Royal Chess Mall

3.75” is more suitable for tournament play and the original set is the same size. Of course, the original one looks much more beautiful and classy but hard to find. This set by RCM is not too bad a copy after all and although it is different from the original one in several ways, it is still not too bad a set for everyday use and play. 

I am at a point where I am loathe to add anymore sets to my collection. Stories like this one are becoming way too common!

I hope it works out for you.....It's a really nice set.

Btw,I own the same case/box....My pieces will also fall out,if the box is upright,but I'm careful and i don't think it's designed to fit ultra snugly.

Good luck.

Good luck finding "any" company that provides a service or product without them finding some angle to SCAM YOU! OR, completely avoid responsibility with things go wrong, This 100 percent part of their business plan, Go ahead, try to prove me wrong! Internet service, ATT phone bill with BS charges, auto mechanics selling you services they DON'T DO, IT guys scamming you on computer repairs, Insurance company's tripling rates and good F--ING luck processing a claim when you need it. This list could include hundreds more...but you get the point!

The first thing that comes to mind....I'm going to put them on BLAST on social media...which has zero effect unless a news channel picks up on it....

How often is someone motivated to go out of their way to give praise about a company that has treated their customer very good...? Not often enough.

Lets talk about Royal Chess Mall, RCM

Royal Chess Mall did something, that by today's standards is not normal....at least by my experience. Let me explain...

1) Aprox 5 months ago I purchased an awesome set; 1849-50 Leuchars Cook Staunton Chess Pieces Only set - Ebony Wood & Antiqued Boxwood - 4.5"

2) They arrived and I found maybe 3 pieces had very small cracks at the base, and the antiqued coloring was a little on the orange side...and not what I was expecting

3) email sent to RCM noting my concerns...with pictures...

4) our time zones are a day apart so the communications process is; send email, receive response next day when Im at the office. Here is where the above normal customer service happens.

5) the very next morning I'm reading an email from Manwinder, Customer Success Manager Team Royal Chess Mall; in so many words, they are working on producing replacements and will send them out ASAP.

6) after giving some long thought on this, I decided to take a chance and ask a special request; I'd be willing to KEEP the set I received as they are if I could have a custom order produced exactly at the same set I received only without the antiquing effect, basically just boxwood.

7) next morning email; yes we accept offer please note it will take aprox 6 weeks to produce, of which i was happy to agree...

8) received the 1849-50 set, 100 percent awesome craftsmanship....I was shocked and very happy...HOWEVER FedEx crushed the box and broke chips off the base of 4 pieces...there was smoke coming out of my ears...

9) Manwinder quickly replied to my email, agreed to begin the process of replacing them, no questions asked... We did the 20 photos of box packing and damage...only to have FedEx reject the claim....In the process of ALL THIS NONSENSE, I placed ANOTHER custom order

10) I wanted a set with a solid wood base for use with the chessnut pro, economy priced around 250 dollars, bud rosewood and boxwood cook style to match the 1849-50 cook style. All my sets are ebony and box wood...i wanted to start adding some nice color to my sets...

11) after giving Manwinder, a break from my emails and special requests, I decided to check on the status of said items...

12) email came in next morning; replacements for the 1849-50 cook set are being processed and will take some time, the custom solid base bud rosewood set has already shipped, here is the tracking--I was shocked to see I was to receive them the next day along with a discounted NICE chessboard!

13) Last friday I received said set and board; As I began unwrapping each piece I was waiting to find some damage--every piece was PERFECT! Every piece was awesome in that the set as a whole was 100 percent perfect, no piece was polish more than the other, the nights all matched perfectly...and the style of the rooks and bishops all are exactly perfect and as I like them to be...regarding the 1849 style.... I was truly not expecting to be so impressed.

13) I'm trying to add a few photos of my process of adding the electronic chips so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about.

That is a very nice chess set.

I also got myself one of their new Durbrovnik Chess Sets in Mahogany Stained and Boxwood with customisation of empty bases for chess nut kits.
https://royalchessmall.com/products/1950s-fischer-dubrovnik-chess-pieces-only-set-mahogany-boxwood-3-8-king

Got it customised with clear and empty bases.
The set was fantastic and exceptionally carved. Beautiful finish and staining and gorgeous knight pieces.

However to be pointed out , when I asked them initially if I could have any set customised for chess nut DIY kits, they said that the same feature is not available for all their sets and only a select few designs were currently available for this feature.

Recently chessnut Do it your self kits have become quite popular.
Any wooden / plastic chess piece manufacturer can get their sets made compatible with chessnut products by simply inserting the chips at the bases.
https://www.chessnutech.com/products/separate-chips

Their is even a facebook group dedicated to such projects.

Would love to see manufacturers make this as a separate offering on all their products or rather offer some ready/ prepared Chess nut compatiable chess products.

After all electronic chess sets and boards have become quite the rage with a number of manufacturers springing up to offer e-chess boards and sets.

