So, in summary, my favorite Chess set is one I don’t even own yet!
But I can’t wait for it to get here.
I must confess, though, I have a soft spot in my heart for an entirely different set. It’s plastic. It has lousy contrast. It was sold by Sears in the sixties. It isn’t Staunton-style. The bishops, queen and king are human figures. The knight is a warrior on horseback, the rooks are elephants, with towers or their backs, and the pawns are footmen. However, it was dad’s, and it was the set that was set up in my house growing up, and I learned to play on it, so it will always have a special place for me.
I still have one of those. Got it in the sixth grade. However, mine is red and ivory so the contrast is quite good. It has a leatherette case with individual compartments and a folding board that fits in the case. When I got into high school, another kid, my main chess competitor, convinced me my set wasn’t “legal”, and I ended up getting a Windsor Castle set, which I still use for home analysis, even though nearly all of the red men have been repaired with super-glue multiple times (the dye did something to the dark pieces on those old sets).
I had one of those also … white and red. Saw it in a hobby shop when I was maybe 12 and had to have it. I had poured plaster into the hollow pieces and glued on felt, but I was never comfortable playing with non-Staunton pieces, so I put it away. It’s in a closet somewhere even now.
My first ever set was a little one in white and red plastic one sold on a card in the dime store. maybe for a dollar. I got a black and red checkerboard for maybe an additional quarter. It was serviceable, but my parents later got me a nice weighted-and-felted Gallant Knight set in proper white and black with a nice folding board that I’d use on and off for nearly 40 years.
I have 3 sets. My tournament set is a plastic Reykjavik set that I bought from USCF. It’s triple weighted and has a very nice feel.
For my home use I have 2 fine wooden sets.
One I purchased from an importer in India. It’s made from Boxwood and Ebony and is a very nice set for analysis and leasure games.
I also have a fine 4.4 inch set from the House of Saunton. It’s an Imperial Collector’s set. I use it only for analysis and love to see it.
The Imperial Collector is a gorgeous set. I don’t have the funds to buy one of those, so I just stick to the plastic version. I like the Imperial knights.
Actually, to my way of thinking, a super high-end set like that ought to contain two or three sets of knights such as the regular Collector, the Imperial, and I think they had another one called the Sultan or something like that. It’s my understanding that on those three sets, all the non-knight chessmen are the same. Thus Hos could market it as three sets in one. The user could rotate the knights depending on whatever suited his fancy that day.
I think I saw a set by Mark of Westminster that had interchangeable king finials.