Last Updated on March 3, 2020 by Jake
Chances are you or somebody you know plays chess. It goes without saying that it’s one of the most popular strategy board games of all time.
What makes chess so great is how the rules are really quite simple but mastering the game requires years of training, observation, and strategy. Whether you’re a total beginner or a grand master, getting the best chess board is a timeless investment!
Chess boards come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. We’re going to take a look at everything from the best portable chess board to elegant chess board tables that would go in a game room. Let’s get right into it!
Table of Contents
Best Chess Board – Quick Look
| Image | Title | Buy |
|---|---|---|
 | Wegiel Handmade European Ambassador Chess Set - Wooden 21 Inch Beech & Birch Board With Felt Base - Carved Hornbeam & Sycamore Wood Chess Pieces - Compartment Inside The Board To Store Each Piece | Check Price on Amazon |
 | Chess Armory 15" Wooden Chess Set with Felted Game Board Interior for Storage | Check Price on Amazon |
 | QuadPro Magnetic Travel Chess Set with Folding Chess Board Educational Toys for Kids and Adults | Check Price on Amazon |
 | Frenchi Home Furnishing Chess Table with Two Working Drawers | Check Price on Amazon |
 | MegaChess Giant Oversized Premium Chess Pieces Complete Set with 25 Inch Tall King - Black and White | Check Price on Amazon |
Best Chess Board Reviews
Wegiel Ambassador European Chess Board Game
Best Chess Board Overall
- Elevate Game Nights: Make your game nights extra special with an exquisite wooden chess set. Have unlimited fun as you outplay and outsmart your opponents by dominating the board one turn at a time.
- Fun For The Family: This wood chess set is not just for adults. Suitable for people of all ages, you can use our chess game to teach anyone how to play and hone their critical thinking skills.
- A Beautiful Display: Our wooden chess board is made from beech and birchwood, while the pieces are made with hornbeam and sycamore wood. The game set's ornate details will look great in your home.
- Play Anywhere : Inside this portable chess set are slotted compartments that fit each chess piece perfectly. This allows you to secure your chessmen and bring them to the park or when traveling.
- Fantastic Gift Idea: Boasting exceptional craftsmanship, this chess board game is an excellent present for friends and family. Give this for birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, or any occasion.
At the end of the day all chess boards allow you to do what they were made for – play chess. That doesn’t mean that all chess boards are created equal though. You want a set that displays elegance and makes the game feel like you are participating in history.
The Weigel Ambassador European Chess Board is a beautiful chess board made from beech and birch wood, and with hand crafted playing pieces. All of the pieces easily store in the underside of the board which folds up for easy storage when not in use.
If you look closely at the photos, you will see the incredible amount of detail put into each handcrafted piece. The attention to detail and elegance of the Weigel Ambassador set make it our vote for overall best chess board.
Things We Like:
- Hand carved board and pieces.
- Quality woods used (beech, birch, hornbeam, sycamore).
- Reasonable price point.
- Easily folds and stores when not in use.
Things We Don’t:
- Felt at the bottom of the pieces can be prone to fall off. This is often an easy fix though!
Chess Armory 15″ Wooden Chess Set
Best Chess Board for the Money
- ♕ INLAID WALNUT CHESS BOARD: The compact 15" x 15" chess board is made of smooth inlaid walnut, where every square measures 1.625" x 1.625". It folds in half, so you can store the chess pieces inside when needed.
- ♕ HANDCRAFTED CHESS PIECES: Every Staunton chess piece is made of light but sturdy wood that has a good solid feel. They all come with a felted bottom to protect the chess board from scratches. The King piece stands 3" tall.
- ♕ EASY TO STORE & TRANSPORT: Store all the chess pieces in the felted interior of the chess board and secure them into place with the elastic straps. You can then move the chess board in the elegant storage box to keep it in mint condition.
- ♕ FOR NEW & SEASONED PLAYERS: Surprise your friends with chess sets for adults with storage or use as chess board for kids for future generations of players. The handy and elegant wooden chess set will surely win over everyone!
- ♕World Class Customer Support - Based out of Houston, TX our staff is here to help you on your chess journey. We strive to have zero issues with your new chess and checkers set, but in the case you do need help with your product we are here to swiftly and immediately resolve your concerns.
