A&A15" Magnetic Wooden Chess Set/Folding Board / 3" King Height German Knight Staunton Chess Pieces/2 Extra QueenThe Forest Stewardship Council

OVERVIEW AND "BOTTOM LINE"I have been playing chess since the 1960's and have had some lovely chess sets, including an African Animal soapstone set and another with a cedarwood box with a crushed velvet lined interior with an inlaid marble board & sandalwood and ebony pieces that was my pride and joy for years until stolen.This set, Promptly delivered with no damage or dents etc, is solidly made of wood with brass and steel fittings and parts with the tried and tested Staunton Pieces. It can be relied on to be the sort of set you want when what is important is to play the game, to concentrate the mind, together with ease of discrimination between pieces & a large enough board to separate the pieces when played and give an excellent overview by the two players. With the front and back ranks/rows' height difference well calculated to allow rapid assessment and strategic thinking, this set at a medium to low price point, is in my opinion, really, really good value for money... and would be the perfect set for a budding novice or experienced chess player, (or family set that may be passed on it is so nice...). I shall certainly treasure mine and, in owning it, can allow the memory of my stolen set to dissipate and no longer be a sad one.Bottom Line: All in all, a well put together Chess Set that no one would be ashamed to use in any company be they your brother or a visiting Grandmaster..... who may of course be one and the same?! You can buy this item with confidence.REVIEW DETAILSBuild:Box: I love woods, and this set has a subtle mix of timber colours that support the gameplay like a good frame brings out the best in a well executed picture; The brass closures of the box are robust and close with a satisfying tight "Click!"; The board folds out to a good size (15"x15") with the central split / folding point entirely disappearing during play; the feet are strong, metal, and are a great design feature that neatly interlock when the box is closed & securely press together the two halves of the board with the assistance of gravity when playing.Pieces: The turned pieces are of a good size, and feel and weight are agreeable to the hand. The kings being about 3", the pawns 2", plus the features of all piefces are well-defined. The bases are flared out elegantly and with the embedded magnets, are suitably married to the board to mitigate unnecessary movement... a very good thing! The pieces include two extra queens, (1xW, 1xBlack), which makes pawn promotion very user-friendly...Notes: My only reservation, a petty one, is the moulded plastic covered in a textured baize to hold the pieces: This detail, however, does not prevent it from performing good service in protecting and holding the pieces in place when not in use or travelling with the player as the weight of the whole allows of excellent portability..... and for a set at this price point expecting a velvet and wood interior would be churlish or at the least greedy? my point is that I prefer to use natural materials than plastic on general principle... I feel also that it is my task to make a solid sleeve with an absorbant lining for shocks and to prevent scratching etc when travelling with this set as it is easily carried in a bag of some kind and not an onerously heavy item....Support Material:The set comes with a set of self-adhesive reference alphanumeric stickers, (thus leaving the choice of grid reference addition to the board up to the purchaser...a very good attitude !), which may be adhered to the box top with the help of any straight edge to line them up so as not to detract from the board or draw the eye away from concentration on the game. The stickers are a perfect match for the set and great for learners and clubs to teach with...or analyse.A very nice touch, showing the love for the game, are the stickers included in a variety of styles and sizes to suit many an aesthetic & are not there to merely advertise the company that made this set as the company name / logo is on one sheet of stickers and there are two more sheets without any mention of them! ...and are good quality clip art... (I say this as an ex Graphic designer), and I shall personally use one of the more subtle ones to adorn the lid of my laptop...Finally the set, naturally!, comes with a small but effective "How To..." booklet that explains clearly and with plenty of diagrams, the basic workings of the game of chess. There is also a credit card type card with the company's contact details should you have any after-sales needs or assistance regarding your set or The Game of chess....

Although this item has just arrived, a review is in order as it concerns the quality of the various items making up the whole package rather than it's use as a chess or draughts game. After all, the quality of the game is entirely down to the players, eh? :-)I was really surprised at how well-made everything in the package is; and the fact that its all made of high quality woods with no blemish or structural faults visible. Even the hinges and the catches on the fold-out board are of good quality, not the usual misaligned thin pressed plate that bends or falls off with the first opening. The veneer and stringing making up the playing surface of the board is also immaculate.The chess pieces are not the highest quality available but they're well-shaped, smooth, properly proportioned and made of solid wood with a decent "varnish" finish. They're much better, though, than just adequate or satisfactory. For the money, they're very remarkable indeed.I could find only one tiny fault - one of the knights has it's magnet sticking out the bottom a little, pushing off the baize foot-disc, as the housing for the magnet has not been fully drilled out. Soon fixed. The board with this set isn't itself magnetic, by the way, but it's perhaps useful that the pieces are, so could be used with a full size magnetic travel board, where you want the pieces to be immune to being shaken off their positions by a railway train swaying or whatever.All in all, exceptional value and quality for the money.NB Subsequent investigation reveals that the metal "rounds" in the foot of the pieces, under the baize, are not themselves magnetic. I presume that the magnetic board-sets have a magnetic sheet under the board squares that attract the metal rounds in the feet of the pieces. The set I bought is the non-magnetic variety.

After countless searches on ebay, tried Amazon and more or less found this set straight away. It was double the price of my precious searches, but looked like a quality set. It also specified the dimensions of each pice, which was important as I was looking for large pieces.The set arrived 2 days early than stated and the artractive outer box had a rigid cardboard inner and the wooden box/board was further protected by a soft plastic bag.The quality of the wooden box and pieces justified the price. The pieces feel very comfortable and the magnets even hold them if the board is inverted. Separate homes for each piece is great for checking none have escaped from a particularly bad game.Also included is an instruction booklet that also describes some of the common mates. Stickers are also provided for the younger player, but I would keep the set for an adult player and get a cheap and cheerful set for the very young future fischer.Looking forward to taking the set to the next chess evening at my local cafe and being the envy of all. Unfortunately my skills at the moment don't match the quality of the set.

As shown in the photo, one of the pieces arrived damaged, however, for the cost this is a nice set and is a decent size too, even comes with spare Queen pieces in case your pawn does a runner and makes it across. Even comes with a rulebook and some cute stickers.Will undoubtedly make this a 5 star review if the seller sends a new knight, but as other reviews have shown, it is hit or miss that you'll recieve a undamaged set.

It fits the expectation - not overly details but artistic enough. The colour combination and size is also the one I want.

Great quality for a great price! Definitely exceeded my expectations.