Chess sets come in different make, sizes and variety that finding the perfect one for ourselves or for our loved ones makes for a difficult task.
If you’re out for a new set, or you’re looking to start a collection or add a worthy piece to an existing collection, we’re offering to help you with this feature on reproduced versions of some great sets in chess’ history.
These are sets that have distinguished themselves either by their significance, beauty, or functionality, and they are some of the best in their class as a collectible, tournament or analysis set.
Whichever you choose for yourself you’ll surely be delighted by a timeless classic on your chess table, or one bound to become so, with a full and impressive history behind it.
Most of the chess sets come in the combo of the chess pieces, the chess board and sometime the chess box.
Table of Contents
The Chess Piece
Almost all chess retailers sell chess pieces and chess boards separately. This is for the fact that many a times, a collector or the chess player only prefers to buy a chess pieces only. The chessmen came in many designs, themes and material. It can be a wooden or plastic, Staunton style or pre Staunton era, tournament style or super luxurious. If you fancy whimsical chess sets, then you can opt from theme type chess sets.
The Chess Board
The chess board also come in many design and materials. But the famous among the collectors and players are the wooden chess board or the PVC chess boards which are more light weight and foldable. The wooden boards come in many different woods like the exotic ebony, blood wood and Indian Rosewood.
The Chess Storage Box
To protect your chessmen from scratches, you need a handy yet beautiful chess coffer box. Some chess pieces came with complementary coffer box and some without.
1. Chessbazaar’s Reproduced 1849 Chess Pieces in Ebony / Antiqued Boxwood - 4.5" King
Key Highlights:
Material: Ebony/Antiqued Boxwood
King Height: 4.5”
King Base : 1.8”
Chessmen Weight: 1980 gms
Base Pad: Green Felt
Recommended Board: 2.5”
Extra Queens: Yes
This set produced out of the collaboration of Nathaniel Cook and Jaques of London in 1849 is the progenitor of all Staunton chess sets.
Chess sets of the early 19thcentury were very awkward, and this Jaques set with its simple, tough and stable pieces emerged in 1849 to wide acclaim and rave public acceptance. No set before it had impeccably combined beauty and functionality, and its design is as fresh and ingenious today as it was more than a century and a half ago.
For many collectors this set is the first to grace the shelf, the piece with which collections are begun. For hardened players it is a highly-coveted one that not only inspires and harkens to the game’s rich history, but also impresses with its overall substance and playing feel.
Chessbazaar offers its version of the 1849 Jaques, which features an “antiqued” look and “stamped” kingside Knights and Rooks for authenticity. It is offered in glossy and matte finish, and comes at one of the lowest prices for an 1849 Jaques reproduction.
This set’s closeness to the original in size, weight, look and feel, coupled with its affordability makes it one of the most demandable 1849 Jaques.
2. The HoS Grossmeister Series Chess Pieces - 4.4" King
Key Highlights:
Material: Golden Rosewood/Ebonized/Indian Rosewood/Ebony/Blood Rosewood and Boxwood
King Height: 4.4”
King Base : 1.7”
Chessmen Weight: 1720 gms
Base Pad: Billiard Cloth
Recommended Board: 2.25”
Extra Queens: Yes
Widely considered as the most iconic Russian set, the “Grandmaster” set emerged in the late 1940’s and saw its presence in the Soviet National Championships and strongest Soviet tournaments up to the 1980’s.
The Soviet World Champions from Mikhail Botvinnik to Garry Kasparov have all played with it, and it was the set of choice in the World Championship Matches between Botvinnik and Bronstein in 1951, and Botvinnik and Smyslov in 1954.
The set gradually lost its luster as it was mass produced. At first its finials and Knights’ wooden heads were replaced with plastic. More modifications were made to it over the years until, in the 1980’s, its Queens lost their coronets, its rooks their crenellation, and its Bishops their deep cut in their miters.
Russian sets are valued for their minimalist character. They are predominantly bare and slender, but are every inch the equal of their beefier and more sophisticated Western counterparts. The Grossmeister is the most representative of these, and it captures the collective Russian chess soul like no other. It is simple yet artful and perfectly functional.
The House of Staunton offer this set in its earliest version. It is the Grossmeister in its finest and most distinguished form.
