Awesome Chess

Between the popularity of The Queen’s Gambit and quarantining, there’s no better time to improve your chess game. This chess set from Showcase Plastics has a 12″ x 12″cast acrylic board with LED lighting. It’s available in a choice a variety colors for each side of the board, and includes a set of laser-cut acrylic chess pieces.

Designed by artist Panisa Khunprasert, this reversible chess and checkers set features a bold color scheme and modern, minimal iconography. Both the playing pieces and board are made from sustainably-grown rubberwood, and the board slides open to provide storage. Measures 8.75″w x 8.75″d x 1.75″h.

It’s fun to play a game of chess in the park. But carrying around a full-size chess set can be a pain. This cleverly-designed set features a roll-up board and pieces that stack inside of each other inside of a tube. Choose from steel, zinc, or plastic pieces, leather, PU leather, or silicone board, and a leather or polyester case.

Back in the day, there was this great video game called Battle Chess, in which chess pieces fought to the death on the board. This clip from CGI animator lotsalote envisions what a next-gen version of that game might look like, as individual chess pieces explode violently on impact with their opponents.

Shinola’s elegant travel chess set makes for a very special Father’s Day gift. It features a combination carry case and game board handmade from Navy and Bourbon leather, along with a debossed checkerboard surface and cutout slots for holding its resin game tokens, which flip over for a quick game of checkers.

This unique chess set from Sweden’s Induku consists of a thick felt board, along with laser-cut wooden pieces that stick into the board with pins. The design means you can attach it to a pushpin wall, or play it on a soft surface like a couch, bed, or rug. Available in blue or red felt.

Like the classic Excalibur Phantom Force, this robotic chess set can move pieces on its own. But this one lets you play against anyone in the world who has the board or its app. You can also play against the AI or spectate a match. Save an extra 15% in The Awesomer Shop with code MerrySave15. (expires 12/25/19)

Induku’s miniature chess sets are laser cut from baltic birch plywood, and make a great stocking stuffer of bonus gift. Once you pop the pieces out, they hold in place in the cutouts on the board. The set can also be personalized with an engraving up to 40 characters.

Accompanied by an animation from Remus & Kiki, narrator Adrian Dannatt adds his authoritative voice to Alex Gendler’s TED-Ed lesson about the origins of the popular board game, which dates back to the 7th century in India – or possibly earlier – and is still recognized as one of the most challenging strategy games you can play.

We’re loving the rustic, industrial look of the hefty metal pieces in this chess set from Echo Hill Forge. Each piece is hand-forged from steel, and the set comes in a custom wooden storage box. The game board isn’t included, though there are plenty to choose from here.

Epoxy resin lets you cast just about any shape into a durable and rigid form. In this DIY clip from Dread CraftStation, he shows us how clear resin can be tinted, molded, and sanded to form a complete set of see-through chess pieces. The resulting set looks super slick when placed on a board with lighting underneath.

In2Chess is an electronic chess set for newbies and experts alike. Its board is backed with LEDs that can guide one or both players regarding permitted moves, as well as the best move for a given situation. It also offers online multiplayer with other In2Chess owners or via a web app.

When you play the game of chess, you win… or you die. At least that’s what happens if you play with this intricate set of hand-carved wood chess pieces Ukraine’s Chesslania, inspired by Game of Thrones. It’s cool, but we don’t think that Tyrion should be relegated to pawn.

Etsy store CreativeHolz made two unique coat racks out of chessboards and chess pieces. The wall-mounted racks come in two variants. One demonstrates the Caro-Kann Defense opening while the other has the pieces arranged in the Italian Game.

Architect Michael Bidner and designer Elke Adam-Bidner’s unique chess set looks like something out of a modern art museum’s collection. The LED backlit board is crafted from 64 varied height cubes in alternating red and white, along with a set of minimal chess pieces.

Using Shapeways‘ 3D printing tech, Innovo is offering up this nifty chess set which comes in flat-pack form. Simply punch out the pieces, and you can play anywhere. We only wish there was a way to put it back in your wallet once it’s punched out.

We love the minimalist look of the pieces in this chess set from Ceramic Sense. Each pawn, rook, bishop, knight, king and queen is made by hand, and the oak chess board features a cool tribal texture on the black squares. Pieces available without the board for $150.

This unique chess set features glass pieces with LEDs inside of them, providing a soft glow of light from each one. The lights use inductive power so they only glow when placed close to the board, and don’t require individual batteries. In blue/white or blue/red combos.

Kidrobot’s Andy Warhol chess set depicts the artist’s Campbell’s soup can art as 3″ vinyl replicas. Each can is labeled on top with its corresponding chess piece. It comes with a chess board that has multicolored squares and felt accents.

Induku Design’s nifty laser-cut chess set has the look of chunky old-school video game pixels. The board folds up for travel, and has storage spaces inside. Each piece has a laser-engraved shading pattern on it, and nice jaggy edges. No FSAA or TXAA here.

We don’t know if Joe Turner’s creation is indeed the world’s smallest chess set, but it could be the most portable one. Joe made the ring and all of the tiny chess pieces out of silver, then topped the ring off with a board made from fossil ivory and ebony.

Jewelry designer Patrick Adair wanted to see if he could make a chess piece from a block of carbon fiber, so he set about carefully carving one on his lathe. Now we want a full set of pieces made from the stuff.

From Hungarian Workshop, the guys behind the beautiful the beautiful whiskey barrel adirondack chairs comes a wonderful wooden chess set, handmade from a reclaimed bourbon barrel.