What is your favourite chess set?
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I use 7 inch by 7 inch limited edition magnetic electronic chess set. I can actually play against the computer in RL. when it's my turn I press my piece that I want to move down onto the board and then press the space I want to move it to. then the computer gives me the coordinates of its move and I move the piece. If I need to save my game it remembers the board setup and I simply leave the board the way it is and turn it off. when I turn it back on I can continue my game. when I'm in for a challenge I take the pieces off the board and play blind. it's really good if you have no one else to play with and don't want to stare at a 2d board. it's also good when I can't get to my computer.
I use a Drueke 21" wooden tournament board and a set of double-weighted plastic pieces for good contrast. I prefer that the contrast of the pieces with the board is readily apparent if I'm going to play or study extensively with a set.
A pic of my main set can be found at http://tinyurl.com/2po3z7 for your edification...
In addition, I have a magnetic Drueke travel set and a vinyl rollup board with 2" squares that I use as well.
Cheers!
Russ
Montreal, QC
Kasparov signiture set, made in the early 90's
I have a number of sets including a Kasparov Conquistador (almost 20 years old) and this onyx type set that my wife bought in Mexico. I almost lost to her on that board because the Bishops are too close to looking like a Pawns. But, my favorite boards are two 9"x9" fold-up magnetic ones that I can carry around the house or wherever I go. I'll never forget in high school playing the chess club champion on his 6x6 magnetic fold-up, zip-up board with button-like chessmen. The mobility just stuck with me...
Mar 18, 2008
0
#86
My wife bought me (interpret: allowed me to buy) a House of Staunton Collector Series boxwood/ebony set (4" King) for Christmas last year. It's a beauty.
I'm having a board custom-made. The dark squares will be imbuia (em-BOO-yah) and the light squares quilted maple. The frame will be mostly imbuia with an ebony "stripe" around the base of the squares (where the squares meet the frame) and a bloodwood accent stripe in the frame itself (to match the coffer which has a rich red color). The frame corners will be quilted maple, if memory serves. I'll post a pic when he gets it done. May take a while.
Mar 22, 2008
0
#87
Favorite one you own or just all-time favorite? For the one I own it would have to be a nice glass set of staunton design. The only problem is that it's hard to tell black from white... My all-time favorite is the playmobile set made by Josh Waitzkin in Searching For Bobby Fischer:)
I am a very poor player but I like to play, so my girl friend got me this chess set. It is small and made from wood and stone, very beautiful.
pineear wrote: Meemo wrote:
I have a little hand-carved Polish set, cheap and battered, but dearly loved.
But here is my dream set ... I love the pointy headed, glossy, fat-bottomed bishops, the no-nonsense rooks, the Kings with their funny plumed hats and across the board, Skripchenko, quietly bringing her Knights out.
http://www.kosteniuk.com/albums/sashaalmiraxmas05/pictures/img_1394b.html
Jiiri, your set is beautiful. I want one.
I wrote to the webmaster of that site and asked about the origins of that set. Here's what he said:
Yes that chess set is one of my favorites, I bought it in Leningrad, Soviet Union when I was a student in 1980 or 1981 and it still looks perfect now. I got some new ones made to order recently in Russia but they don't look as good, see the series http://www.chesspics.com/index.php?e=69 I have several sets of those in different height (from normal to very long pieces). A pity I did not buy a couple of the original sets then. We used that same chess set in the following series: http://www.chesspics.com/index.php?e=19 You can tell it's from Eastern Europe because over there they have above the King and Queen a top of the opposite color, I like that very much. Every time I'm in Russia I ask people if they have ever seen a set like this so I could buy another, but no luck, it seems I have maybe the last set like that around, so I treasure it.
Fantastic research pineear, thank you! It's a pity that it seems to be only one, but as he points out, I guess that makes it even more special.
If I ever meet a talented woodcarver, I will definitely commission one. Chess Baron have an "Oriental" set that is a sort of pointy distant relation, but I don't like the fiddly rooks as much. http://www.chessbaron.co.uk/chess-X2030.htm
I love my most recent addition to my collection. It is a House of Staunton Imperial Luxury set with a 4.4" King with Boxwood and Blood Rosewood pieces. I have it paired with a Elm Burl and Ebony Board, also from House of Staunton. The set is of the highest quality and is absolutely beautiful (and really heavy)! I will only purchase sets from them in the future. My next set will be a plastic set for tournaments.
