{How to Pick the Best Chess Set}

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Apr 26, 2023

Chess is an intimidating game. Its lingo is opaque to newbies—high-level players talk about the “Ruy López Opening” or the “Trompowsky Attack”—and pop culture has an unfortunate habit of casting aficionados as either massive dweebs or troubled savants who have a hard time relating to other people. But luckily, that’s changing. Resources like Chess.com and Twitch streams from grandmasters and the wild popularity of Netflix’s 2020 show The Queen’s Gambit have created legions of new players. But many of those newbies may be wondering: Which chess set is best to start out with?
To find out, I spent 15 hours researching chess sets online and sat down for an extended conversation with Imad Khachan, owner of Chess Forum, a New York City institution that hosts matches and sells all manner of chess books, clocks, and sets. Khachan loves chess, and he loves chess boards and pieces, but his advice surprised me: It doesn’t really matter which set you get.

“There are hundreds of sets and millions of combinations if you start mixing things,” Khachan told me during our talk. But ultimately, chess is a game that can be played anywhere, with anything. Khachan said that a set itself is just a means to an end, an opportunity for a conversation: one player moving a piece, introducing an idea onto the board, and the other player responding in kind.

“You realize eventually that this is what matters: the human contact, the precious moments you spend with people, the memories you create,” Khachan said, “And that memory can be created with a $10 set or a $1,000 set. It does not make a difference.”

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PURPOSE
Before spending a huge amount of money on a chess set, you might consider what you want to do with it.

If you intend to compete in tournaments, functionality is more important than aesthetics. You might get standard tournament chess sets which are usually not that expensive – but which serve their purpose. On the other hand, if you need one to play friendly games at home, you are a chessboard collector or are looking for an ideal gift for a chess player, you might go for something fancier.

You might even prefer getting a customized chess set over a standard one.

CUSTOMIZED OR NOT
In the 19th century, there was a great need for a standardized chess set with universally recognized pieces. In 1849, the so-called Staunton chess set, named after one of the strongest players of that time, Howard Staunton, was invented. To this day, it is a standard chess set used in chess tournaments.

However, apart from standardized chess sets, vendors offer a number of customized chess sets, with motifs from popular culture, history, mythology, etc. Customized chess sets are not practical – the pieces are sometimes difficult to recognize and the dimensions of the pieces often don’t match with the size of the board.

But, they ARE beautiful. If you are attached to a certain historical era or movie saga and you don’t need a chess set for tournament play, you might find them more attractive. That’s why, apart from the list of best tournament chess sets, we also assembled a list of best customized chess sets at the end of this article.

DIMENSIONS
After dealing with the ‘philosophical’ aspect of buying a chess set, let us turn our attention to the physical characteristics of a chess set. The dimensions of a chess set are important. Especially if you are not purchasing your first chess set and are lacking space on your shelves. In general, the bigger the chess set, more practical (but also pricey) it is.

Like everything else, the relevance of dimensions tightly connected to the purpose. If you plan to participate in chess tournaments, a tiny pocket chess set is probably a terrible idea. On the other hand, if you are traveling by train, you probably won’t manage without one.

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