Staunton Chess Pieces Explained: the Pattern and the Size Numbers

Staunton is a specific design of chess piece, not a general term for a nice set. It is the pattern every federation requires for official play, and the one every diagram, app icon and teaching book is drawn from: a round weighted base, a collar, a tapering body, and a distinct top for each piece. A cross on the king, a coronet on the queen, a mitre with a diagonal slot on the bishop, a horse's head on the knight, a turret on the rook, a ball on the pawn.

Where the pattern came from

It was designed by Nathaniel Cooke and registered by Jaques of London in 1849. Howard Staunton, the strongest English player of the day, endorsed it publicly and lent it his name, and it spread fast because it solved a real problem: before it, every region had its own piece shapes and players arriving at a match could not reliably tell a bishop from a king.

The design's virtue is that the six pieces are unmistakable from across a table and at a glance. Almost 180 years later nothing has replaced it, which is unusual for any piece of industrial design.

What the size numbers mean

A set sold as a No. 5 or No. 6 Staunton is being described by its king height. Roughly:

Treat the table as a guide rather than a standard, because it is not one. No trading body defines these numbers, and one maker's No. 6 can be another's No. 5. The same thing is true of weighting multipliers. In both cases, the number that means something is the measurement in inches or ounces, and a maker who is confident in the set will print it.

Matching the Staunton number to your board

This is the practical reason to care. The king's base should fill roughly three quarters of the square, and no more than 80 percent of it. Get it wrong in either direction and the set looks wrong before anybody has moved.

• 2.25 inch squares, the tournament standard: a No. 5 or No. 6 king, 3.75 to 4.0 inches.
• 2.0 inch squares: a No. 4 or No. 5, around 3.5 inches.
• 1.75 inch squares: a No. 3, around 3.0 inches.

If the bases of two pieces on adjacent diagonals touch each other, the pieces are too big for the board. It is the most common mismatch in a first chess purchase, usually because the pieces and the board were bought separately.

The full specification is in tournament chess set size.

Staunton, modern Staunton, and themed sets

Modern Staunton is the same pattern with cleaner lines: less turning detail on the collars, a knight with flatter carved planes instead of a fully sculpted mane, a simpler finial. It still reads as Staunton at a glance, which is the test that matters, and it photographs well.

A themed set, whatever else it is, is not Staunton and is not legal for rated play. It is also a poor set to learn on, because the pieces look nothing like the diagrams a beginner is working from.

Ours

Both our sets are modern Staunton in matte bone cream and matte black, with a genuinely carved knight rather than a moulded suggestion of one. The 3X has a 4.0 inch king, which is No. 6 territory; the 4X has a 4.4 inch king, which is No. 8. Both sit on 2.25 inch squares, which puts the base to square ratio where it should be.

See both sets.

Common questions

Are all tournament chess pieces Staunton?

Yes. Both USCF and FIDE require the Staunton pattern for standard equipment, and an arbiter can refuse anything else.

What is the difference between Staunton and regular chess pieces?

There is no regular other than Staunton. Almost every set sold today is a Staunton derivative, and anything that is not is either a themed set or an antique regional pattern.

What Staunton size is standard?

No. 6, a king of about 3.9 to 4.0 inches, on 2.25 inch squares. That is what most tournament sets are.

Why is the bishop's mitre cut?

The slot is in the original 1849 design and is usually explained as representing a bishop's mitre. Whatever the intent, it is the fastest way to tell a bishop from a pawn across a table, which is the whole point of the pattern.