The set a tournament player built for himself
Best Chess Set Ever started with a problem its founder could not solve by shopping. Galen Pyle had played in thirty countries and handled hundreds of sets, and not one of them was durable, portable and good looking at the same time. Boards creased along the fold and stayed creased. Light pieces slid when the table was knocked. The sets that felt right in the hand were too precious to carry anywhere. So he stopped looking and started designing.
Twelve years old, and hooked for good
Galen found chess at twelve and kept at it through a Philosophy of Mathematics degree at Reed College, where he founded and captained the chess team, became a ranked tournament player and taught the game to children at more than a dozen elementary schools. After graduating he traveled: Grandmaster lessons in Armenia, the Bangkok Go Team in Thailand, and a game of chess in every one of the thirty countries he visited.
30+
Countries played in
Galen carried a board to every one of them. That is where he learned what a chess set actually has to survive.
90k+
Chess sets sold
Across Amazon, retailers and our own store since 2020, to clubs, schools, travelers and first-time players.
34
Pieces in every box
Thirty-two pieces plus a spare queen in each color, so a pawn promotion never has to stop the game.
A chess set has to survive being carried
Cardboard and vinyl boards crease where they fold and never lie flat again. Hollow pieces move when someone leans on the table. Wooden sets are beautiful and stay at home, because nobody wants to risk them in a backpack. The Best Chess Set Ever is built the other way round: made to go to the club, the park or a friend's kitchen table, and to look the same after a year of it.
Pieces with iron inside
Weighted with iron inserts and finished with felt under every base, so a piece stays where you put it and still slides cleanly across the board.
A board that rolls, not cracks
Our patented board is silicone rather than vinyl: 20 by 20 inches, with 2.25 inch squares, the size tournament rules ask for. Double-sided, spill and stain resistant, and it lies flat again after every trip.
A guide in the box
Thirty-two illustrated pages of openings, tactics and endgames, so a beginner has somewhere to start and a club player has something to work on.
"I made Best Chess Set Ever for all players, beginners and champions alike, inspired by the beauty of the game. Happy playing. There is a story in every game."
Best Chess Set Ever
Beginners and champions, the same set
We think everyone deserves a good chess set, so we built one that does every job: a first set for someone learning how the knight moves, a training set for someone working through a course, and a tournament set for rated games. The pieces are Staunton, so nothing about them will catch you out at a club.
Twelve months, and we pay the shipping
Anything wrong in the first year and we will refund it, replace it, or send the single piece you need. You do not have to send the set back first. Email us with your order number and a photo, and a real person reads it and sorts it out.
Everyone deserves a great chess set
So we said, let us just make the best one. Then we put a guide in the box, four queens on the board and a year of cover behind it.
