Chess Pieces

All styles and tastes

Our range of chess pieces is extensive and caters for all styles and tastes. The Regency Chess Company stocks only the finest wooden chess pieces, indeed our selection of luxury Staunton chess pieces has grown to one of the largest collections in Europe and features the worlds’ finest wooden chess pieces. Our chess pieces are made and imported from a variety of different countries including Italy, Poland, India and England. All suppliers are scrutinized carefully for quality and ethics so that only the finest chessmen are added to our range.

Traditional Staunton

While we stock a vast range of chess pieces our most popular style is the classic Staunton chessmen. In fact of all the pieces we have for sale Staunton represents the lions share of our stock. It is without doubt the archetypal set of chessmen and the one universally recognized as the standard and the norm. The Staunton design came about in the mid 1800s when Howard Staunton, a leading chess player at the time, had become frustrated with the vast difference in chess pieces at competitions. He was frustrated when playing against people who insisted on using weird sets where the pieces were not instantly recognized.

A little history

Staunton didn’t design the Staunton chessmen, he loved the design and put his name to each set. He promoted it heavily in his published writings on chess and because of him the set became a huge hit worldwide. As a set of chessmen it ticked all the right boxes. It was easy to manufacture, looked very elegant, it was ergonomic and practical and perfect to play a game of chess with. They are without doubt the ultimate chess pieces and have been adopted by all the words chess organizations as the standard competition chessmen.

Intricately carved

Despite the huge popularity for Staunton we stock a range of excellent quality themed chess pieces, some lovely Italian metal chessmen and the legendary Isle of Lewis chessmen. Our range also features some very intricately carved decorative wooden chess pieces which are hand carved from exotic Indian hardwoods.

Antiques in Ebony

Also included in our range of chess pieces is a small selection of antique reproduction chessmen. These are precise copies of antique designs including some pre-Staunton sets such as Northern Upright and St George. These sets of chess pieces have been produced to the highest possible standards from the finest Indian ebony wood and are just like the originals, only much cheaper of course.

Chess Piece styles

There are many styles of chess piece. They fall into a handful of categories. The first and most popular is the Staunton style, this is the most iconic and familiar of all the types of chess piece in the world. There are thousands of variations of this style, from plain basic and functional, to highly ornate and decorative. The second best known style is the Lewis chessmen, these have a lovely back story and are lovely looking pieces. There are other styles, from the contemporary to the highly ornate. We have pretty much all the styles available here at Regency Chess.

Lewis Chess Pieces

You will notice we have a section of our website totally dedicated to the Isle Of Lewis Chess Pieces. These legendary chessmen are probably the second most popular and familiar design after Staunton. In our range of Lewis chessmen is the ever popular SAC set which retails for under eighty pounds. We also stock the amazing National Museum Scotland set which we regard as the official set. It has been created from laser scans of the original pieces and commissioned by an English manufacturer by one of the foremost authorities on the subject.

Large Chess Pieces

We sell a vast range of chess pieces and they come in a large number of sizes. The size that we refer to in a set of chessmen is always the height of the king. Invariably he’s the largest piece so it makes sense to measure the set against him rather than any of the other pieces. We sell chess pieces with a king height of two and a half inches right up to six inches, although it’s very unusual for the size to go above four and a half inches. One thing that can be confusing about large chess pieces is the difference between the various sizes. Without looking you could be forgiven for thinking that there is not a huge difference between a 2.5 inch and a 4 inch piece, it is after all, just a 1.5 inch difference. However due to the proportions of chessmen the difference is huge! There is a standard tournament size, 3.75 inches and pieces that are between 3.5 and 3.75 inches tend to fit most peoples perception of a ‘normal’ sized set of chess pieces. Another key measurement you must always consider is the base diameter of the king. This directly affects the size of board