Post your Travel Chess Sets

I won this set from an eBay listing back on June 1, 2014.  The seller is a man living in Thornton, Lancashire, United Kingdom who was a jeweler for 34 years.  He told me he has a eye for fine, jewelry-like items, though he didn't make this set or it would have been much more expensive.

The set sold for £50 or using the exchange rate at the time, $86.  The shipping was $19 for a total of $105.  Not bad since I bid nearly $130, which did not include shipping.

Unfortunately, the set has no markings on the leather case, the board or the base of the pieces so that's all I can tell you about its origin.

Best,
Bob 

Wow. Some of these sets are incredible. It's amazing what they can do with so little space.

Here's mine:

I love this little set. Only $12 on Amazon. It's all plastic, so the first board melted a bit and warped until it was unplayable after I left in on my dash in the dead of summer. So I bought another! The pieces aren't too small for big fingers. And they're magnetic. The board folds in half to store the pieces. It also comes with a backgammon board printed on the inside and checker pieces with dice for both checkers and backgammon. Nifty little board. Folded up it's about the size of a small, but rather thick book.

Thanks for posting your set, Danielle.  Yes, Yellow Mountain Imports sells some nice, reasonably priced sets; you probably can't beat them for the money.  Almost three years ago I purchased a Yellow Mountain Imports travel set of International Draughts / Checkers with a 10 square x 10 square magnetic board and 40 checkers, 20 per side, for only $4.99 plus shipping.  It measures 11" x 11", is very durable, and came in a box with Chinese writing, no English.  Unfortunately, it is not longer available.  Perhaps it was an overseas closeout.  Your set should last a long time with proper care.

Best,
Bob

Well, Chess Bazaar used to be outstanding in terms of travel chess sets. I don't know if this is still true with their 16" travel set but it looks promising.
http://www.chessbazaar.com/travel-series-folding-magnetic-chess-set-in-sheesham-box-wood-16.html

Nice looking but a bit pricey, Mr. Philley.  Then again, a 16-inch travel set is unusual; 12-inch sets are more common and markedly less expensive.

Best,
Bob

I don't know how big the set is, 2QiC, but I can give you a little background on the one I'm familiar with.  The metal board/plastic case measures 5-1/4" x 2-5/8" x 3/4" closed.  The king is 3/4-inch in height.  The pieces are soft plastic in contrast to the hard plastic used for the 1950s-60s Hong Kong peg-in sets.  It is made in China, which should come as no surprise.  Lastly, it can be found on Amazon and sometimes eBay.

Here is a link to one sold by Amazon, but it is not quite the same set as posted by Venom.

Best,
Bob 

Thanks for the heads up, 2Q1C.  Not a bad price for an In Statu Quo considering the condition.  Too bad there is no storage space for the pieces, but those models are markedly more expensive.

Thanks for the post, 2Q1C.  Yes, these are relatively common on eBay along with the ones with full width drawers on each side; your version is the nicer of the two in my opinion.

You paid a remarkably low price, mine was $18 plus free shipping.  My set appears to be unused with tight holes, no wear to the varnished board, and a blue retail box with virtually no wear.  That said, your photos show a set in equally fine condition.  Good catch. 

That is a really neat looking travel set. I took a look at eBay.com but had no luck. Then I looked on eBay.co.uk and did find one there, but it was far more expensive than 99 p or $18, alas. Maybe my timing is bad, or maybe I'm not using the right search terms. If you have any tips for me for finding that set, please let me know, because I would love to have one of those sets.

Hello JonThePawn,

Getting a set like this for 99p is a fluke.  The seller set a starting price at the bare minimum and 2Q1C was the only bidder; that rarely happens with a low starting price, at least in the US.  My set was purchased from eBay using Buy-it-Now in April 2013; the seller was from California.  Eighteen was fairly reasonable for a like new set with retail box.