Are you a beginner or a casual player when it comes to chess? If so, you may be looking for the best value when it comes to buying a chess set. If that’s you, the Chess Armory 15 gets our vote for the best chess board for the money.
The square 15″ size is a great size for traveling and storing in the game room closet when you aren’t playing. Storage wise it’s also got felt lined interior with straps to make storing the pieces convenient.
An inlaid walnut board surface gives your board a classy vibe. The playing pieces themselves are a handcrafted Staunton style lined with felt bottoms. The King is 3″ tall as a reference point for the rest of the playing pieces.
Things We Like:
- Really good price for the quality.
- Inlaid walnut used for the playing surface.
- Easily folds and stores when not in use.
- Interior straps secure pieces during storage.
Things We Don’t:
- The playing pieces lack a ton of detail – but this is purely a preference thing!
Square Off Chess Set
Best Chess Board for Improving Your Game
Square Off blew me out of the water with their chess set. Honestly, it would be getting my vote for best chess board overall if not for the price tag – which is high. If you can get past the price though, this thing is loaded with features and is really a quite impressive piece of tech.
Obviously, you can use this board to play against somebody in person. But you can also use the board to play against a AI opponent, or against anybody else who has a Square Off anywhere on the globe. The board uses robotics and fine sensors to automatically move opponents pieces on your board for you.
How cool is that?! You can get the feel of the physical presence of a chess game against an AI or opponent halfway across the planet! To take things further, the Square Off is integrated with the player pool of chess.com, which has over 30 million active users. So you can be playing against somebody who has requested a match online.
This is the best chess board for you if you are trying to improve your game. The AI can be set to 20 different difficulty settings (from total novice to Grand Master) so you can easily get practice games in and gradually face tougher opponents.
Things We Like:
- Automatic opponent piece movement.
- Chess.com integration.
- AI opponent for practice anytime, anywhere.
- Dedicated phone application for interface management.
Things We Don’t:
- The price is really high for a chess board – but you get what you pay for!
QuadPro Magnetic Travel Chess Set
Best Chess Board for Kids
- 【HIGH QUALITY】QuadPro chess set Made of durable HIPS plastic with Fine texture, gives you smooth hand-feel while lightweight and portable; well-crafted chess pieces make it much more deluxe.
- 【LIGHT MAGNETISM】The chess board every individual pieces have a light magnetic attraction to the 64-square playing field; light magnetism would make it stable to play while not hard to move the piece.
- 【PORTABLE SIZE】Open size of Chessboard is 9.84*9.84*0.78 Inches, while folded size is 9.84*4.92*1.56 Inches. This perfectly sized Chessboard is small enough to travel with, but also large enough to play comfortably.
- 【WIDE APPLICATIONS】The magnetic chess set Foldable design - chess pieces can be put into the chessboard for easy storage. Novel style - suitable for home, company, school, journey, bus or picnic. All ages are available.
- 【EASY TO CARRY】We include an extra bundle pocket, you can use it to store pieces.
When it comes to chess for kids, we generally like to recommend a magnetic board where the pieces stick to the playing surface. It just makes the game less messy and reduces the risk of somebody accidentally knocking the pieces all over the place.
At 5″ x 10″ when folded, it’s also the perfect chess set for travel if you like to take your game with you on the go. It will easily fit in your backpack or luggage if it needs to come with on your next adventure!
Things We Like:
- Very inexpensive.
- Easy to travel with.
- Magnetic pieces make it a perfect option for kids.
Things We Don’t:
- Plastic pieces are fine but not particularly high quality.
- The entire set is very generic aesthetically.
Frenchi Home Furnishing Chess Table
Best Chess Board Table
- Item Dimensions : 27.6L x 22.1W x 22.1H inches. Material : Wood. Assembly required
- Traditional styling
- Two working drawers
- Some Assembly Required
- Dark Cherry Color
Maybe you are looking for a new piece for your game room? If you are and love chess, a chess table can be the perfect piece to add to your current game room setup.
Frenchi makes a beautiful, traditional style chess board table constructed with dark red cherry wood. Two drawers are built into the table to store game pieces or any other accessories you might need to put in there!
The downside of purchasing a table is that they typically won’t come with actual chess pieces or stools. So, you may want to look into getting a set of pieces and or some seating to go with a chess table if that’s the route you decide to go!
