Why Our Chess Sets?

Not all chess sets are the same and you will find a wide range of quality from manufacturer to manufacturer. We work with only the very best wood chess set manufacturers and craftsmen and as  a result, our chess sets are far superior to most others. You definitely get what you pay for when it comes to buying a chess set.  Some of our competitors that sell lower priced sets also sell some really junky sets as well. We can simply look at their web site photos and know where they purchase their chess sets. Now, to be clear, we are not criticizing our competitors for selling these inferior chess sets at low prices. We are only pointing out that there is a difference.

So if you’re asking yourself, "Can there really be that much difference?" The answer is – there most definitely is! On cheaper sets you will find the knights poorly carved and often un-matching in appearance and even size. Pieces are not sanded and polished as thoroughly so you see turning lines and a poor finish because they didn’t take the time to polish them right. You might also find the consistency of the height and diameter varies from piece to piece and lean to one side (we call these leaners). Now, this doesn’t mean they are not suitable for a game of chess, only that they are a very poor quality chess set.

Over the years The Chess Store has evaluated chess sets from a large number of potential suppliers and most of them do not or perhaps cannot produce the quality that we want and expect for our customers. We’ve seen a lot of junk and that junk is often sold on Amazon and Ebay at cheap prices and often shipping directly from the manufacturer in India. By and large, these are companies that have been unable to sell their products to resellers here in the U.S. because of poor quality so their only outlet to sell is direct through these shopping sites.

There’s an old saying “that you can’t inspect quality in”; and that’s true.  However, we take the time to inspect each and every piece of every chess set to make sure that quality is up to our standards. We believe this is important and it has proven to be important over the years. However, we can tell you that most of our competitors don’t go to this bother. We know this for a fact because we occasionally buy sets from them to check on their quality control and the sets often arrive in the original cheap cardboard box packaging from the supplier in India – unopened! Does this make a difference? It most certainly does!

When you purchase a chess set from The Chess Store you can trust that we have done everything we can to insure that you receive the best chess set possible! A chess set that will last a life time and you can proudly display in your home and enjoy playing with for years to come.

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