I just searched eBay USA and eBay UK using "German Chess," then "Traveling Chess" and finally "Miniature Chess" and found three sets, two with half-width drawers and one with full-width drawers.  One set is reasonably priced, that is if you live in the UK, the rest are ridiculous.  Take this Canadian seller (click here); he wants $50 Canadian for a set with missing pieces, and that doesn't include $20 postage.  That's just loony.  One seller in the UK (click here) wants £44.99 and £14.90 postage, which is equally outrageous.  At least that set is complete.  Only one seller in the UK (click here) is asking the relatively sane £21.50, but the postage is £17.71 for a total price of $49 US, which is still pricey.

Since this style shows up far more regularly than the Shoptaugh I mentioned in Post #23, be patient and wait for a reasonable listing on eBay USA.  You might also check Etsy.  Good luck.

Best,
Bob

This looks like a great magnetic set for just 9.9 Euros. I wish some chess vendor would carry this set so I could pay a reasonable amount of shipping.  Google didn't translate the page for some reason so instead of trying to order it with shipping I left. I have no idea if they would even ship to the USA.

Please someone carry this this looks great for the price.  An Italian distributor/seller this looks like.

http://www.scacco.it/it/scacchi/magnetici-inglese-magnetic/scacchiera-magnetica-in-plastica-pezzi-a-disco

Free shipping for orders higher than 75 Eur (roughly 80 USD)

I would pay shipping as long as it is not insane but I do not know if the ship to the USA or not. Finally found the icon for the translation via Google.

Update found the shipping to the US. The magnetic chess set is 12.50 Euros to ship to the US.  More than the set but the set does look nice.  Has to be a source for this set, maybe a US chess dealer will carry it.

Great thread Thanks all for the pictures and reviews. I immediately liked (and purchased) the ChessHouse 9" Milled Travel Set.  It's a great size and the clincher for me was it not being a box or having hard edges. My only concern, now that I have it, is the board might become "bowed" over time due to the bulk of the pieces pouch. Wonder if anyone has had an issue with that.

Also, anyone have any advice on how or if the leather needs to be treated or taken care of?  Just curious.

Had to share some photos. Sorry about the post-processing, I couldn't resist:

In the last image you can see the bulge of pieces pouch. Maybe it's best to not use that pouch and simply put the pieces in loose with the board? I guess time will tell.

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the post, your sepia-toned photos and the link to ChessHouse.  That is an attractive set, better than many.

As far as placing the pieces loose with the board, the bases are likely to make indentations in the surface of the board's cover.  Try to spread out the pieces in the bag and keep it as flat as possible so there isn't undo pressure on the folding leather board.  Perhaps the best solution is to keep the board in its bag and the pieces in their bag and use the ring to attach the bags together.

As far as an application to keep the leather new and pliable, you might look into this item.  Be careful, however, because this may darken the squares.

Best,
Bob

Thanks, Bob. Very helpful suggestions. I'll see how it goes. In reality the set is going to be used mainly at home as an aid for studying books and such so it's not going to get much abuse. Still, I'm super happy I'll now have a board close at hand where ever I go.

The fold flat magnetic set pictured at #132 is smaller, 6" wide. It does fit in my pocket, has a separate place for captured pieces, and two extra queens. If you order just one, it will cost about $12, more than half of which is the shipping cost. I ordered ten and with the savings on shipping, paid about $6 each. I'm keeping two for myself and selling the other eight at the chess club for $10 (four sold so far). When the others are sold I'll end up being about $20 and two new travel sets ahead.

@havelock3 - I have not had an issue with the board bending. It travels with me on my frequesnt work road trips and have not had any issues like that.

Love the set, I initially traded out the original pieces with ones that "fit" a little more comfortably. It was great. I am now using the original "wide and squat" pieces and I am getting used to them. 

I would think just a leather conditioner would be all that is needed although I have not bothered with anything like that.

How strong are the magnets?  I only ask because many travel sets that have regular pieces with magnets in them as weak and you have to be careful.

They used to have smaller diameter pieces prior to 2015.  Just curious why they changed, my guess they had no choice as the manufacturer changed the specs.  Looks a bit crowded but maybe works out good for a travel set.