News & Updates
Traditional Staunton Chess Set - Blue & Natural
We wanted to welcome the new year in with a bang, so we are introducing our new Traditional Staunton Chess Sets! These beautiful sets feature a standard Staunton-style piece and come in a variety of colors. The king height stands at just under 4″ on these babies and every piece is weighted.
Along with the beautiful pieces, our sets come with regulation-size mousepad chess boards, giving you a portable chess board that is a step above vinyl boards. Each board comes in your choice of color (green, blue or black) and features notation on the sides. The sets also come with a carry-all tournament-sized bag to match.
These beautiful sets are available in six different color combinations. Oh, and right now, you can save big! Now through January 21, 2011, use the promo code 12COMBO and you can get $5 off your order when you order any of our Traditional Staunton Chess Sets.
Blue & Natural
Blue & Ivory
Red & Natural
Red & Ivory
Black & Natural
Black & Ivory
We are happy to introduce our Tournament Staunton Chess Pieces, the newest addition to the Wholesale Chess family. These pieces are a beautiful, full-sized chess piece that are great for a variety of chess games!
Here are some of the great features you’ll find with our new chess pieces:
- High-End Look at an affordable price!
- Tournament-weighted plastic chess pieces
- Currently available in ivory and natural finishes, but available soon in other colors
- 3 3/4″ King
- 1 3/4″ King Base
- Each set comes with extra queens
- Drawstring bag included
These pieces are a great deal! Be sure to get your set today, and don’t forget a matching chess board!
Buy The Tournament Staunton Chess Pieces Here
The standard colors for chess pieces are black and white. In fact, they are named black and white during play, so it makes sense that most chess pieces remain black and white. Often in wood sets, the actual colors may vary, based on the types of woods used to craft the pieces. You may see pieces with more brown or even red colors for the “black” pieces, and anywhere from nearly white to a dark boxwood for the “white” pieces.
If you’re looking to shake up your chess game, consider investing in some low-cost, durable basic colored chess pieces! We have a great offering of colored pieces that you can purchase for your own game. All colored chess pieces come in the international standard size of 3 3/4″ king height, though our colored pieces are not weighted.
With our great selection, you can mix and match your own two half-sets and have chess games in any color your choose! We have ten different colors to choose from including red, blue, yellow, green, purple, pink, black, white and now we even feature gold and silver colored chess pieces.
Our colored chess pieces are great for:
- Early Development Chess Clubs
- School Chess Clubs
- Family Chess Sets
- Fun Chess Tournaments
- Chess Pieces For Demonstration and so much more!
You can view our great selection of colored chess pieces here. You can also find more colored chess sets with pieces and boards to match by going to our Kids Fun Chess Sets here.
The summer is winding down, but there is still time to get your own Giant Chess set and play a few more times outside! Wholesale Chess has a great selection of giant chess sets to keep you busy with giant chess. Our sets are some of the most durable giant sets available.
These pieces are on the small side of “giant”, but don’t let that stop you from grabbing your own set. Our 8″ giant chess set features a king height of 8″ with other pieces matching to boot. The set comes with it’s own 3 foot x 3 foot vinyl chess board in black and white. The board and pieces are lighter weights, making them very portable so you can take your set with you anywhere you’d like! The pieces are durable enough to withstand the rigors of outdoor chess as well.
This is our mid-size giant chess offering. Our 12″ pieces are small replicas of their larger cousins, the 25″ giant set. The king piece stands at 12″ high with the rest of the set matching in proportion. This set comes with a 5 foot x 5 foot chess board that uses clip-together hard plastic board pieces. It can take some time to set up, but this board is very durable and great for extended stays outside or inside. If you don’t like the clip-together board, consider investing in our mini giant travel chess board which matches these pieces in size and is made of vinyl that can be rolled or folded up quickly and easily.
The largest set we offer, the 25″ giant chess set is perfect for outdoor chess and giant chess games. This set features a king height of 25″ and matching pieces. The set can be purchased with just the pieces alone, great if you already have your own chess board or a board built into the ground. The Giant Chess Set Combo also comes with a vinyl chess board and bags to carry the chess pieces. These pieces are all hollow with removable bases. This works great if you would like to add weight to your pieces, helping them to withstand stronger winds.
Need taller chess pieces? Our 25″ giant chess set can fit our giant chess set extensions. These extensions can add an additional 12″ to your chess pieces, allowing the king to stand at 36″ in height.
You can view all of our giant chess sets by clicking here.
Some of our customers who are new to the chess scene sometimes ask us what the difference between Fritz 12 and Rybka 4 is. That is an excellent question that we’d like to clarify. Both programs are chess software that help teach chess. Here are a few other similarities:
- Both programs are in the “starter” chess market, offering a complete package for the chess player new to chess software.