3. The House of Staunton’s Fischer-Spassky (The Reykjavic) Series Chess Pieces - 3.5" King
Key Highlights:
Material: Golden Rosewood/Ebonized/Indian Rosewood/Anjan and Boxwood
King Height: 3.5”
King Base : 1.5”
Chessmen Weight: 935 gms
Base Pad: Billiard Cloth
Recommended Board: 1.75″ – 2.00”
Extra Queens: Yes
In 1972 the streaking chess comet Robert James Fischer ascended chess’ Mt. Olympus, and with the Reykjavic chess pieces destroyed Boris Spassky and the Soviet chess hegemony. For the Reykjavic chess pieces, the rest is history.
Such is the mantle given to the set of choice in the 1972 “Match of the Century,” but if the Reykjavic were stripped of its legend, it’s an almost bare, workhorse of a set.
Here is a set shorn of delicate features, its Kings and Queens given thick stems with the slightest curves. Its Pawns are given reinforced collars and its Rooks oversized ramparts. It’s built to withstand the rigors of practical play. It probably didn’t aspire to be very impressive, but it is beautiful and impressive just the same.
The Reykjavic is arguably the most famous set is history and it has been reproduced in all the varieties that chess sets come – in wood, plastic and even bone.
For its historical significance alone, it should be worth its weight in gold. But not the Reykjavic, and it’s actually one of the most affordable of the greatest sets of the yesteryears. It belongs in every chess player’s treasure box.
This offering by The House of Staunton is an exact reproduction of the 1972 World Championship set.
4. Chessbazaar’s Limited Edition Romanian-Hungarian National Tournament Chess Pieces - 3.8" King
Key Highlights:
Material: Stained Crimson Boxwood/Boxwood
King Height: 3.8”
King Base : 1.5”
Chessmen Weight: 1100 gms
Base Pad: Green Felt
Recommended Board: 1.75″ – 2.00”
Extra Queens: Yes
A set that is presently all the rage in Romania and Hungary.
As a contemporary set, the Romanian-Hungarian’s history is yet to be written, but it has seemingly already carved a seat for itself among the special modern sets.
It may be a bit quirky, with its pieces given a highly stylized rendition, but it is surprisingly good in all forms of chess, be it classical, rapid or blitz. Part of its success lies in its 3.8 inch-King size, which is perfect for tournament play.
Partly, too, it’s in its stability. Its bases are particularly deceiving because they don’t seem to be sufficiently wide, but the set surprisingly holds up even in very fast play. Of course, its fresh appeal for what is still a Staunton design is very much a factor, too.
Chessbazaar has brought this set out Eastern Europe for everyone’s appreciation and enjoyment. It is ideal both for the collector and everyday player.
5. The Chess Store’s Dubrovnik Chess Set with Ebonized & Boxwood Pieces - 3.875" King
Key Highlights:
Material: Ebonized Boxwood/Boxwood
King Height: 3.87”
King Base : 1.62”
Chessmen Weight: 1580 gms
Base Pad: Green Felt
Recommended Board: 2.25”
Extra Queens: Yes
The original Dubrovnik debuted in the 9th Chess Olympiad held in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia in 1950. For that event, FIDE commissioned the Yugoslavian painter and sculptor P. Pocek to design the official set. Pocek produced a masterpiece in the Dubrovnik.
Pocek focused on creating a set that was highly functional, with the result that the Dubrovnik has completely rounded, smooth pieces with no weak joints. He designed the set, too, to be perfect on 2.25 square board, and gave it bases that was wider than that of its contemporaries.
To snuff out all religious tones to the set (as FIDE may have deemed necessary for a global sporting event), its Kings and Bishops were given balls for their finials, with those of the Bishops particularly of the opposite color. Its somewhat hunched Knight was the set’s crowning glory.
The set became so popular thenceforth that it influenced the creation of other sets, particularly the Zagreb of 1959. It became Bobby Fischer’s favorite. In a radio interview he commented: This (the 1950 Dubrovnik set) is the best set I have ever played on. It is marvelous.”
The Chess Store’s offering is of the 1970 version of the Dubrovnik, which was used in that year’s Chess Olympiad in Siegen, West Germany. It is improvement of the original set with its more refined Knight and more streamlined pieces.
6. The 2020 Cairns Cup Player's Edition Chess Pieces
Key Highlights:
Material: Ebonized Boxwood/Boxwood
King Height: 3.75”
King Base : 1.75”
Chessmen Weight: 1190 gms
Base Pad: The Kings Feature English Leather Embossed with Cairns Cup Tournament Logo. All Other Pieces Feature Luxurious Green Baize
Recommended Board: 2.25”
Extra Queens: Yes
This contemporary production by The House of Staunton was the set of choice in the Cairns Cup of 2019 and 2020, an elite tournament among the ten best female players of the world.
