Staunton Chess Sets

Staunton is a pattern, not a maker. It is the shape of the pieces: the tiered crown on the king, the coronet on the queen, the mitre cut into the bishop, the horse's head on the knight. Every set on this page follows it, which is why a player can sit down at any of them and read the position without a moment's thought.

That shared shape is also why the range looks so varied. Kings here run from 76mm to 123mm, in boxwood, ebony, bud rosewood, sheesham and solid plastic, from faithful reproductions of named tournament sets to modern artisan carving. The sections below explain what actually differs between them and how to choose.

What the Staunton pattern actually is

The design was registered at the UK Patent Office on 1 March 1849 by John Jaques of London, from a drawing by Nathaniel Cooke. Howard Staunton, the strongest player in the world at the time, endorsed it and his signature appeared on every box. He did not design the pieces. What he supplied was authority, and it worked: within a few years the pattern had displaced everything else in serious play.

It won on legibility. Earlier sets were beautiful and frequently ambiguous, with bishops and queens that needed a second look. Cooke's design gave every piece a silhouette that could not be confused with any other at a glance, from any angle, in any light. FIDE's current equipment standard still asks that pieces be of the Staunton style, and no other pattern has come close to replacing it in nearly two centuries.

Why two Staunton sets can look nothing alike

The pattern fixes the silhouette and leaves almost everything else open. Four things account for most of the difference in how a set looks, feels and costs.

The knight

Every other piece is turned on a lathe. The knight is carved by hand, so it is where the workmanship shows and where makers put their signature. Compare the short, upright head of the 1950 Dubrovnik against the long arched neck of a Victorian pattern, or the deep manes on the artisan series, and you are looking at the single biggest reason two sets at the same height cost very different amounts.

Weighting

Weighting is a design decision rather than a quality grade. The artisan sets here are triple weighted, some beyond it, and a heavy piece stays exactly where you put it when you move at speed. Lighter sets are not lesser; some historic patterns were built light and the reproductions keep them that way.

Scale

The pattern says nothing about size. This range spans 76mm to 123mm kings. Anything from roughly 85mm to 105mm is playing scale and sits inside the FIDE window. Above 110mm a set reads as furniture: still Staunton, still properly weighted, but sized for a room rather than a competition table.

Timber and finish

Genuine ebony and bud rosewood are the dark timbers that cost real money. Ebonised boxwood is boxwood stained black, used deliberately on the historical reproductions because the originals were made that way, not as a substitute. Sheesham sits between them, and solid plastic is permitted at every level of play and takes far more punishment than any of them.

The named patterns in this range

The 1849 original

Two reproductions of the design as Jaques first made it. The 1849 Original Staunton in ebony and boxwood stands at 95mm on a 53cm board, and the painted crimson and ivory white version runs to 115mm on a 48cm board. If you want to see where everything else on this page came from, start here.

Tournament reproductions

Sets copied from named events, built to the scale of the originals. The 1904 Cambridge Springs at 101mm on a 60cm board, the 1959 Russian Zagreb at 99mm, the 1961 Soviet Baku at 103mm, the Averbakh 1949 Moscow Championship at 105mm and the 1963 Piatigorsky Cup at 108mm. The full set of them sits in our reproduction chess sets range.

Dubrovnik and Fischer Spassky

The 1950 Dubrovnik at 94mm is a Staunton derivative rather than a strict copy: the knight is shorter and more upright, the rook lower and broader, the bishop mitre cut shallow. Fischer played on it and said so. The 1972 Fischer Spassky Low Knight at 96mm reproduces the set from the Reykjavik match, and there is an ebonised version of the same pattern without a board.

German Knight

A heavier, blunter reading of the pattern that club players tend to like. The German Knight in sheesham at 96mm ships with a folding board and a pouch, and the ebonised version at 76mm does the same on a 37cm board. Both are built to be carried.

Modern artisan

Contemporary carving on the same skeleton, at display scale. The Noble Bridle Series at 123mm is the tallest king here, on a 60cm board, and the Arabian Knight Artisan Staunton at 107mm is the heaviest in the hand. The Dragon Knight at 120mm, the Pegasus Series at 118mm and the Ferocious Elite at 111mm sit alongside them, and most of this group is also in our luxury chess sets range.

Brand ranges

Two makers supply a full size Staunton set complete with its board. Rechapados Ferrer build the 50cm sets here, with 50mm squares on the Deluxe and Barcelona boards and 55mm on the Standard boards, so both ends of the FIDE square range are covered inside one brand. Dal Rossi supply five 50cm Staunton sets with inlaid timber squares, plus folding sets at 38cm, 40cm and 45cm that store the pieces inside the board.

