - pieces with obvious flaws.

Of the 38 pieces in the set, 9 were in the "perfect pile", 9 pieces in the "imperfect" pile, and the remaining 16 pieces in the "bad" pile.

Despite this, I was actually considering keeping the set, and only asking for exchanges of some of the most egregious bad pieces. The pieces remained on my desk, just as I had left them after unboxing them. Tonight as I went to move them to a shelf, I noticed a new problem.

I'm certain this crack wasn't there last night when I unboxed the set, as I went over all of the pieces very carefully. So it must have formed over the course of the day due to the humidity in the room it is in. But if I had one piece crack so quickly, I have to wonder how many more will crack in the weeks and months ahead? To have a piece crack so quickly to me seems like a sign that the wood wasn't properly dried out/prepared before being carved into the pieces.

So now I feel I have no choice but to return the set - again.

It's come to my attention that House of Staunton now also sells the official FIDE championship set. How long have they been doing this? I'm certain they weren't selling it back in December when I got my first set.

Also, who is making the HoS sets? The same people making the sets that World Chess is selling, or is HoS in charge of making the sets themselves with their usual people?

I know Chess House also has a version of the set. I'm considering my options now. 

I'm fairly certain HoS didn't start stocking the Official FIDE set until after your (mis)adventures in December.  I'm also quite certain that the HoS set is the Official, Official, no-kidding FIDE set (for what that's worth...) and as such will come with the same quality you've come to know and love - unless you can get HoS to do a detailed inspection before they ship to you.  They may or may not be up for the task - let us know how it goes.

Note that the Chess House set isn't the Official thing, just "FIDE style".  But you are guaranteed much better customer service!

@OptimusBlunders That just scks. Cracking ebonized boxwood is a sign of EXTREMELY low quality. 

House of Staunton started carrying the Official FIDE WCC set at around the end of January / beginning of February 2022. With the current 15% coupon, it ends up being $382 usd (shipped) for domestic orders. It is not a HoS branded version. It's the same exact WCC set World Chess sells. In the US, I would only purchase this set from HoS if I was in the market for one for the ease of getting replacement pieces. No point in asking HoS to inspect the pieces. It's subjective. Assume, you WILL need replacement pieces after the set arrives. 

Also, since this FIDE WCC set is not a HoS branded product, does their one year cracked piece replacement policy apply? Confirm with them and get it in writing.

Sadly, time and time again, I see terrible manufacturing quality of the WCC FIDE set. I can only guess that World Chess went with the absolute lowest bidder during the last contract renewal with the manufacturer.

These overseas chess manufacturers are capable of so much more,,, if they wanted to. 

The ChessHouse version is ever so slightly different. The felts are green for both sides. And the Knight has slightly different proportions and carving. Most people won't notice unless holding the 2 Knight versions side-by-side. But hey, it's half the price!

Terrible and inexcusable. So sorry to see these photos, @OptimusBlunders. It's a shame what World Chess has allowed to happen to this special design.

This is what I was afraid of. I had already e-mailed HoS to ask them this question, and they confirmed it. They aren't at all involved in the making of these pieces, so they will have the same "quality" as the rest of the World Chess sets.

I'm returning the World Chess set, and I've already ordered the FIDE set from Chess House. It's going to arrive before the end of the week, and I plan to re-felt them with white and black felt. I'll post pictures of that set after it arrives, both before and after I change the felt. If there's a problem with the Chess House set, I'm going to just give up on owning this set, despite how much it will disappoint me and please my wife...

If possible, don't return the World Chess set until the ChessHouse repro set arrives to compare the feel, balance and playability of the two sets side by side. To me, it felt like the ChessHouse repro Knight felt a little unstable compared to the WC set due to the slightly narrower(?) Knight carving. It might've just been in my head. It would be great to hear your thoughts on it.

Thanks for the share though. One of the sets I'm hoping to get, but now likely hold back until their quality improves. I would have thought this being their "leading" set for FIDE, they would have picked a better craftsman.

My thoughts exactly!

Not at all - their primary goal was, and continues to be, profit.

Wow, really disappointing that this second set just confirms what we thought when you posted that first thread. Looks like it is a widespread problem. They are likely cranking out those sets as fast as they can, using improperly aged woods and improperly trained craftsmen. It's a shame, because I love the design of this set and I was interested in acquiring one, but I would never dare after seeing your two threads. As I said in the previous thread, this is nothing but malice and greed at this point.

It's so difficult to figure out what's true among the controversy, but I *thought* the contract between World Chess and FIDE ended with the 2021 world championship cycle. Does anyone know any more about that? I wonder if they're at the stage where they're just trying to milk the brand while they still can and as a result are willing to push out any old trash at the highest price possible. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

bishop has teeth

I have digital calipers that I'll bring when I go to  @OptimusBlunder's place to check out the Chess House set.  Also to your earlier point I also suspect that they changed to a cheaper manufacturer. 

Yeah, but you'd think investing some more money for much better quality would be more profitable in the long run. All of the reputable online chess retailers we are aware of do it.

I find it highly unlikely many (if any) collectors would accept a set in such a condition. The return rates when someone like a member of this forum receives such a set must be very high. That leaves me to wonder then, who is actually keeping these sets and allowing World Chess to turn a profit selling them?

Is it casual chess people who are new to the game? People who are likely to just buy the set, use it once or twice, and then let the box collect dust?

I'm also continuing to wonder how FIDE allows this to continue. Total speculation, but I wonder if there's any corruption taking place with palms being greased in a manner similar to some of the big scandals we've seen with FIFA and soccer, with World Cup hosting privileges' being awarded to the country that paid the right bribes to the right people.

Can anyone think of a chess publication that would be willing to do a story on this? World Chess being called out on just a forum like this is far less than they deserve for what they are doing. They really need to be publicly shamed for this.

Well, for a business or organization to remain viable and sustainable, "profit" is not something we should deny them. This set is not sold at a low end price so I would think it's still viable for them to make profit yet turn in a signature series (which in turn helps to promote the FIDE brand).

So, I was procrastinating about sending the pieces back for my refund. When I finally got around to it, the return address was in the UK and the price to send them back was really high. So I contacted World Chess about sending them back to a location in the US. After asking for the address and sending some pictures of the condition of the set was in when I got it, they just gave me a full refund. They asked me not to send the pieces back.

Well I'm glad to hear they gave you a full refund. You know the pieces are crap if they don't even want them back. There are too many beautiful designs in the world to put up with that kind of nonsense.

Full refund and don't bother returning. Can't complain with that! 

Honestly ask yourself if you will ever use the damaged WC set. If not, consider donating the set to Salvation Army or Goodwill. I'm sure someone out there will use them. 

My thought is that they would probably just literally throw them away after receiving them, so what's the point? I've had other types of products in the past where the seller told me to just keep it when I asked for a refund. Wouldn't have imagined it would happen with a chess set like this though. I would have thought at the least, once they got them back they could replace the worst pieces and then throw the set into circulation for FIDE to use at events where members of the general public might use them.

I'm unsure of what to do with them at the moment. Right now I'm thinking of buying individual replacement pieces for the worst pieces in the set (4 that I can think of - 2 knights, a bishop, and a pawn), and then either selling it on eBay advertising it as an imperfect set. That, or gifting it to a friend.

Hahaha, doesn't World Chess sell single replacement pieces?  Asking for a friend...