Topic: The king should be the tallest piece. Discuss.

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Avatar of HiggsBoson

A little mindless banter on a Monday morning.

Avatar of zxb995511

It usually is in a standard Tournament chess set.

Avatar of iwilltry

Only if you're trying to win.

Avatar of SuiteLycee

The queen is the tallest in both of my chess sets. Frown

Avatar of Elubas

I believe the king is the tallest.

Avatar of Suggo

While the capture of the king moght be the aim of the game, the Queen is the most powerful piece on the board so I can understand why they might make her taller!

Avatar of Kupov

Bishops are taller than rooks. So are pawns sometimes.

Avatar of CircleSquaredd

I like my Staunton chess set, the king is the tallest and heaviest piece

Avatar of mosqutip
Kupov wrote:

Bishops are taller than rooks. So are pawns sometimes.


That's what I don't understand. All the other pieces are in order of value in terms of height.

Avatar of goldendog

in the original Stauntom sets from Jaques, the rooks are much more massive. I prefer the old rooks. They are important pieces after all.\

There is also an aesthetic to follow, such as the natural flow down in height from king to queen to bishop to knight to rook, as they sit in the starting positions. While the rook is almost always shorter than the knight in the old sets, the rook is also a big fat tower and is more massive than the knight. Seems correct.

Avatar of CircleSquaredd

For me when it comes to selecting a chess set its all about the horse.

Avatar of -MICKEY-

The king and queen are equal in height with my board.

Avatar of Trant

How would the king hide behind the queen if he was taller? Wink

Avatar of Scereno

I agree with trant

Avatar of ringwraith10

the king is at least one centimeter taller than my queen

Avatar of da_tornado

my pieces are all massive and barely fit on the squares so any position feels like a cramped position

Avatar of benedictus

In my chess set, the height order is pawn, bishop, knight, rook, queen, king.

Avatar of Nytik

'The King' is the tallest piece, as illustrated by this diagram:

Wink

Avatar of Chess_Lobster

Ive always seen a similarity in the rook and the U.S. dime.  The rook is better than than the bishops and knights but is smaller, while the dime has to play second fiddle to the nickle (size wise).  Its just a weird comparison I've alwasy drawn.

Avatar of peperoniebabie

I think, if you want to be more accurate, the King isn't always the tallest. Rather, he is the piece with the widest base (this seems more standard). That's why you compare king base size to the squares' size when you buy a new board and set.