How to Choose a Chess Set

Choosing a chess set comes down to two questions. Where will it live, and who will play on it? Answer those and the rest is taste. Below is how we help people choose in our Melbourne showroom, in the same order.

Start with the size

A chessboard is measured across its full width. The pieces are measured by the height of the king. The two go together, so pick the board for the space you have and the right pieces follow.

Compact, around 30 to 40 cm across. A side table, a desk, a small apartment, or a set that gets packed away.

Standard, around 45 to 50 cm across. The dining table. This is tournament size, and the size most homes end up with.

Large, 55 cm and up. A room with space around the board, and pieces big enough to match.

Every set on our site is sold with matching pieces, so you only make this decision once. If you are buying a board or pieces on their own, the product page tells you what pairs with it.

For the family table, a school or a club

The tournament set is the one you see at every school and club, and it is our best seller for good reason. The pieces are the classic Staunton shape, so everyone recognises a knight from across the room. The board rolls up, wipes clean and carries letters and numbers down the side so you can follow a game from a book. Choose double weighted pieces for feel and stability, or single weighted for a lighter set to carry. It is all you need to play chess.

Shop tournament sets

For the set you will keep

A wooden set is the one most people picture when they picture chess. Warm brown against cream, real grain in every piece, and a weight in the hand you can feel. Ours are carved by hand in India for Rex Noir and inlaid by hand in Spain for Ferrer. A wooden set plays like a tournament set and looks made for a living room, which is why it is the set people hand down.

Shop wooden sets

For the set you leave out

Stone sets are carved from real marble, onyx or alabaster, and every square is veined a little differently, so yours is the only one exactly like it. They are cool and smooth in the hand and the pieces land with a soft click. Marble is bold and unpredictable; alabaster is precise and polished like glass. Both are the sets people buy as a gift and then find on the coffee table for years. Glass sets give a similar look at a smaller size and a friendlier price.

Shop stone sets  ·  Shop glass sets

For a tidy table

Some boards keep the pieces inside them. Drawers slide out from the sides, or the playing surface lifts to reveal a compartment underneath. The board stays on the table between games and the pieces stay with it, so the set stays together and the table stays clear. Popular with families, and with anyone who hates hunting for a pawn.

Shop sets with storage

For the car, the plane and the holiday house

Travel sets fold shut with the pieces inside, and the good ones are magnetic, so a knocked board keeps its game. They run from a plastic case that fits a glovebox to real wooden sets with a drawer and a slot for every piece. Grandparents buy them for small fingers. Commuters buy them for the train.

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For a set with a story

Themed sets swap the Staunton shapes for figures: Greek and Roman warriors cast in metal, the medieval Lewis chessmen with their startled faces, the armies of Waterloo painted by hand. The usual sizing rules relax here. As long as the pieces sit comfortably inside their squares, the only rule is that you love them.

Shop themed sets

For the lawn

Giant chess changes the game. Children who fidget at a board will happily walk a bishop across the grass, and adults stop to watch. Sets run from knee-high pieces with a mat that pegs into the lawn, to a full-size court with a king past a child's shoulder. All of it is weatherproof plastic made to be left outside. Schools, resorts and back gardens buy them, and so do people who just want the neighbours to talk.

Shop giant chess

Already have half a set?

Boards and pieces are sold separately too. If you own a board you love, the rule of thumb is that the king should stand about twice as tall as a square is wide. Every board and every set of pieces on our site says what it pairs with, and if you are unsure, send us a photo and we will tell you.

Shop boards and pieces

Still deciding?

We have been matching people to chess sets from Melbourne since 1994. Email us, call us, or come to the showroom in Moorabbin and pick the pieces up. There is a right chess set for everyone, and we like finding it.

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