Small Lardy-Walnut Chess Board

I bought this specific chess set because it was the exact one I wanted and I loved all of the pieces. When I actually received it, I noticed that the designs of some of the pieces were changed. I tried buying it over and over again but the set in this picture doesn't seem to exist anymore. If you want this EXACT set, you will be disappointed. There is nothing terrible about the set I received but for $70 I expected to get what I paid for and I simply did not!!

I was in the market for a new set since quite a while. I was thinking of a full 3-3/4" king set with a 2" square size, but then decided to look for something a bit smaller (3" king, 1-3/4" squares).This is a set which I thought I'd give a try, mainly because it looked good on the image and it was about half the price of similar ones.And right, the pieces are well crafted - nothing too fancy, but definitely better than a lot of other sets around. The balance is fine, they look ok - though the product image shows them almost "glossy" while in fact they are more of a "matte" finish (see the picture above).The board is of a good size - no space wasted for rank letters and file numbers. Varying grain - especially on the dark squares - give it a nice natural appearance. The look of the pieces on the board isn't too "crowded" and the contrast between black and white is very much ok.The fact that I'm still losing against my chess program is something I don't think I can blame on the board - I wish I could, but I can't!

I gave this as a Christmas present this year and the recipent was delighted with the set. Beautiful wood in board and pieces. Only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was the playing pieces were not quite as weighted as I would have liked.