Help me pick a chess set!

As someone with a small collection of sets, and who enjoys different designs, I like nos. 2, 3, & 4. I own no.3 in boxwood and rosewood, and I absolutely love it, but would never take it to a tournament. If I owned no. 4, it wouldn't leave the house either, as I'd be too afraid of it getting damaged. Consequently, I'd pick no. 2 as the tournament set.

My personal preference is for ebony. Rosewood is nice, if dark enough. I like the grain of high quality rosewood. The one drawback is a lack of contrast with the dark squares if the board is brown. The same drawback would exist for ebony on boards with black squares, though such boards are less common. I hate the so-called "golden rosewood" (sheesham), which has a somewhat excremental color and cheap look. I'd accept ebonized boxwood before sheesham.

Not to complicate matters, but I'd also consider no.6:

Available in rosewood, ebonized boxwood (not ebony), or (yuck) sheesham. Though, be advised, the new batch has knights which are not quite as nice as shown. They're close, but a woodworker would notice the difference right away, and you'd probably be able to spot the differences in a side-by-side comparison.

I prefer # 4 , but ebony is the way to go for me. However, I would NOT take such a nice set to tournaments ! I used to use one of my cheaper wooden sets for tournies on one of the popular vinyl roll up boards...... a wooden board is too much trouble to lug around imo. I also use higher quality plastic pieces for tournies so that I dont worry too much if a piece gets lost/stolen and I can also use them for blitz without worrying about dinging them up in mad time scrambles.

Is it just me, or does the knight have a deranged look on its face? I might just have nightmares tonight because of it. Im not sure i'd be comfortable having them in my home. With those crazy teeth and wacky eyes.

Such sets as #1 are the common currency even at top level events but their main virtue is the standardization they provide. Everyone accepts them and uses them without hesitation. They, in effect, go transparent during the game, and players concentrate on their moves and don't notice the pieces at all.

These sets still have some aesthetic blunders that can put off the average player/collector. First off, the knight is butt-ugly. I'm sure its simplicity keeps the costs of the sets down--and the knights are typically a very disproportionately large expense in the making of quality sets--but it's nearly impossible to enjoy this knight for the way it looks.

Second, as is typical for Indian-style sets, the rook is a midget. Horrible. The rook is an important piece and its appearance must convey this as it holds down the corners of the board and guards the king in the castled position.

Here's a set from HOS that embodies the old Jaques aesthetic. Notice how the heights and masses of the pieces make sense. The rook is shortest but also quite massive. The knight shorter than the bishop but contains as much mass as the bishop, its equal, nevertheless. There is a delicate and sensible flow of height from the king on down.

On some early Jaques sets the knight is too small but for the most part their sets are like this, Basically a home run of design right out of the box.

Too delicate for you? You'd never be able to use such a set with the cavemen you play with? You can get this set in plastic as well, and no more freak of nature knights and no more runty rooks.

Plastic Collector (in red to contrast on the dark squares). The guy who used to make these boards made the best vinyl rollups I've ever seen. Leather-like pebbly grain, perfectly matte, and they unroll to lie flat after years of being stored in the tube. He also made this with grey squares instead of the tan. The only reservation is that brown (or red) pieces should be used with this board.

Another cheap set up but a very good one. HOS Club set ($30  two years ago from Cajun, drop shipped from HOS) and a folding vinyl board that was about $6 (on sale). The Euro players wouldn't care for the green squares--it's common in N. America--as they see brown typically.

A proper set for a serious clock game or a tournament ( US players can bring their own equipment. In Europe the sets are always provided. FWIW, in almost every tournament I've played in boards and sets were provided as well but they were always the solid plastic ones and the boards were the rollup vinyls. Many prefer better equipment and bring their own for that reason. One guy I know would bring a several hundred dollar wooden board and a few hundred dollar set to go with it. That's a bit much but no one complained!).

Even very high quality knights can have that bizarre aspect to them. The mammoth ivory one below is just plain sweet though.

It looks like it's angry :P

#4

Do you have a link to set #4 I think I would like a one of these sets too

number one looks nice but they all look good to be honest

 http://houseofstaunton.com/Store/product_name=The+Collector+II+Series+Chess+Set+-+4.0+inch+King/exact_match=exact/user-id=/password=

Until relatively recently you could get one of these new off HOS ebay for <$100 even, in ebony.

I have one. It's a fine set. The bases are a bit bulbous though.

edit: I see that once inside the link they are out of stock and I think discontinued. Ditto for the almost identical Centurion.

Photo one, boxwood ebony.

It's the only one without scary mutant knights.

4 in ebony

my techer has those pieces.. i should try that out :P

buy the set that you like,

I would not take my, Jaques set from 1865 to a tournament,,

even thou there made for it,,......,,

#2

You ought to use ebay, it's evidently much cheaper.  This is what I have;

http://cgi.ebay.com/Lacquered-Painted-Berliner-Design-Wooden-Chess-Set-Wood_W0QQitemZ320448336642QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4a9c359302

Because I'm just that cool

(and I hate Knights with over-elaborate facial designs)

I got #4 in Boxwood and Rosewood. It's well-crafted and stunning. I highly recommend it.

Yeah.  As if he's saying, "Look at me!  I have teeth!"