Choosing a king height

Height is the first decision and the one people most often get wrong. These are the working bands in this range:

• 76mm to 85mm. Compact sets for small tables, study and travel. Below competition scale but fully playable, and they suit a desk or a coffee table that a full size board would swamp.
• 85mm to 105mm. Playing scale, and the FIDE window. A 95mm king is the published standard and the size most club players settle on for good.
• 105mm to 110mm. Just past the competition ceiling. Still a playing set, and it needs a 55cm board or larger to look right.
• 110mm to 123mm. Display scale. Properly weighted and properly carved, but sized for a room rather than a game with a clock on it.

Matching pieces to a board

Work from the king's base diameter, not its height. Choose a square a little wider than the base so the piece sits inside it with a visible margin on every side. FIDE puts board squares between 5cm and 6cm, and sets the base of each piece at 40 to 50 percent of that piece's own height, so a 95mm king with a 40mm base lands naturally on squares of 50mm to 55mm.

Board sizes quoted in centimetres include the frame, so the outer measurement will not tell you the square size. Every board in our chess boards collection lists the square size directly, which is the figure to compare.

Buying Staunton pieces on their own

Several sets here are pieces only, which the product title states plainly. If you already have a board you like, our Staunton chess pieces range is the direct route, and the wider chess pieces collection lets you compare king height and base diameter across every pattern we stock.

Where the Staunton range fits

This page is organised by pattern, so it runs from 76mm study sets up to 123mm artisan pieces. If you want only the part of it you can compete with, our tournament chess sets range is the narrower cut, grouped by level of play rather than by carving.

By material rather than pattern, wood chess sets covers the same ground and adds the timber formats that fall outside the Staunton line. Everything we stock is in all chess sets.

Staunton chess set FAQs

What makes a chess set Staunton?

The shape of the pieces. A tiered crown on the king, a coronet on the queen, a mitre cut into the bishop, a carved horse's head on the knight, a castellated rook and a ball-topped pawn. A set carrying those shapes is a Staunton set, whatever it is made from and whatever size it is.

Is Staunton a brand?

No. It is a pattern, and the original 1849 registration lapsed well over a century ago, so any maker is free to produce it. That is why sets from completely different makers all carry the name, and why the name on its own tells you nothing about quality. What tells you something is the carving of the knight, the weighting, the timber and the scale.

Who actually designed the Staunton pattern?

Nathaniel Cooke drew it, and John Jaques of London registered and manufactured it from 1 March 1849. Howard Staunton lent it his name and his endorsement rather than his drawing hand. The pattern carries his name because his backing is what made players adopt it.

Are Staunton pieces required for tournament play?

FIDE's equipment standard asks that pieces be of the Staunton style, in wood, plastic or materials closely imitating those. In practice every rated event is played on the pattern. Size is the part people forget: the standard also sets a 95mm king with up to 10 percent variance, on squares of 5cm to 6cm.

What king height should I buy?

A 95mm king on a board with 50mm to 55mm squares suits almost everyone and is the published competition size. Go smaller if the set will live on a small table or travel with you, and larger only if the board has the room for it and you are not playing rated games.

Why do two Staunton sets at the same height cost so differently?

Timber and hand work. Genuine ebony and bud rosewood cost several times what a stained hardwood costs, and the knights are carved rather than turned, so no two in a set are identical. Weighting adds to it again. A plastic set and an ebony set at the same 95mm are the same pattern and a completely different object.

Are the historic reproductions meant to be played on?

Yes. They are weighted playing sets built to the scale of the originals, not display copies. Several of them sit inside the FIDE window and are perfectly legal for rated play. The ones above 105mm are better suited to home and club games.

What warranty do these sets carry?

Every set is covered by a 12 month limited manufacturer warranty against manufacturing defects and cracking, with the exception of Rechapados Ferrer products, which carry a 2 year term. All of it is backed by Sterling Chess with 100 day free returns.

Backed by Sterling Chess

Every set in this range is handled, weighed and set up on the bench before it goes into the catalogue. We check that the knights are carved cleanly and consistently across the set, that the weighting is even from king to pawn, and that the pieces sit properly on the board they ship with. If a set does not hold up, we do not stock it. All stock is held in Australia with local support behind it and 100 day free returns.

If you are choosing between two patterns, or matching a set to a board you already own, our team is a call or email away on (03) 7037 0931. Tell us the square size of your board and we will tell you which of these fits it.