Chess Game Sets

There are many chess game sets that are out there on the market today. First of all, before we begin to discuss them, lets discuss the standard pieces and what they look like first. This will get one more familiar with the basic chess set and therefore enable them to understand the subsequent sets.

The pawn is the little piece that has a round ball on its top.

These are the weakest pieces on the board and are often sacrificed for position.

The bishop is the pointed spire that is taller than the pawns. The knight is the horse based playing piece. The rook resembles a castle. The queen has the same basic features as the king except, the king usually is marked with a cross on top.

These are what the normal pieces look like. However, any thing can become these pieces as long as both players know exactly what the pieces are and do. They will need to be distinguishable in both color as well as type of playing piece.

There are many different types of playing pieces that play the same parts but look different. These are usually oriented and geared toward some sort of popular story, television show, or movie. They can also resemble sports oriented figures, fantasy, medieval, animals, and many other themes too. Why, there is even an auto racing theme set. For example, when discussing television shows, there is a chess set that depicts the Simpsons as well as a Star Trek type set. With regards to this aspect and type of set, each character on the show depicts a different playing piece. Therefore, the only thing a player needs to know is who is what and vice versa.

Lets discuss another one of the theme based chess sets.

The Elvis chess set depicts Elvis as the king and Priscilla, his wife, as the queen. The rook is Graceland, the knight is the hound dog, the bishop is a guitar and the pawns are blue suede shoes. This is a very popular theme based set that sells out regularly.

There are sets that depict many things and are made from many materials. Most sets are made from plastic, however, some are made from wood, lead, glass, and a host of other materials. These are the specialty sets that can become quite costly, depending upon what they are made of and how detailed they are made. Most are hand painted and can be quite lifelike.

Therefore, chess game sets are not completely limited to the standard looking sets that most people who are familiar with chess have seen. As mentioned earlier, these sets can depict anything that an imagination can dream up, just as long as the two that are playing know exactly which pieces are which.