This set is a blend of the classic antique and the modern. It is basically the 1849 Jaques with its Knights replaced by The House of Staunton’s magnificent Camaratta Knights.
What has been said of the 1849 Jaques in our above review is true with this set, except that it comes in a smaller version with its 3.75 inch-King. Thus it is both visually impressive and highly functional, and a Knight and Rook from each color are also “stamped.”
The Knights are supposedly modern, but in fact they exude an old-world flair. They seem to resemble the representations of the Trojan Horse, which is just as Greek as the 1849’s horses of Selene’s chariot. The leaves everyone wanting an 1849 with two choices for a Knight of the Greek style.
This is a commemorative, limited edition set. It comes with a Certificate of Authenticity hand-signed by the ten players of the 2020 Cairns Cup.
7. Yugoslavia Staunton Chess Set with Ebony & Boxwood Pieces - 3.87" King
Key Highlights:
Material: Ebony/Boxwood
King Height: 3.87”
King Base : 1.62”
Chessmen Weight: 1587 gms
Base Pad: Green Felt
Recommended Board: 2.00”
Extra Queens: Yes
The set that was conceived out of the popularity of the Dubrovnik in the 1950’s has turned out to be just as timeless as its predecessor.
The Yugoslav or the “Zagreb” as it is more popularly known debuted in the 1959 Candidates tournament in Bled, Zagreb and Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
It was a clash of the very best that included four World Champions in Vassily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosian and Robert Fischer. Tal won the event and went on to beat Mikhail Botvinnik in the 1960 World Championship.
The Zagreb combines the Dubrovnik’s highly functional design with its own unique modifications. Like the Dubrovnik, its pieces are smooth and rounded, but its Knights have a more pronounced arched and its Kings, Queens and Bishops all have finials of the opposite color.
The public received it enthusiastically, and the arched Knight’s head either gave a physical representation of the Knights in books and diagrams, or it influenced Knights to be represented that way in chess publications thereafter.
The Chess Store revives the Zagreb for the new generation and offers it in choices of Ebony and Padauk.
8. The Marshall Series Plastic Chess Pieces - 3.75" King
Key Highlights:
Material: Plastic
King Height: 3.75”
King Base : 1.75”
Chessmen Weight: 1400 gms
Base Pad: Green Felt
Recommended Board: 2.00”
Extra Queens: Yes
This set is a replica of the pieces that Jaques of London was producing around the 1900’s, which have come to be called the Marshall chess pieces. It is named after the strong American Grandmaster and 1907 World Championship Challenger Frank J. Marshall.
From the time Jaques produced its first Staunton set in 1849 up to the turn of the 20th century, chess was growing more popular than ever. Tournaments were sprouting all over Europe and the chess community called for tougher chess sets. Jaques of London responded by toughening their designs over the years until they evolved into the Marshall pieces by 1900.
The Marshall, by any measure, is a truly modern set. It’s built to be tough, a far simpler and bare version of its predecessors. They lack the vaunted Jaques definition, as their stems are made to be as thick as possible. Its Queens’ coronets are dulled and its Knights even appear blocky. Yet, they also bear vestiges of the classic Jaques set because, no matter, they are still impressive and beautiful.
It’s a set out of golden age of chess, one that the greatest classical masters – Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Rubinstein, Schlechter, Nimzovitsch, Maroczy, Tartakower and Marshall himself just to name a few – all played with.
This set is very popular it’s been made in different materials and sizes, and The House of Staunton offers it in tournament and highly affordable version in various color combinations.
9. The House of Staunton’s French Lardy Chess Pieces - 3.75" King
Key Highlights:
Material: Golden Rosewood/Ebonized/Boxwood
King Height: 3.75”
King Base : 1.50”
Chessmen Weight: 1100 gms
Base Pad: Billiard Cloth
Recommended Board: 1.75″ – 2.00”
Extra Queens: Yes
If there is such a set as the most classic of all the classics, the distinction belongs to the French Lardy.
This set was manufactured by the company Lardy of France, and was distributed by popular game brands such as Cavalier, Drueke, and Lowe Sterling.
It has a simple, straightforward design and is easily distinguished by its “typical blocky Knights, with a flat horizontal top line, small jutting rear fins, strong striations on head and neck and bulging eyes.”
It is a wholly practical and utilitarian set, and its success as a low to middle-priced product forced companies like Jaques to halt the production of ornate, high-priced sets.