"Do many of you look for nicely figured woods? Do you like to see truly hand carved knights? What would you spend?"
I bought myself the (probably overpriced) USCF 'Jacques' set about 20 years ago, as a present for getting a new job. It was $100 then. A few of the pieces have split from age (and if the set is still made I could probably get them replaced, it has a lifetime warrantee, not that I care to test the memory of the USCF.)
I got a compliment on it when I pulled it out of the case for the first time in 17 years recently. It is heavy, but not too heavy, and nice looking ebony and boxwood. The only knock I have on it is that some identical pieces, esp the rooks, aren't the same weight. No one noticed but me 
I really really like nice equipment and I think it matters - it increases my pleasure of the game. That being said I'm not sure I'd spend $100 again, even in today's money versus 1987 money. But I think you can get nicer sets now than you could then, globalization etc... Oh and for blitz and camp outs, there is no finer chess set than the USCF club special and vinyl board. What a bargain.
I don't have a board on par with my good set since portability is king. I may make one this spring, I have some walnut, maple, and plenty of tools. I'll probably make it in 2 halves since each will then fit through my planer, and embed some rare-earth magnets where the halves join together. Then it will fold for travel and not slide apart during play.
Here's a set very much like mine. I like it because of it's understated elegance and clean lines. (This particular set is a HoS Rekjavik II)
" london chess centre is ace :) love some of the new sets in the 2008 catalogue"
lolz, chess pr0n!
This is an update to my set -- I now have matching sheesham double-weighted pieces to go with my 21" Drueke Tournament Board. :)
Thank you Santa! LOL ;)
Russ
Jan 4, 2009
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#93
heres some photos of mine....http://www.chess.com/photos/view_album/gumpty/my-old-chess-set-and-boards
Jan 4, 2009
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#94
My favorite set is my Noble set that I picked up at an auction for $10.
The King weighs 9ozs. The board is wood with leather squares.
Nothing like a nice Chess set to be out battlefield.......I like good magnetic sets
itn the style of the old 70s sets......what I played on as a kid.....of course who can bypass a quick game or analysis on a vinyl board with hard plastic weighted
pieces.........they don't shatter as quickly when you throw them across the room.....Dreuke wood sets are amongst my favs as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jan 4, 2009
0
#96
The best thing I like about my set is that it should be in the game Clue as a weapon. Imagine Colonel Mustard in the Study with the Chess set. 
This looks like an old thread, but it has been a fun read, needless to say. I have many chess sets ranging from my very first fold-up wooden set I bought twenty-five years ago, including a couple of travel magnetic sets, up to some custom House of Staunton sets. My favorite knight design is the HOS Centurion with the ears up and alert position. My favorite wood is the golden rosewood because it has so much beautiful grain that it just enraptures you with it's beauty. It's also very affordable, and they look great on brown-white board. I like the 4" size king on the 2.5" squares. I think pieces like blood rosewood / red sandalwood are over-rated, and that one does not need real ebony to get the full effect of aesthetics and playability when ebonized boxwood is just fine. With that being said, I give a big thumbs up for a set of pieces that uses a very light golden rosewood for the light pieces, and a darker rosewood for the dark pieces, on a low-contrast board of quilted or curly maple for light squares and almost any brown wood for the dark squares (leopardwood, dark spalted maple, walnut, etc.). The "set" that gets the most play time for me is Chessmaster Grandmaster using the HOS Collector pieces playing pseudo 3-D.
My favorite set is my HOS Collector. Looks sweet and handles very nicely. If I could get my hands on one of those Jaques antique sets that inspired the Collector, or even some later sets that still retain that classic look, I'd have a new favorite set. Especially if I could get it in red/white ivory...4" being best for actual use but I wouldn't hate the club size 4.4".
I have a little hand-carved Polish set, cheap and battered, but dearly loved.
But here is my dream set ... I love the pointy headed, glossy, fat-bottomed bishops, the no-nonsense rooks, the Kings with their funny plumed hats and across the board, Skripchenko, quietly bringing her Knights out.
http://www.kosteniuk.com/albums/sashaalmiraxmas05/pictures/img_1394b.html
Jiiri, your set is beautiful. I want one.