– A&A 15" Magnetic Wooden Chess Set, Handmade 3" King Height Unique Chess Pieces with 2 Extra Queen, Portable Travel Chess Game Set for Adults Kids

OVERVIEW AND "BOTTOM LINE" I have been playing chess since the 1960's and have had some lovely chess sets, including an African Animal soapstone set and another with a cedarwood box with a crushed velvet lined interior with an inlaid marble board & sandalwood and ebony pieces that was my pride and joy for years until stolen. This set, Promptly delivered with no damage or dents etc, is solidly made of wood with brass and steel fittings and parts with the tried and tested Staunton Pieces. It can be relied on to be the sort of set you want when what is important is to play the game, to concentrate the mind, together with ease of discrimination between pieces & a large enough board to separate the pieces when played and give an excellent overview by the two players. With the front and back ranks/rows' height difference well calculated to allow rapid assessment and strategic thinking, this set at a medium to low price point, is in my opinion, really, really good value for money... and would be the perfect set for a budding novice or experienced chess player, (or family set that may be passed on it is so nice...). I shall certainly treasure mine and, in owning it, can allow the memory of my stolen set to dissipate and no longer be a sad one. Bottom Line: All in all, a well put together Chess Set that no one would be ashamed to use in any company be they your brother or a visiting Grandmaster..... who may of course be one and the same?! You can buy this item with confidence. REVIEW DETAILS Build: Box: I love woods, and this set has a subtle mix of timber colours that support the gameplay like a good frame brings out the best in a well executed picture; The brass closures of the box are robust and close with a satisfying tight "Click!"; The board folds out to a good size (15"x15") with the central split / folding point entirely disappearing during play; the feet are strong, metal, and are a great design feature that neatly interlock when the box is closed & securely press together the two halves of the board with the assistance of gravity when playing. Pieces: The turned pieces are of a good size, and feel and weight are agreeable to the hand. The kings being about 3", the pawns 2", plus the features of all piefces are well-defined. The bases are flared out elegantly and with the embedded magnets, are suitably married to the board to mitigate unnecessary movement... a very good thing! The pieces include two extra queens, (1xW, 1xBlack), which makes pawn promotion very user-friendly... Notes: My only reservation, a petty one, is the moulded plastic covered in a textured baize to hold the pieces: This detail, however, does not prevent it from performing good service in protecting and holding the pieces in place when not in use or travelling with the player as the weight of the whole allows of excellent portability..... and for a set at this price point expecting a velvet and wood interior would be churlish or at the least greedy? my point is that I prefer to use natural materials than plastic on general principle... I feel also that it is my task to make a solid sleeve with an absorbant lining for shocks and to prevent scratching etc when travelling with this set as it is easily carried in a bag of some kind and not an onerously heavy item.... Support Material: The set comes with a set of self-adhesive reference alphanumeric stickers, (thus leaving the choice of grid reference addition to the board up to the purchaser...a very good attitude !), which may be adhered to the box top with the help of any straight edge to line them up so as not to detract from the board or draw the eye away from concentration on the game. The stickers are a perfect match for the set and great for learners and clubs to teach with...or analyse. A very nice touch, showing the love for the game, are the stickers included in a variety of styles and sizes to suit many an aesthetic & are not there to merely advertise the company that made this set as the company name / logo is on one sheet of stickers and there are two more sheets without any mention of them! ...and are good quality clip art... (I say this as an ex Graphic designer), and I shall personally use one of the more subtle ones to adorn the lid of my laptop... Finally the set, naturally!, comes with a small but effective "How To..." booklet that explains clearly and with plenty of diagrams, the basic workings of the game of chess. There is also a credit card type card with the company's contact details should you have any after-sales needs or assistance regarding your set or The Game of chess....

Given how much this cost, I am very impressed by it. I've seen sets at well over £100 that aren't as nice. The board is super smooth and lovely wood. The pieces are light, well formed and glide over the board with easy. The magnets are strong enough to tip the board, but I wouldn't turn it upside down (why would you?) Being foldable and coming with a case just makes it great for storing it safely. Not sure why the stickers are included, but I'm sure some people will enjoy them! For £30 something, this is a bargain.

Agree with other reviews, brilliant product. Comes with a fitted, felt slip cover. A half decent knight, usually the shoddiest piece due to its irregular sgaoe. In answer to a query in anothet response... The extra queen is not because queens get lost... If a pawn makes it across the board it is said to "queen". In fact it can uograde to any piece (except king); as the queen has almost all the moves it's the most obvious choice (in rare circumstances you might choose a knight instead) So, instead of using, say, an upside down rook, you can actually have 2 queens on the board. Not a common occurence? But the set is a steal fir the price. An unusually good example of Chinese manufacture.

After countless searches on ebay, tried Amazon and more or less found this set straight away. It was double the price of my precious searches, but looked like a quality set. It also specified the dimensions of each pice, which was important as I was looking for large pieces. The set arrived 2 days early than stated and the artractive outer box had a rigid cardboard inner and the wooden box/board was further protected by a soft plastic bag. The quality of the wooden box and pieces justified the price. The pieces feel very comfortable and the magnets even hold them if the board is inverted. Separate homes for each piece is great for checking none have escaped from a particularly bad game. Also included is an instruction booklet that also describes some of the common mates. Stickers are also provided for the younger player, but I would keep the set for an adult player and get a cheap and cheerful set for the very young future fischer. Looking forward to taking the set to the next chess evening at my local cafe and being the envy of all. Unfortunately my skills at the moment don't match the quality of the set.

