The Official Staunton 3,5 Inch King Jacques Repro Chess Set (Review)

Hello all,

I started hanging around at the equipment forum a while ago. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Maik and I’m a private teacher of English and Dutch. I’ve played chess on and off ever since my dad taught me when I was 10 or 11. Over the course of the last two years or so, I’ve become more interested in chess, I started buying some books and managed to improve my game somewhat. When I noticed that I was improving, I first wanted to get some decent chess equipment to practice, and then some better sets to enjoy the game with friends over a cup of coffee or a nice glass of wine. That’s when I started visiting these forums.

Official Staunton first got my attention with the 1851 set, an absolutely beautiful set with classic lines and an air of uncompromising quality. I already owned the HoS Player’s Series at the time, and, quite happy with that set, I didn’t feel like spending upwards of E 200.00 for a set that was too big for my liking anyhow, no matter how much I enjoyed the design. So I decided to message Carl from OS, to ask him about smaller sets. If I remember correctly, he said that the company had received a number of inquiries already about a possible smaller set in the pipeline and that they were seriously considering manufacturing one. Well, it took a while, but then a picture came, then an entry in one of Carl’s competitions followed by more pictures, and finally the release of a new OS set and with that, a set that I definitely wanted to have. This was the 3,5 inch king Jacques reproduction set, the topic of this thread.

I ordered the set on the 3^rd of January and paid via PayPal, as I don’t own a credit card. I wanted to take advantage of Carl’s generous 30 percent discount, though perhaps I would have bought the set at full retail regardless. The set arrived on the 10^th, after a short week of agonising over all the things that could possibly go wrong in shipping and a frankly disgusting level of abuse of the DPD Track and Trace option. Writing this review is in that sense also therapeutic for me, since sharing my experience with you provides an outlet for my elation.

The box itself recognisably bore the OS logo on top. On the inside, there were two trays presenting the pieces by colour, with the white army in one tray and the black army occupying the other. Below are pictures of the unpacked pieces. First the antiqued boxwood army:

Then the ebony pieces:

The kings:

The Queens:

The Rooks:

The Bishops:

The Knights:

And the Pawns:

The set is heavy enough. I don’t have a scale at home so I cannot be certain, but it feels about as heavy as my HoS Player’s, which is 1.6 kg total. Having played with these pieces for a bit now, I’ve also noticed something very pleasant concerning their weight and feel in the hand. Perhaps it is because they are smaller pieces, but they somehow feel more evenly weighted, as in not too bottom heavy. This surprised me, because my other sets clearly feel bottom heavy. For me, this somehow adds to the idea that I get when playing that the pieces are very well crafted.

As for measurements, the set features kings with 4,2 cm diameters and pawns with 3,2 cm. This means that, according to Lou Balch’s reference guide (see: https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/a-system-for-sizing-chess-pieces-and-boards-long), boards with 55 mm squares would work best. That said, there is of course a margin for personal preference to be taken into account. The board in the picture that Carl posted elsewhere had 58 mm squares, while I feel like the set looks good on the 57 mm square board that I have, although I certainly also wouldn’t want to go bigger than that.

Design wise I’m a very happy camper. I love the design and feel of this set. I think all the pieces just exude a level of craftsmanship that is objectively speaking exceptional for the money that I paid for the set. From the smoothly curved knight torsos, to the beautifully cut bishop’s mitres and those squat yet elegant pawns, I think you get great value for your money here.

Initially, I thought there were two pieces in the set that had small defects. There was a boxwood knight and also a boxwood rook with a small crack in the base. I emailed Carl and the replacements were sent out today, very good customer service. However, this morning I noticed that there is also an ebony pawn with a small crack. I realise that I should probably have inspected all the pieces better to find this the first time around, seeing as the replacement pieces have already been shipped, but I'll contact Carl nonetheless to see whether he will accommodate me. Perhaps I'll post an update on this thread after the replacements have arrived.

Again, I don’t think you can really go wrong with this set, or buying from this company in general and I would heartily recommend both to everyone here as well. Please let me know what you think of the set, and all the best!

Beautiful set. Congratulations!

very nice review. Glad you like the set. Mine is just getting cleared through customs, so hopefully I'll have it in my hands in a few days as well.

About your set, maybe I would like it to have narrower bases for a 3.5 set.
But that is just to look for a fault in it. It is really beautiful and very appealing.
Really nice carving and great knights. Similar to the 1851 ones. I own the 1851 and maybe I would prefer the sizing of your set and the proportions on the 1851.
The aging of the wood is great.

I have purchased 3 sets from official Staunton.
I received the last one yesterday (a leningrad in boxwood-sheesham). So far, It always surprised my self with the good quality of OS sets.
great great set, so I also want to give OS some recognition from my side.

I think OS sets are also made in india, as many other today, although I have no idea of the manufacturer.
What is clear for me is that, unless I have had very good luck, they are putting a lot of pressure in the craftmanship and the QA process.
I miss a lot of minor defects from other manufacturers. The quality is HIGH.

f.e. The 1851 is a real beauty "in person", and the knights in my case are 99.9% identical, something that not always happen when you buy a set.
I suppose it is the same in yours.

