Chess Sets

A superb range of stunning chess sets

The selection of chess sets at The Regency Chess Company is the result of ten years of careful evolution and expert product sourcing. We sell every style and type of chess set, from traditional Staunton wooden sets, Isle of Lewis sets and many many others. Our range has been carefully sourced from high quality suppliers all over the world but particulary in Europe. We have chosen our list of suppliers from the worlds finest producers of chess boards and chess pieces and we have excellent relationships with many of the worlds most famous chess set suppliers.

Chess Set and Board - A perfect match

One of the many things that The Regency Chess Company has become famous for is creating the worlds most amazing chess sets ourselves by combining the best boards with the very best pieces. We’ve found that most of the suppliers of artisan chess products specialise in either boards, or pieces, but seldom both. So what we’ve done is take sets of chess pieces from the worlds finest producers of chessmen and combine them with the right boards from specific chess board makers. We are able to judge the best style, sizing and matching for these chess sets and the results have been stunning. So you might have a super luxury board from Italy, a storage case from Germany and a set of pieces from England to create the perfect set. We have done all the hard work in selecting the compatible components.

Wooden Chess Sets

It comes as no surprise that wood is the most popular material for chess pieces and boards. Although we do sell sets made from a myriad of other materials wood remains by far the most popular. Due to the detail and intricacy of the sets and boards only very high quality hard woods are used. The woods range of in terms of grade and price and include things like ebony, boxwood, rosewood and maple.

The classic Staunton chessmen were designed specifically to be manufactured from wood, with the process of lathe turning being the way the majority of the set was crafted. The Staunton chess set is by far the most popular design which is another reason why wood has become the most popular material.

Different types of chess sets

We sell a massive range of chess sets, hundreds of different types. Broadly speaking there is however only a handful of types of chess set. Below is a quick run down of the broad categories that all of our chess sets will fall into.

Staunton Chess Sets

There is a good reason why the first in the list is the Staunton chess set. This is the most iconic, popular, distinctive, functional and arguably, the best looking set in the world today. It was created in the mid 1800s and since then has become the industry standard. Now that the design is well out of copyright there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of variations of this classic design. The Staunton set has become the archetypal, the one that people instantly picture in their head when you say the words ‘chess set’. It is without doubt something of a design classic. Each piece is totally different from the others, yet it’s it’s clear that they all come from the same family. There simply is no better set to have a serious game of chess with.

Isle of Lewis Chess Sets

Second on the list is Isle Of Lewis Chess Sets. These are our second most popular range. They are less of a serious chess players set but they have become equally as iconic as Staunton. The back story behind these beautiful looking pieces is quite something. The original versions were made in the 12th century by Vikings, the set was then lost and re discovered on the Scottish Isle of Lewis hundreds of years later by a random passer by. The original pieces are now priceless museum pieces. But extremely accurate replicas have been made into chess sets which makes owning your own Lewis chess set possible.

Themed Chess Sets

The Themed Chess sets are typically based around a non chess related theme, such as sports, battles or film characters. There are many different types, often with crafted and painted characters representing each piece. These sets are a great novelty, they make great gifts for people who have a particular affinity to the theme in question. They aren’t the best sets for serious chess games however, mainly due to the difficulty in identifying the pieces. They are however collectible, in some cases the hand made sets are made in very small numbers worldwide.

Amazing chess sets

The range of chess sets we have is very extensive, some would even say there is too much choice. There is an amazing selection of sets. All sizes, materials, styles ad price points are catered for. Without doubt the most amazing sets are our luxury Staunton ones, combining the very best in crafted hardwoods with the finest crafted European chess boards. What’s more amazing is that we’ve been in this business for over ten years now and we are still amazed at how beautiful many of the products are.