Pet Peeves of chess sets.

I can not stand different colored finials on chess pieces in tournament play. I do own a couple of sets like this and do not mind playing them in a club setting, casual games, but not in tournament play. 

I have a couple of pet peeves related to design principles.

I really hate the sets in which the pieces are not sufficiently differentiated. The most common offenders are pawns/bishops, bishops/queens, queens/kings that are very similar looking, usually when the set is in a more abstract style, and the bishop and queen are just slightly shorter/taller versions of each other. For me, each piece should be instantly identifiable by itself, without having to line up all the pieces together so you can say "that one is the bishop, that taller one is the queen etc". (Sorry I don't have an example pic to show what I mean.)

My other pet peeve is with those sets that have the bishops' bobbles in the alternate colour (so the white bishops have a black bobble and vice versa). I get the impression (from this forum) that a lot of people like this, but I really can't stand it. While I think it looks ugly, my main gripe is the arbitrary nature of it. I understand the king having a distinct colouring as the king is a fundamentally different piece to the others and I like the idea of the king having an extra "highlight" on the board, but with the bishops it ruins the set for me. The rooks, pawns, and knights are all a solid colour, but the bishops have a bit of the opposite colour?! ARGH! I think it's usually seen in Soviet era sets which I otherwise usually like for their general look and style.

Wierd-looking pieces. I once played with a set where the knight had 2 heads opposite each other.  Hideous and took up too much board space.

I am put off many historic sets because the Queen is too small; little taller than a bishop. The thing I hate most of all though, is when the pieces are the wrong size for the board, especially if they are too small.

Leaning pieces are my pet peeve.

A sign of poor quality wood. Like a chef cooking with spoiled food. Or a builder using shoddy construction materials. The garbage wood was most likely used to save money and maximize profits. A leaning piece was avoidable but the manufacturer chose to ignore it. Greed. It irks me everytime I see it. Even the slightest lean of a piece annoys me.

If a vintage set is desirable enough, I can deal with a chipped piece. A broken collar. Even a queen with a dinged crown. These are accidental dings incurred during the course of years and years of ownership and play. 

 A leaning piece is the kiss of death for a set in my opinion. 

umm sorry but what does the term "pet peeves" mean??

also yeah I am dumb

My first Jura wood set has some leaning and I was annoyed by it yes. Now I have several Jura wood sets and I have made peace with it, some have more leaning than others. That's just how it is.

Mind you even a vintage Jaques sets is prone to a bent King or leaning Queen , maybe it's part of the history that mirrors the monarchs of there time ?

It’s not that you’re dumb at all, just a different language usage. It means an “irritant” or a something that really bugs you, annoys you, or just something you really dislike. 

I don’t care for the opposing colors on the bishop’s mitre but it isn’t really an irritant or pet peeve of mine. My pet peeve is that there are so many great sets out there and I’ll have room and money for just one… or perhaps two… or maybe…

I would rather be punched in the face than purchase a vintage Jaques set with a leaning piece at an ultra premium price. My Garbage Chavet® set has slight leans and knots but it's a modern set at a cheap retail price. It's cheap enough that I can treat it as a joke

It sounds like @Pawnerai doesn’t like leaning pieces. At all. Am i getting that correct?

Ohh got it thanks 

Also I love my chess set lol

yes please continue, you were saying?

I know what you're saying, that's why I do bargain hunting and some I sold with profit to invest in more sets. Only one problem....I keep most set as they're such beauty and hard to find

Yeah, I concur for all pet peeves so far mentioned, for me it needs to be perfect. Sure I can play with all the sets out there but to own is another story. I own CB Dubrovnik v3 and gave away perfectly fine CB Reykjavik set I bought locally just because bishops not differentiated enough.

I fully admit, it's irrational for leaning pieces to annoy me as much as it does. But hey, that's the textbook definition of "pet peeve"

"A minor annoyance that an individual finds particularly irritating to them, to a greater degree than would be expected based on the experience of others."

I made a sign with our name and address number for the end of the driveway. Two 4 x 4 posts holding it up. One post is as straight as new, the other has bowed terribly. Irks the daylights out of me. My wife says leave it alone, it adds character. I say it’s building character…in me as i learn to “let it go…” grrrrr. So, i understand. Might have to join “Leaners Anonymous” to get the help we need. 

I'm right there with you on that one bud, here's the Botez sisters at it again. This time with an odd pawn, maybe they're doing on purpose lol,

youtube.com/watch?v=qAfGaZzFR1I

I absolutely hate misaligned squares on a chess board. I can put up with one maybe two small ones but my OCD goes into overdrive when I see more. On a slightly lower part of the spectrum would be receiving a new set that has one or more quality issue that requires replacement. The retailers and manufacturers are usually good about replacing damaged pieces, but I always think it is a waste of time to go through the process of exchange when the seller could just spend 5 minutes to inspect the pieces before they go out. The lack of effort on their part causes delays for me to get what I paid for already. I'm sure I have more but that's all I can think of at this moment.

If I was a reseller of chess equipment and received misaligned squares on more than one occasion I would dump the person or company making the boards.