Lardy of France dominated the market from the 1930’s to the 70’s, but its set’s timelessness proved both a boon and bane to the company. As the set grew tremendously popular, cheap and low quality replicas of it came out, and Lardy soon lost its market altogether.
Its manufacturer is long gone, but the Lardy has proven as ubiquitous as ever. The common plastic sets that every chess store sells and that fill the tournament halls are patterned after this set.
The House of Staunton offers the most common club plastic set several notches higher in quality with its wood and weighted version.
10. Chessbazaar’s 1904 Cambridge Springs International Congress Chess Pieces in Antiqued Boxwood - 4" King
Key Highlights:
Material: Ebonized/Antiqued Boxwood
King Height: 4.0”
King Base : 1.73”
Chessmen Weight: 1300 gms
Base Pad: Green Felt
Recommended Board: 2.00″ – 2.25”
Extra Queens: Yes
The venerable Cambridge Springs set of 1904 is back, but how was such a beautiful set so conspicuously missing for more than a century?
This set was first unveiled in the great Cambridge Springs International Chess Congress Tournament of 1904, the first major tournament in North America in the 20th century. It boasted a strong field that included the reigning World Champion Emmanuel Lasker, Russian Champion and two-time World Championship Challenger Mikhail Chigorin, the mercurial genius and winner of Hastings 1895 – the greatest tournament of the 19th century – Harry Nelson Pillsbury, and six-time United States Champion Jackson Showalter. Frank J. Marshall won the event, and his surprise victory catapulted him into the chess limelight which culminated in his challenge for the world crown in 1907.
In this tournament the Cambridge Springs Variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined was tested rigorously, which had the variation called as it is.
The most outstanding feature of this set are its wide bases, which makes it one of the most sturdy you can play with. Its Kings are given a non-religious finials, its Bishops are elegant, and the Queens are splendid with their sunken crown and coronets. Best of all are the Knights, which are made to sit on a pedestal, something that hasn’t been done to this piece for a very long while now.
Chessbazaar has resurrected this set to world-wide appreciation. It is a very accurate and very beautiful reproduction.
11. Reproduced Vintage 1930 German Knubbel Analysis Chess Pieces in Stained Crimson and Boxwood - 3" King
Key Highlights:
Material: Stained Crimson/ Boxwood
King Height: 2.91”
King Base : 1.41”
Chessmen Weight: 700 gms
Base Pad: Green Felt
Recommended Board: 1.75”
Extra Queens: Yes
The pure analysis chess set, and probably the best in its class.
The original German Knubbel chess set emerged about 90 years ago. In that period the Soviet Union was rising as the most powerful chess-playing nation, and Russian sets began dominating the chess scene.
The Knubbel takes the typical design of the Soviet sets of that time. It has slender stems and is devoid of any religious symbolism, with its Kings given ball finials of the opposite color.
The set stands out for its stability. The pieces have wide bases and low center of gravity, and as small as they are you cannot tip them over even by accident. For a 1930’s set it looks very modern with its castle Rooks, miter-less Bishops, and almost undecorated Queens. It looks even quirkier than the contemporary Romanian-Hungarian set, and you’d be incredulous to know that this it emerged when Reti and Nimzovitsch’s ideas were beginning to be absorbed and the Hypermodern age was dawning.
The set’s size makes it perfect for analysis, and it is said to be the favorite of the Great Dane Bent Larsen.
Chessbazaar gives the German Knubbel a unique touch and offers if in stained crimson for the dark pieces.
Conclusion
These are our featured eleven outstanding sets from sellers we know to be trustworthy and reliable. Very likely, you will like one of them.
To be sure, however, there are many other great sets. If it’s not one of these for you, we hope at least to have inspired you to delve into the rich history of our game and the part of it that chess sets have played. Surely, you will find one that is most remarkable to you.
After all, finding a chess set to keep and treasure or to become a cherished part of our collection is always a personal adventure, and we bid you a thrilling one!
About Author
Eugene Manlapao
Hi, I'm from the Philippines and I hold a degree in Bachelor of Arts, Major in English, Creative Writing. I'm a corporate fellow by profession and a certified lover of chess and literature. When free from work, I scramble dividing my time among my wife and two lovely daughters, devouring literary classics and chess books, participating in over-the-board tournaments, playing casual blitz and rapid games online, and writing chess as well as non-chess articles. My love for chess has had me bitten by the chess set-collection bug. I'll be very happy to receive comments to my articles and reviews for Chess Equipments.
