@sound67 - that travel set from HOC looks great and feature-rich. Thanks!
@QtoQlevel3 - love those big headed pawns. Thanks for sharing.
Travel chess sets
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CONCHESSNESS wrote:
I just purchased this pocket magnetic set from Russia! Going to be incredibly tough waiting on the international shipping to arrive!!!!
Many years ago I had the plastic version of this. It was very handy and practical, but it didn't lie flat easily. Apart from that, nothing wrong with it.
"BonTheCat wrote: Many years ago I had the plastic version of this. It was very handy and practical, but it didn't lie flat easily. Apart from that, nothing wrong with it.
I have the same experience with it not lying flat but honestly this is my personal favorite kind of travel set. I can't really explain why.
ps Thank you for contributing to my comment, It was the first piece of my growing collection and I was very excited. 
I'm looking for any historical resources about flat pocket travel chess sets. Mostly the kind with magnetic pill pieces in cases that shut, or flat book like slotted boards with tab pieces. I appreciate any help or links to the history of travel pocket chess sets. Thanks in advance!
Turns out it's Faux leather if anyone is thinking about purchasing it but it's still very nice. Only con is it does not lay flat.
May 15, 2020
0
#27
CONCHESSNESS wrote:
Turns out it's Faux leather if anyone is thinking about purchasing it but it's still very nice. Only con is it does not lay flat.
I'm looking at one of those myself...I wonder if it won't begin to lay flat once it's broken in.
I've been trying to flatten it out a little more every time I open it which is not as often as I should considering what I paid for it. It's just personally so hard to grab a chess book and read instead of watching Youtube videos, It's disheartening for me because that's why I invested the money. I'm so sick of being a slave to my TV - Computer monitor. Chess is such a great tool for teaching perseverance for children and adults alike. I've learned to be more patient with my nieces and nephew who I try to instill the love of chess since I've learned to be more self aware. You can't expect children to do something that there teacher barely does themselves. Chess has taught me so many life lessons. Mostly how it brings people together that normally wouldn't interact. I'll keep you posted on my development. Thanks for the genuine consideration it means a lot.
Thanks to @eyechess (and a few others over the years in the archive) for the info on the Travelmate. I just received my Travelmate Deluxe and I couldn't be happier. Love the board and the pieces are wonderful. I was upgraded to the deluxe zipper bag with a note enclosed apologizing for "the delay" -- when it was 8 days from placing my order to my door! I will likely order more from them before too long, possibly following the suggestion of someone here to see about getting a set of the pieces for use with a different magnetic board I like.
Recently I bought something called ColorGo Magnetic Travel Chess Set. The board is 8.46 x 9.64 inches. The plastic pieces are painted to look kind of like wood. The level of magnetism is ok but not great.
I picked that set because it has annotation along the sides, but I have found that the letters and numbers are so small they are almost useless.
I bought this little set from Raphael Neff at chesshouse. Fits my needs for a travel set just right. Nice quality to the carvings of the pieces. It comes with a zippered carry case for the board and a smaller zippered bag that goes into the larger bag so transporting is very simplified. Decent strength on the small magnets. Although there are no extra queens for promotion, you could buy two extra queens of opposite colors for a nominal fee on their website. Just go to the spare pieces page and you'll find them along with others you may be missing from other popular basic sets there. Good bang for the buck, IMHO.
https://www.chesshouse.com/collections/travel-chess-sets/products/9-milled-leather-travel-magnetic-chess-set-with-wood-pieces