For me personally, the slightly crowded look feels consistent with the feeling I often have when I play a game of chess: a knife fight in a cupboard--a battle for the space to put my pieces on decent squares.
Review - World Chess Studio Set
Sort:
Dec 30, 2021
0
#23
Something I don't understand, however:
"Its unfolded size is 360mm x 360mm x 12mm (36cm x 36cm x 1,2cm). (...) The squares are 45mm. The border around the board is (...) 9 mm. "
My calculations tell me that 45 mm * 8 = 360 mm. Including 2 * 9 mm for the border, would make for a total board size of 378 mm rather than 360 mm. What am I missing?
Thanks @Aernout_nl for finding this mistake!
I don't know why I wrote 360, it supposed to be 380. I corrected the info about the 9mm to 10mm because I checked carefully each border and it is 9,5-ish to mostly 10mm.
Hi, I have added more pictures of the set "in the wild" 
. They are in the first post.
@zbieraj VERY NICE additional photos. I'm starting to see some dings and patina develop on your pieces with use. I find casual portable chess sets much more fun to play with sometimes. Less worrying about keeping them in pristine condition. A fallen piece is more common and part of the game due to the smaller size. During cleanup, grab the pieces by the fistful and drop them into a pouch. Love! This is awesome, enjoy the heck out of them.
Nah, they are the same . The patina could be from the colours of the forest in which I sat and trained. At home they look exactly the same .
I received this set a few days ago, and I'm quite happy with it. Unlike some less lucky people on this board, I have not received any defective pieces, they all look and feel perfect. The base of the kings is a tiny bit smaller than the base of the queens, which I found odd at first, but I quickly got used to it. I'm a little less happy with the foldable board. The felt doesn't feel very durable, and the squares don't align perfectly in the middle. I don't understand why four-quadrant magnetic boards haven't taken over the market for portable boards by now, as they are both more space-saving and better looking than foldable boards.
Welcome to the club, @CatoWeeksbooth. 😎
I think that I might be just lucky then - my board is really well made and the felt underneath is still stable, tightly glued to the wood.
May 10, 2022
0
#31
I'm curious and have a few questions to those who received sets in good condition. 1) Where did you purchase the set from? 2) When was it purchased because I wonder if maybe they changed manufacturers? 3) How many wood sets do you own? Last question is more about getting a sense of your reference.
I purchased the Studio set in Sept 2021 from World Chess. The full WC set was purchased from World Chess in late October 2021 and the DGT FIDE version from Chesshouse around the same time for the absolute maximum price possible. 
I have maybe ~10 sets in total.
BTW, when you say "in good condition", I needed replacements for all three sets, including the DGT.
KineticPawn wrote:
I'm curious and have a few questions to those who received sets in good condition. 1) Where did you purchase the set from? 2) When was it purchased because I wonder if maybe they changed manufacturers? 3) How many wood sets do you own? Last question is more about getting a sense of your reference.
1. From https://worldchess.com
2. Late April 2022
3. Embarrassingly, so many that I don't even know precisely. Probably around 15, including sets from Noj, House of Staunton, Staunton Castle and ChessBazaar. It's becoming a problem.
KineticPawn wrote:
I'm curious and have a few questions to those who received sets in good condition. 1) Where did you purchase the set from? 2) When was it purchased because I wonder if maybe they changed manufacturers? 3) How many wood sets do you own? Last question is more about getting a sense of your reference.
1. World Chess.
2. I ordered them at the beginning of December. I got them like 2 days later.
3. 3 wood sets:
- German Knight 3,75".
- "Official World Chess Pieces", aka. World Chess FIDE Set as I call it.
- World Chess Studio Set.
May 11, 2022
0
#35
Thanks gentlemen @Lotsoblots @CatoWeeksbooth @zbrieraj. I am trying to assess if and when their QC went downhill or if/when they changed manufacturers. Also since you gentlemen all have multiple sets from reputable vendors I am confident you know what a well crafted piece looks like and trust your assessments.
Just noticed this today on the RF site:
http://www.rechapadosferrer.com/en/tableros-de-ajedrez/rechapados_ferrer_32.html
Same thing? Looks great, either way!
Nope. They had it for years on the website. The one made for World Chess has smaller bezels, making it even more compact .
I forgot to mention that the kings in both FIDE and Studio set, are just pure amazing fidget pieces . I will order some extra full-size kings, once they will be available, just to have one at work and one at the desk at home. Worth the price .
At US$8 apiece, yes indeedy. Though I would go for the Knights myself.
Going back to the folding board, do you sometimes think if they would do it again would they design a folding board that would also double as storage for the chess pieces as well?
I doubt it.
1. The board would be less solid.
2. The board would need to be much thicker when folded, therefore no longer being so compact.
3. The advantage of this set is that you can mix it with pieces or boards you already have. Let's say you want to bring those pieces to the chess table in a park - it does make sense to have the chess pieces separately in this set, in a pouch.
But the thing is that they almost never have all the pieces available. Plus you are getting a nice big storage box for those pieces as well when buying a set.
I find it interesting that the Studio set on a 50mm board looks fine, even with a 60% King-base-to-square ratio. I think chess aesthetics — maybe helped by the use of the FIDE and Timeless sets on 55mm boards in top level tournaments — is moving towards more spacious / less cramped boards.
Thanks, @Kohpablanca!
Regarding the space on the board - I also guess so. In my opinion, it makes sense. A very dense setup of pieces, colours, squares, all of this information hitting your eyes - it is easier to miss something when it is crowded on the board. Personally, I prefer a 60-70% ratio than >70%.
That was the "War And Peace" of reviews....and....I mean it as a compliment!
Just fantastic!
Wow, thank you @magictwanger!