Incredible value for money. The magnetic pieces are slightly on the lighter side, but non-magnetic weighted pieces are also available if that’s your preference. The wooden pieces are beautifully crafted and feel genuinely premium, far superior to any other board I’ve seen at this price point. As an added bonus, the set includes coordinate stickers, which would cost £8.99 if purchased separately from A&A’s website. It also comes with a comprehensive starter guide covering how each piece moves and a wide range of popular openings, making it ideal for beginners and returning players alike. When unfolded, the board sits perfectly flush with no noticeable join down the centre. I genuinely couldn’t ask for anything better. This chess set feels worth far more than £29.99, and while I wouldn’t be surprised if the price increased, the quality is so good that I wouldn’t begrudge it at all.

Very nice , very high quality, it was worth buying it

A well proportioned Staunton style set of pieces. The magnetic set is recommended as it gives the pieces some weight . The quality of the folding board is very good and the pieces are also nicely done . The 15 inch board with the 3 inch king works very well for portability and playability . One of the better folding magnetic sets and for the price it is very good value . I’ve bought a second set to give as a prize for my Chess Club’s Rapid competition.

Absolutely delighted with the quality. Beautiful smooth board which looks like it should be more expensive than what we paid. In fact, we loved it so much we ordered another one straight away for our grandsons.

The quality far exceeded my expectations at the price point. The board looks excellent, lies flat, and comes with a nice fitted felt-like bag. The magnets on the pieces are nice feature and decently strong. The 15x15" board size is large enough to not be too cramped, but small enough to be portable. The pieces themselves are perfectly sized for the board and are of fairly average quality, with a few minor imperfections on a few, but nothing that affects anything.

Just received this set yesterday and i just had to write a review on it. Pros : Amazing quality and beautiful wood grain. Cute chess pieces, very finely made, excellent magnetic feel. Cons : I would have loved if it came in some carrier bag. The chess pieces were a little light, but then again, it wouldnt hold if it were overly weighted. All in all, a GREAT Chess set.

Update: The company was very helpful and sent us a replacement bishop. We've been using the set for a while now and its been great. Its nice to be able to play a little, then move it out of the way for a while and not have to worry about positions changing. The quality of the board and pieces is also very good as well. Definitely worth the price. Original post: We recieved our set today and the bishop doesn't have a magnet in it and the felt is very different on the bottom than all the other pieces. I opened the felt and there is a piece of metal, but it is not magnetic

Bella scacchiera. Solida…pezzi ben fatti.

I've owned this board for little over a year now, and it has been absolutely incredible. I collect chess sets, and own over 100 different sets. I also (try) to play chess at a club level, so I appreciate when things are playable for standard more official chess settings. I've played over 50 games with this board in blitz, rapid, and classical style formats. From this experience, here are my pro's and con's Pros: - Piece design: The piece design in superb. To put it simply, these are the best wooden chess pieces I've ever used in a magnetic chess set. It closely resembles that of the DGT timeless pieces which are the top of the line. Many other sets write "handmade wooden pieces" in their titles but end up just including a set of generic mass made cheap wooden sets, but this company does not. They feel great in the hands, look fantastic, and are very durable. The contrast between the pieces and the board is brilliant, and allows for very pleasant play. The wood grain is also NOT fake, which I am very happy with. They are real wooden pieces that do not have that glossy cheap look. - Magnets: The magnets are perfect for this size of board. They stay on at decently extreme angles, and during blitz play pieces rarely fall down. They also have a very satisfying sound when placing down on the board. - Board quality: Board is very smooth and level. I never really ever have issues with the seam and it has withstood several drops, hits, and literal smacking from small children. I have taken it abroad to two countries and it still plays great. Overtime mine has seen several scratches and nicks, but I've used this in a more extreme case. I actually like the "weathered" look it's taking on as well. - Value Given the quality of the board, pieces, and magnets, I don't think you can find a better deal. This is the highest value magnetic set I have found so far. Cons: - Putting pieces back: The magnets are not all the same direction. This causes pieces to snap to each other, or stick to the sides of other pieces. While this is not an issue when playing at all, it is annoying when putting it back after you're done. However this is really not a problem and adds maybe only an extra 10 seconds to your time when cleaning up. - Base size of Queen and King: These two pieces have slightly larger bases than the rest of the pieces. It doesn't impact playability but it irks me that they're not all the same size. I'm guessing this was to compensate for their taller height. - Size options: This size is fantastic for serious games, and works on many different surfaces. However for portability it is pretty sizeable and barely fits in my laptop backpack. The thickness also makes it cumbersome to carry around if you have a small bag. I wish there were maybe 3 sizes (small, medium, large) where this would be more on the medium size. Overall: This is my top pick for serious portable chess, and is my first recommendation anytime anyone asks. I really appreciate the quality they've put into this. Make sure you pay attention to the dimensions carefully and know that it will be slightly on the larger side. If that isn't an issue for you, you cannot find a better deal for the price!