News & Updates
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.
The Bishop chess piece is easily the most forgotten piece of all the chess pieces. From the beginners’ perspective, the piece cannot do a whole lot to help out your game, considering each piece can only cover half of the board at a time and is quite vulnerable to attacks from straight on. But the bishop does have his place in the game of chess. In most chess sets, the piece is very traditional. It is a tall, slender piece with a pointed tip that has a strange cut made into it. Usually, the design doesn’t change much, unlike the Knight piece, which has a lot of flair in it’s design.
How A Bishop Chess Piece Moves
The bishop chess piece is stuck moving in diagonals. Each player starts out with two bishop pieces, each one residing on it’s own color of square. Between both pieces, you can cover the entire board, but one piece can only cover one half of the board, only the colors of squares it started the game on.
- The bishop can move in any direction diagonally, so long as it is not obstructed by another piece.
- The bishop piece cannot move past any piece that is obstructing it’s path.
- The bishop can take any other piece on the board that is within it’s bounds of movement.
Basic Tactics
Bishops are usually considered stronger pieces toward the end of the game. Often, though, the pawns make it difficult to use the bishop piece during the early parts of the game. The bishop is considered excellent in defending a castled King, though and can be used to help pin pieces into areas of the board. Most experts would agree, though, that giving up a Bishop is better than giving up a Rook.
Favorite Chess Sets
Here are a few of our favorite chess sets with good bishop pieces:
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
Moving your chess pieces can be a very confusing concept. There are six different types of chess pieces on a chess board and every piece has it’s own unique way of moving across the board. Some pieces move only diagonally, while other pieces only move forward. Some pieces can only move one square at a time. Keeping track of your chess pieces and knowing how they move is key to understanding how to play chess.
Basic Chess Movements
While every piece is restricted by it’s own set of rules, there are a few rules that all pieces must abide by.
- No chess pieces can move through or past any other chess pieces in it’s path, except the Knight piece, which can jump over pieces during it’s movement.
- All chess pieces must remain on an unoccupied square during the game until captured. This means you cannot move pieces on and off the board.
- Chess pieces can only make movement in one direction, except the Knight chess piece. For example, a Rook cannot move 5 squares forward, and then 3 squares to the side in the same turn.
- Chess pieces can capture opposing chess pieces by moving onto the square they occupy, where they must remain until the next turn.
- Unlike checkers, chess pieces are not required to capture opposing pieces if the opportunity presents itself. Instead, the player can elect to not capture the opponent’s piece, which may put them at risk to have their own piece captured.
Pawn Movement
Pawns are the most restricted pieces on the chess board. The pawn can only move forward one square, with two exceptions. The pawn can move forward two squares (if desired) on it’s first move of the game, but can then only continue forward by moving one square forward per turn. When capturing other pieces, a pawn can only move forward diagonally one square. Pawns cannot capture pieces that are directly in front of them, but must wait for the blocking piece to move or be captured by another piece.
Rook Movement
The rook chess piece is allowed to move in any direction, but is restricted to moving in a straight direction. The rook can move forward, backward, left or right until it reaches the edge of the board or another piece blocks it’s path. The rook can move anywhere from 1 to 7 squares, as long as the path is not blocked by another piece. Rooks can capture any other piece on the board, as long as it is within it’s movement range.
Bishop Movement
The bishop piece behaves the same as the rook chess piece, except it’s movement is restricted to diagonal movement. The piece can move in any diagonal direction, as long as the path is not obstructed. The piece can move anywhere from 1 to 7 squares, as determined by the player.
Knight Movement
The movement of the knight chess piece is a little more complicated to describe. Often, the piece is described as being a “wild card” piece because it moves in such an odd direction. Essentially, the knight piece can move in one direction two squares and then turns to the left or right moving one more square. The movement shape looks similar to the shape of the letter “L”. During this movement, the Knight chess piece can skip over other chess pieces to reach it’s destination. The knight piece cannot move to any square already occupied by the same player’s piece, but it can capture an opponent’s piece when it lands on a square occupied by an opponent’s chess piece.
Queen Movement
The queen is often considered the least-restricted chess piece on the chess board. The queen combines the movement of both the Rook and Bishop pieces, meaning it can move in any direction, diagonally or straight. As with the Rook and Bishop, the Queen can only move forward as long as there are no other pieces in it’s path. The Queen can move 1 to 7 squares in any direction.
King Movement
The king piece is the most simple and straight-forward piece. The King can move in any direction by a single square, as long as it is not restricted by another piece. The King can capture any other piece, but it can only move to a square as long as it does not put the piece into a “Check” position, where an opponent’s piece could capture it on the next move.
These are just the most basic movements of the chess pieces. We will be exploring more in-depth movement and terminology of each piece moving forward.
That’s right! You could be saving on the Premier Tournament Chess Set this weekend! Our Premier Tournament Chess Set is available Friday through Sunday, March 25 at a low $29.99 per set. Only the Ivory set is on sale. That’s a killer deal! Buy The Premier Tournament Chess Set Here.
Not interested in the whole set? The pieces are on sale, too! Only Ivory is available for the sale. Buy The Premier Chess Pieces Here.
Today’s Thursday Deal of the Day is two of our favorite items. You can get our Premiere Set of Plastic Pieces for just $14.99 and a Hard Cover Chess Score Book for just $3.99. You can buy one or both this great deal and still take advantage of our shipping specials.
The Premiere Plastic Chess Pieces are exceptionally nice pieces, worth much more than regular low price, not to mention our Thursday Deal price. And the Hard Cover Score Book is a definite favorite with serious chess players.
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