WegielHandmade European Professional Tournament Chess Set - Wooden 21 Inch Folding Board with Felt Base & Hand Carved Chess Pieces - Compartment Inside The Board to Store Each Piece

Firstly, I paid 60$. I think that's perfect for the product and even though the chess pieces were 'imperfect' (King's cross has a small chip on white, two knights have slightly off ear cutting which amounts to about 2mm, one rook had a piece of glue on the felt, King's felt on white is slightly off-center) they exceeded my expectations by a ton. I bought this set because the alternative notated board I was looking at which is about the same size was 180$, which I considered ridiculous although I will probably buy it down the road. I didn't expect the actual chessmen to have so much weight, height, size, etc. they truly command quite a presence. I thought I'd be disappointed with them but it will make for a lot of fun future games and they were inexpensive enough this is the set I'll use for drunken chess.Back to the board. It's excellent. For how much I spent, I could see the board itself going for 40$ based on similar products. It has just enough thickness to feel solid, yet is not too dense so you hear a nice satisfying sound when you plop a knight to F3. The board stores each piece individually (this isn't shown in the actual product pictures) and they were just slightly off when it was shipped to me. I don't see myself travelling with this set at this time but I am glad I have the option, as well as the ability to pack it away if needed as this board is massive.Although the pieces aren't perfect Indian masterpieces, the set altogether is definitely a 5 star purchase. I initially thought I'd be disappointed with the pieces but I already love them, their weight is great and the wood is exactly as good or even a little bit better crafted than you'd expect at the 40$+ range for chessmen alone.

This Set is FABULOUS!! I am GLAD that we were able to Purchase it at a REASONABLE Price! The Wooden Pieces are in fact WEIGHTED! Not Triple Weighted, but "Nicely" weighted! They Fit On the squares Great. The Felting is OK! They are not exactly "smooth", BUT OK!!! The BOARD is UNBELIEVABLY FANTASTIC! Fits ALL the Pieces WELL in thinly,but adequately made, easily removable FELTED, plastic tray that holds the pieces in place without those silly elastic cords! The Board's FINISH is that of a much more EXPENSIVE Board! S M O O T H as a baby's butt! THIS BOARD AND SET ARE REMARKABLE FOR THE PRICE! The Overall weight is Excellent! A bit heavy for a "90 lb weakling"! The Board is in fact U.S.C.F. Authorized as well as the pieces! IT IS AS BIG AS A REGULATION BOARD! IF THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR STOP READING THIS & BUY 1 OR 2 now! I AM IN FACT QUITE HAPPY WITH THIS PURCHASE! CAN YOU TELL? HOPE TO PLAY WITH THIS FOR MANY YEARS TO COME! BUY YOURS A.S.A.P. & ENJOY!!

I bought this set because I wanted to have a wooden board whose squares are exactly same size as the popular green and white rollout mats. The squares for that should be 2.25 inches.I already owner superior wooden pieces to use with this board. For the price that this set is selling for you absolutely cannot get better deal than this set. Even more value if you need a set of chessmen.So for any beginner or for a first set everything with this board is great. But if you expect India made level chessmen this isn't the best set. The chessmen are all of the perfect tournament base size and they do have weights in them. Despite that they are still very light and can slide and fall easily. They do look great and have excellent shape and color. But an experienced owner of chessmen will notice that these are generally poor quality chessmen. The wood is light and you can see the lines or pores where the chessmen were cut in manufacture. They are also not well sealed and lacquered like the $60 and above pieces you could get from India somewhere. That means that when you move your fingers against the chess piece surfaces it will feel porous and uneven, as opposed to smooth, sealed, and lacquered like the really nice ones. (I have seen in videos that Magnus Carlsen and Garry Kasparov used these same pieces when Kasparov was training Carlsen. So they are at least good enough for those guys.)Despite of what is, in my opinion, below average chessmen, the board surface quality and construction is very very good. It actually is made from inlaid wood squares whose natural grain/lines go into different directions on white and black. That is always pleasant to look at. On top of that the surface is covered with brown stain lacquer on black and the perimeter, and white are slightly beige. All of it is covered with coat of some other sealant which almost makes it look like a thin layer of crystallized sugar. You could say it is like a soft amber shine. The surface is also very smooth and all of my different chess sets' pieces slide so smoothly and with so little friction. That's how these boards are supposed to be.WARNING: This is my second board from Polish manufacturer Wegiel. And this one, like the other one, came with an imperfection which is caused by about 1 millimeter of disalignment where the two halves of the board touch. It can be a problem ONLY if you want to seamlessly slide pieces across the center. In my case I wanted a smooth movement across the center line. When I saw this slight imperfection I was able to apply pressure onto the board when it was unfolded and put on flat surface. It became perfectly aligned.This issue has occurred before with a smaller Wegiel board. Sometimes it can be easily corrected and sometimes not so easily. In either case I only recommend you try to put pressure on it if you are skilled and experienced in small construction or woodworking. If you aren't you could break the hinges and to fix it may be difficult without special skill. Just saying this in case you care about that kind of detail.

I've never seen another chess set of this quality for this low of a price! Everyone I've played with has been impressed with the look and especially the feel of the pieces. Those bad boys are hefty.I recommend this to every single darn person looking for a chess set. Word of warning though: this product will make you more annoying since you won't stop asking people to play chess!Na prawdę fantastyczny zestaw.