- They both offer chess-playing engines, allowing you to play against a computer from beginning to advanced levels.
- Both programs feature a huge database of past games (over 1.5 million games in each) from the 17th century and later.
So what makes these two programs different? They are both quite similar and offer a very similar set of features. It is important to note that Fritz 12 is geared more toward the new and learning chess player. The program offers better competition for players who are newer to the game and are looking to improve. Rybka 4, on the other hand, is much more geared toward advanced players looking for a challenge. While they both offer the different skill levels, Rybka 4 is much better in the advanced category.
Buy Rybka 4
Buy Fritz 12
If you’ve ever been shopping for a chess clock, it can be hard to choose between digital chess clocks and analog chess clocks. Both types of clocks have their own unique advantages, making the choice even more difficult. Here are a few tips:
Analog Chess Clocks
Often, analog clocks are the first types of chess clocks you may be familiar with. Analog Chess Clocks traditionally feature two separate clock faces in the same chess clock, one for each player. The most basic ones feature two buttons at the top for each player to press. With analog clocks, you typically set the time on each clock individually.
Analog clocks are short on features but huge on style. These clocks often have little more than an ability to turn each face on and off and a way to set the clocks. Some chess clocks feature a wind-up design, freeing you from batteries. Others have batteries inside, freeing you from constantly winding your chess clock.
With analog clocks, it’s all about looks. Analog clocks can be very beautiful and offer a greater range of styles. Clocks are often manufactured in elegant woods with interesting patterns. Clock faces are designed to match and these clocks look just great.
Digital Chess Clocks
These clocks are more about utility and accuracy than analog clocks. Digital chess clocks are available in simple to advanced models. The higher the price, the more features and the better the quality. Digital chess clocks often have many different buttons and the user must learn how to operate each type of clock.
Features, features features. Digital clocks are pre-programmed to work as chess clocks, but can do so much more. Digital clocks often have dozens of different timing modes, giving you and your chess game much more variety in types of games to play. Chess clocks can handle blitz modes, delays and more.
When making your decision, make sure you consider why you are buying a chess clock. Analog chess clocks may not be able to withstand the abuse of a school chess program or have the accuracy required for a true chess tournament. Digital chess clocks may just look tacky when you pull out your beautiful rosewood or oak chess set to play your old friend. No matter which clock you choose, though, chess clocks can sure make your chess game more fun and improve your abilities as a chess player.
Digital Chess Clocks
Analog Chess Clocks
Chronos Chess Clocks
BHB Chess Clocks
When it comes to your chess set, the Knight chess piece is often the defining piece in the set. This piece offers the most chance for variety and uniqueness in a chess set and it is often the piece with the most detail. When it comes to the game of chess, the Knight chess piece is often the favorite piece and most unpredictable piece in the game. Many a game has been ended because of the make-or-break tactics with the Knight.
How A Knight Chess Piece Moves
The Knight chess piece moves in a very mysterious way. Unlike Rooks, Bishops or Queens, the Knight is limited in the number of squares it can move across. In fact, it’s movement is a very specific movement. The piece moves in a shape similar to the uppercase “L”. Here are the specifics:
- The Knight piece can move forward, backward, left or right two squares and must then move one square in either perpendicular direction.
- The Knight piece can only move to one of up to eight positions on the board.
- The Knight piece can move to any position not already inhabited by another piece of the same color.
- The Knight piece can skip over any other pieces to reach it’s destination position.
Basic Tactics
Most experts prefer their Knight pieces to be “close to the action”. Because of their strange movement, the can often cover weaknesses that other pieces leave. Knight pieces are also best employed near the center of the board and they are often one of the first pieces to reach the center area of the board. The Knight also has a unique ability to attack another piece without risking being attacked by the same piece (aside from other Knights, of course).
Favorite Chess Pieces Sets
Here are some of our staff favorite chess sets with beautiful and unique Knight pieces:
Columbian Series Wood Chess Pieces ($349.99)
Alexander Series Wood Chess Pieces ($659.99)
French Rosewood Chess Pieces ($39.99)
Reykjavik Ebonized Chess Pieces ($89.99)
See All Chess Pieces
They’ve been here for a little while now, but we thought we’d take the time to introduce you to our newest color of basic plastic chess pieces. That’s right, we now have Gold & Silver offered as colors for our colored chess pieces.
Our colored plastic chess pieces have been very popular. We offer our basic pieces now in ten different colors, available as half sets. They are standard sized chess pieces without weights, making them perfect for chess clubs and chess players on a tight budget. Our basic pieces also come in black, white, red, blue, yellow, purple, green and pink.
These chess pieces pair great in chess sets with our vinyl chess boards or mousepad chess boards. They are great for chess clubs, schools and homes.
Buy Basic Colored Chess Pieces
Buy All Ten Colored Sets
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