The only general drawbacks I have from OS are:

- Weight, although I think it is a matter of personal taste. For me some of the sets are too heavy (as the fischer-spassky repro, or the 1851). I like them lighter.
- Carving. The carving is SO nice that I play with them as if they were made from glass. (This one was joke, obviously)

I really recommend OS for fine carving and expensive sets. If you live in Europe, where the shipping cost of HOS are too high, it is a great option, if not the best.
I'm glad to see that other people also have good experiences with them.


good acquisition
chapeau!

I own many HoS sets and appreciate what they've done to help reestablish a market for high end chess sets, but I do think they charge a significant premium that is not really warranted. I don't see a big difference between the 1849 HoS set and the Official Staunton 1851 -- yet the latter can be had for less than $600 (w/out any discount) while the former costs $3500.  So cheers to Carl for offering such fine sets at such competitive prices.

Hate you all 

Just ordered also the set with the jan30 deal.

Is it possible to be banned from this site the same way people aren't allowed to enter casinos? 

Just joking ... I'll post some pictures when the set will be delivered.

Many thanks for the comments! @ ganz_unten: I think the wide bases is one of the factors that actually attract me to this set. With narrower bases, I think the pieces would lose some of their charm, at least for me. And congrats on the purchase bananamoon, I think it's a great set and I'm sure you'll enjoy your set as much as I do mine.

That is a really beautiful set, congrats on getting it.

so mine arrived today. Gorgeous set. I'll need to play a few games before forming a more detailed opinion, but so far, the set looks fantastic. Here's a couple of quick pics (on a 2.25" vintage Drueke):

The horse in photo 3 has a silly grin. I like it!

I played my first two actual games with this set yesterday, with my girlfriend. My girlfriend doesn't know too much chess but she has played with me in the past on different sets and said that this set feels a bit toy-like to her in a nice way. I think I understood what she meant, as to me, the pieces feel very tactile. You want to move them around and they feel somehow precious when you do. Certainly very glad with the set. On Friday, two of the replacement pieces (boxwood rook and knight) are scheduled to arrive, so hopefully I'll have a complete and unblemished set then. Last I checked Carl hadn't responded yet regarding the ebony pawn, which has a small crack so fine that it could possibly also be a tool mark, but I'll see. A cheap but sturdy-looking box will arrive later today that I will line with some good quality felt myself. I like these small, chess-related DIY projects.

I am a huge fan of the Jacques Repro sets. I have a couple of Chess Bazaar Jacques repro sets but always wanted in a 3.5-inch king. The quality of the carving and finish on OS Jacques sets rivals that of CB. The pieces of these sets from Official Staunton is the impressive piece to me but the set is overly priced even after 30% discount. I own the same set in 3.75 inches at a very less price from chess bazaar and the pieces are exceptionally stable and are of high quality. 

I would note that the set is gorgeous but the wood used may have issues - I noticed three boxwood pieces w/ big cracks this morning. I don't think they were there last night, so they must have developed overnight, even though the set was sitting in a normal room at room temperature . Carl responded immediately w/ assurances that he would rectify -- that's the nice thing about doing business w/ a company like Official Staunton that values customer service.

With me it was also mainly the boxwood pieces, which is a bit funny since ebony is meant to be the more brittle and crack-prone wood. Any chance the antiquing process strains the wood so that it is more likely to have problems later on? So far no other problems have occurred with my set, so I'm hoping that it's settled into its new climate, so to speak.

Edit: I just wanted to make sure that everything was ok with the set so I took it out a moment ago and discovered that three more pieces are damaged: the boxwood queen, which now has two hairline cracks in the middle of its base, an ebony rook, with a small crack starting at the bottom of its base, and one ebony queen, with two small cracks one on the bottom, the other halfway up the base.. At this point, I feel a little bit heartbroken about the set. Perhaps it was weighted too heavily. I will email OS though because these defects I cannot really live with..

Now I'm worried ... 

@ bananamoon: I wouldn't be too worried just yet. If this is an issue that can be fixed with good customer service and replacing the cracked pieces with new ones then there shouldn't be an issue. I informed Carl about my additional problem pieces and he said he will help out. I'll wait and see. Some of the replacements are scheduled to arrive tomorrow, so I'm hoping that those will solve half of the issues some pieces have.

Great review Maik. Thanks!

Nice pics, Frank. Cheers!

Hello again guys... I just wanted to provide an update seeing as I left my review unfinished in a way while I was waiting for the replacement pieces.  Well, the pieces in the package that arrived today were more than I could have hoped for. Customer service like this really belongs to an age of the past I feel, when companies were smaller scale and things like your reputation in the community mattered at least as much as your revenue. Official Staunton has shown to me that it is one of those rare exceptions in today's world. I'm more than completely satisfied here, 100/100.