Buying a New Chess Set: What You Need to Know

June 20, 2020January 17, 2024 Daniel

Thanks to The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix, chess is all the rage these days! Time will tell if this centuries-old leisure activity will stick around for good or be another passing fad like the lava lamp, ska music, or pet rocks. But in the meantime, chess is as cool as anything since Miles Davis came along — and the inclusion of drugs and alcohol in The Queen’s Gambit just makes chess that much more hip and appealing to younger people.

Chess is a pastime where the mightiest of kings and knights can be reduced to peasants, peons, and pawns. It is a game that takes neither strength nor brawn, and has driven countless folks to insanity. Few things are less fun than a stressful game of chess that takes an entire afternoon to complete. In fact, the scientists who write for Wired tell us it playing lots of chess can even shrink your brain. Despite these obvious dangers to your psyche and your social life, you may still be thinking about buying and owning a chess board.

But are you truly prepared to begin the process of shopping for a brand-new chessboard? Are you confident you have all the information to make the best decision? Do you even know how to play chess? There’s lots you need to know before undertaking such a responsibility.

Why Should I Buy a Chess Set?

I want to look smart. Whether you’re looking for an elegant piece to put in the corner of your living room and never touch or looking for a game with pieces small enough for a child to choke on, keeping a chess set in your house is a great way to give your visitors the impression that you’re slightly smarter than you think they think you are.

My child is not good at sports. Sports and other physical activities take size and coordination. If your son, daughter, or genderqueer child is not agile enough for ballet or obese enough for football, consider projecting your insecurities onto them through a medium like chess. The scholarships to Division I schools they’ll earn will offset any damage to your relationship.

I enjoy playing chess. Believe it or not, there are people who actually like to play chess, sometimes even more than just once in awhile. If you’re one of those people, there’s no reason why you should spend thousands of dollars on a chess board without doing your homework first.

What to Look for When Shopping for a New Chess Set.

Tournament notations. If you plan on getting serious about playing chess, you’ll want a board that has all the letters and numbers along the sides. These figures like D4 and E1 make up its own language in chess and maybe someday when someone tells you that the knight to G5 is checkmate, you’ll know what that means.

More than one queen. Did you know that there’s a rule that if you can get your pawn all the way to the other side, you can get your queen back? And if you already have your queen, you can get a second one? Since you’re probably terrible at chess, this will likely never happen to you but if it does, you’ll want to be prepared. Make sure your board comes with extra queens.

The correct number of squares. A complete, functional chessboard has 64 squares. Make sure all squares are intact; if you find that you board has only 63 squares or even less, do not hesitate to return the chess set to your local chess dealer for an exchange. The neighborhood chess store is part of a dying industry that wants to keep its customers happy.

Proximity to a drug dealer or unscrupulous doctor and pharmacist. Like Beth Harmon in The Queen’s Gambit, you don’t want to be caught short on tranquilizers right before a big chess match. Those nerves of yours need to be steady as you accumulate points on your way up to being a Grandmaster! Make sure you have access to someone who can give you access to the best drugs you need to enhance your performance.

What are the best Chess Boards to buy?

The fanciest and most expensive. If you have lots of money but no intention of ever actually playing chess and just want to show off, you’ll want the most expensive chess set money can buy. The folks at Bello Games New York know how to make gorgeous-looking chess sets, and one of them is this beautiful table of Italian alabaster. The pieces are hand-painted doohickeys that reimagines the soldiers of the American Civil War as a chess match, which just makes those two things that much more obviously analogous. At 85 pounds, it is heavy as it is handsome, and would look great in the corner of your library next to the window on a sunny day, where you can see the dust floating lightly in the sunbeams.