Things We Like:
- Reasonable price for a nice piece of furniture.
- Drawers for easy game piece storage.
- Plenty of legroom and space available to play games.
Things We Don’t:
- Chess pieces and seating not included with the table.
MegaChess Giant Premium Chess Pieces
Best Giant Chess Board
- MOST POPULAR SET: The Premium 25-Inch Plastic Giant Chess Set is the most popular set from MegaChess. It includes 16 black and 16 white pieces. The Giant Chess Pieces range in height from a 25-inch king to a 16-inch-tall pawn. The set can be used both indoors and outdoors and is made with high-quality, long-lasting materials. Chess can become a communal experience and bring together family and friends when played out in the open on a lifesize set. Chess board is sold separately.
- HIGHLY DURABLE MADE TO LAST: These jumbo plastic chess sets are displayed all over the world, in various climates and environments. They can stay outdoors for extended periods without maintenance, staining, or fading, making them a great addition to any lawn, backyard, or garden. Made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) injection-molded, hollow, recycled plastic, they are waterproof, resistant to UV rays, and will retain their huge shape and color regardless of weather.
- ADJUSTABLE WEIGHT AND HEIGHT: Standing at 25 inches tall, these mega lawn chess pieces are surprisingly light enough for even the youngest of players to move easily, yet large enough to resist the wind. Our unique modular construction gives you have the option to increase their weight and height by adding add up to seven pounds of sand, water or weight to the bases. Additional inserts can be purchased to increase the height of the chess set to 37 or 49-inch-tall chess sets.
- COMMERCIAL OR RESIDENTIAL: This king-size yard chess set can be displayed anywhere - big open floors, backyards, parties, campgrounds, shopping malls, schools, university and corporate campuses, cruise ships, local parks, museums - for groups of people to enjoy the complex and entertaining strategy implementation in a game of chess.
- MEGACHESS QUALITY: Each MegaChess item is meticulously handcrafted by artisans to ensure it maintains its appearance and integrity in all weather conditions and with long-term frequent use. We have been in the business of manufacturing large chess and checkers sets, boards, mats and other accessories using the highest quality standards since 2002.
I first encountered a giant chess set at a local bar, and was enthralled with it right away. It’s obviously the same game as regular chess, but there’s just something so cool about playing the giant version. You can transform your game room into one gigantic chess board if you wanted to!
The great thing about MegaChess’ product is that the pieces are a really nice blend of durability, lightweight, and size. Pieces are about two feet tall but are light enough that most kids can easily move them around.
High density plastic is used to construct the pieces, which are weather and stain resistant. So there shouldn’t be any problem if you leave the set outdoors from time to time!
Things We Like:
- Giant Chess is just super cool!
- Pieces are durable and also easy to use.
- The game is versatile and can be played many different places.
Things We Don’t:
- Pretty expensive.
- Pieces and a giant chess board are sold separately.
Best Chess Board – Buying Tips
Chess isn’t rocket science so buying the best chess board for you is fairly straightforward, but there are definitely a few good things to keep in mind.
What is the Intended Use?
Are you looking to add a piece to your game room or are you looking for a set that you plan on using frequently for matches? There is often a tradeoff with functionality vs elegance, so this is something to consider.
For example, if you want to use your board to practice and improve your game, something like the Square Off may be perfect for you since it has a built in AI opponent.
On the flip side, if you are looking for a centerpiece table in your game room, you may want to purchase based purely on aesthetics.
How Important is Craftsmanship?
Chess sets can be notorious for being almost pieces of art in their own right. Do you want something that exudes elegance? Or is a basic, plastic chess set more than sufficient for your needs?
For those looking for something on the artistic side, browse through chess sets with hand crafted pieces. Pay attention to the details of the designs and the types of materials that the pieces were carved out of.
Do You Want to Travel with Your Chess Set?
That’s an important question to think about! If your chess board is something you want to take with you on the go to camping trips or vacations, then something small and compact will be ideal.
On the other hand if you just plan on playing in your game room, something a little bulkier and durable will do just fine.
Wrap Up
I hope this list has helped you in your search for the best chess board! If there are any chess boards that you feel like we should include on this list, please let us know about it in the comments section below.
Looking for game room ideas? Check out our mega post of over 100 ideas for your game room next!
Last update on 2022-06-14 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API