Traveling Chess Sets

If you just want something cheap and small look in the toy aisle at the Dollar Store. It's only a dollar. If you don't like it then give it to a kid. You may spark an interest. I carry a couple of those sets around in my bag for analysis and odd bored moments.

For a "real" travel set I have a set made in Jerusalem from olive wood. That set costs in the fifty dollar ballpark. Drueke makes a travel set for around twenty dollars. The pieces are hard to distinguish so I don't use it much.

I have a dollar store set in my office at work. The board that came with it was some type of folded plasticized paper that would never lose its creases. The pieces would never stand up near the creases. I just looked around and couldn't find the board. No big loss. It's easy enough to print a board on regular paper.

That may be the cheapest way to get a workable travel set and sure beats gnawing pieces out of rocks.

I was reading about Gligoric:

Svetozar Gligorić was born in Belgrade, in 1923, to a poor family. According to his recollections, his first exposure to chess was as a small child watching patrons play in a neighborhood bar. He began to play at the age of eleven, when taught by a boarder taken in by his mother (his father had died by this time). Lacking a chess set, he made one for himself by carving pieces from corks from wine bottles. 

 He continued to progress as a chessplayer and was awarded the chess International Master (IM) title in 1950 and the Grandmaster (GM) title in 1951, eventually making the transition to full-time chess professional, continuing active tournament play well into his sixties.

Gligoric's story must have been the inspiration behind the soap stone chess set in the movie "Shawshank Redemption"!

Did you hear the story about the American hostages that had been held in Columbia and their chess set?

Chess helps hostages in Colombian jungle
12.07.2008 – Here's a harrowing and uplifting tale. Three Americans had spent more than five years as hostages of the FARC rebel group in the jungles of Colombia. Last week they were rescued in a daring mission. They carried with them a metal lock, a bullet and – a chess board made of cardboard. One of the captives had carved the pieces with a a broken machete. The game helped them survive. 

Here's a link to a ChessBase article about it:

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4765

I think I heard of a similar story about "freeing the mind" from the concentration camps during World War 2.

Ok, I know I am taking this off-topic, but I just saw Batgirl's blog, and it is about POW chess sets.  Great pictures...take a look:

http://blog.chess.com/batgirl/pow-chess-revisited

@Tesla: Thank you for the link. It fit right into my idea of using chess while in prison during WWII.

Here's my teak framed leather board (1.5" squares) with the rose quartz and black onyx disk pieces (with leather disk inked and glued atop). The frame was unfinished then; now it's dark and pretty.

I have a Dreuke analysis set that fits it well and I use that much more, but no pic handy.

A good set for Starbuck's or a cafe table.

I still think that the Smurfs chess set would look attractive when played on a table in Starbucks or in any cafe. 

This is a chess set I got off the web, though I don't recall which site.  The pieces are magnetic and I love using it as I can simply close the lid and not have to worry about losing a game in progress.  It is also quite lovely, in my opinion.  I think it cost around $30.  A little pricey but I really like it.  I think the dimensions are around 6" x 8"

That reminds me of Kasparov's wooden travel chess set. They cost roughly US$30-50.

That's a nice set, lasertswift.

I have several sets, but this is my tournament set.  A bit more than the poster wanted to spend, but I've been very happy with my set.

http://www.king-cart.com/USCFSales/product_name=The+Marshall+Series+Plastic+Chessmen+-+3.75%27%27+King+-+NHMPST38/exact_match=exact

Indeed. The Marshal chess set is a handsome set, but you have to pay a little bit more for it.

The natural-ivory combination seems to be the easiest on the eyes irregardless of the colors of the board.

I think the sets sold by the USCF referenced in earlier posts are excellent for the criteria and price range you set out.  However, let me tell you why you might want to spend more money and my criteria.  You are going to spend hours at a time, looking at your set and you need something easy on the eyes--in other words no glare.  I dislike shining plastic sets and prefer something with a matted finish.   There needs to be good color contrast between the pieces and the squres.  Same goes for the board.  I prefer green and cream for the squares.   I want a textured surface.  I used to swear by Drueke, but the company has been sold out and I have heard rumours that the quality has gone done.  My current chess board is a mouse type with a cloth surface that has a nice texture.  The pieces are black and simulated natural wood, with a matted finish. 

@blake78613:

This is the set and board (not green though) for you:

House of Staunton Mammoth Ivory set on a Ambonia/Ebony/Maple board.

These links lead to the official House of Staunton website so that you can read the descriptions, see more pictures and learn how much they cost.

@cheesroboto:

Certainly an elegant set and board, but if I owned them, they wouldn't do any traveling.

Sure you can! Just get a second set as a spare.

So what did the OP end up getting after all this?