Excellent to see this positive review @choppie3. Well done on that and the lovely photos showing how you are chipping your pieces. Helpful and informative. I love the idea of an electronic board and one day being able to mod some of my pieces to play on it.

I've contacted RCM and asked if they supplied also DGT-enabled electronic chess pieces. They don't, however are available to drill the bottom of the pieces to required specs, so that one can then plug in their own sensors, being them the DGT resonators, the Certabo ones, or others. It would have been fantastic, if they already produced DGT-enabled ones, as they would have opened the business towards the DGT e-boards owners. I suggested them they take this into consideration.

More modding info:

If you are electing to order a solid base set, please note; this is what I have learned.

1) the wood is MUCH harder than I expected! It's very deceiving being that even the large king almost weighs nothing, can hardly feel it when you pick it up...

2) use a glove when holding the pieces by the base.

3) you absolutely MUST use up to 4 drill bits, working up from small to large, going with the final size first will lock up in the wood. using very sharp bits, they were biting into the hard wood and causing the piece to spin in my hand...reason for glove..

4) the non-pawn pieces needed a 3/8" drill bit for final size, the chips will fit very snug, its a perfect match!

5) for the pawns, use the next size up, you will see why if you try stopping at 3/8".

6) snip off the pointed tips of the chips, and for the pawns, you will need to cut small strips of paper to wrap around the sensor as the hole will be SLIGHTLY too large...

7) hope this helps...

I am very new to the nice chess set thing so my opinion might not carry much weight.

Recently purchased a board, case and pieces from RCM from their "luxury" range. All in all, I'm very happy with them so far especially when compared to what I was buying from etsy for similar prices.

In saying that... yes.. there is some small marks / chips on the chess board.. some of the pieces aren't perfect. The felt on the bottom of most does look like the review a few before this and yes, have the same storage box and expect if I lifted it upright by the handle the pieces would fall out... this does make the hand kind of useless but I expected to need to keep it flat. Honestly its the one item that if i had my time again id likely not buy. Despite this it's still by far the nicest chess set I've ever seen let alone owned.

I haven't complained as this seems reasonable to me. Yes I'd like it to be perfect, but it's hand made so it feels like expecting perfection is too much.

My personal experience is they are helpful and responsive from a customer service perspective. I've been rather happy with them. They were rather accommodating with fixing a mistake in an order that i messed up. That was greatly appreciated.

That's a general problem with most of these velvet inlay boxes: The piece won't stay in place when the box is stored upright or carried. That's not a problem limited to RCM.

In the past five years I purchased over a dozen sets from RCM (and more from Chessbazaar), and the few issues I had (cracks in a couple of pieces, uneven weighting) were promptly resolved. Haven't bought anything from them lately, and never boards, because them selling boards with issues (cracks, non-matching squares) over eBay as "B stock" didn't inspire me with confidence.

My view has changed about customer service.. I'm now on the fence. I had some stuff meant to ship on Monday (6 days ago). When I saw it was still "label created" late Wednesday I queried it. Next day I got an explanation that Manwinder was out of the office - it happens and he would send it that day - i was fine with that.. but it didn't happen. I've had to keep chasing for it to be finally sent late Saturday. Was told the same on Friday. Pretty sure if I hadn't asked for a refund it wouldn't have been sent today either. Bit frustrating.

Stuff happens.. I get it... but if you say you'll do something I expect that to happen. Hopefully it arrives all OK and I can just chalk it up to a slight inconvenience.

I think my main concern is not when you have problems with a couple of pieces that might need some minor fix or replacement, but when there are enough problems that the entire set should be sent back for a full refund or replacement. That's because the return shipping charges are typically the buyer's responsibility, and this can be a significant amount of money. Has anyone found a reasonable solution for this issue?

I had this type of issue on two occasions with Chessbazaar a while back,before Covid. In both cases a full set of white pieces were extremely poorly made. My complaints went unheard and never answered for a long time,with C.B. claiming my Email address didn't work,but I used it every day for business....and....continually got advertisements from C.B. about new offerings.

Obviously,something was amiss and I kinda' lost my cool with the phony baloney lies to me.

The instant I put up a scathing thread about them,I magically got full/new white replacements.

I still harbor resentment for them and prefer to take my business elsewhere.

Glad for you....I have quite a few very fine sets from C.B. in my collection.They certainly have the ability to make a very nice set....but....After my experiences,I'm loathe to taking anymore chances with them....Not saying never though.

I received a chess piece set & storage box from RCM Friday. While the pieces look ok, the box reeks of GASOLINE! Their initial response was "It will be easily resolved once you keep the chess box in a well ventilated area for 2-3 days."!!

Has anyone had an experience like this? I find their excuse to just be lame. Nothing should reek of gasoline. As a matter of fact the entire shipping box stunk of it. I had to throw away the shipping box immediately since it was so pungent.

In my MANY emails back & forth I got them to agree to send a replacement box, but WOW their response was just beyond ridiculous.

I have yet to see a shipping notification (it is still the weekend anyway) but I would say stay away from them. I'd have paid more $ to avoid the BS hassle they created.

Hahahahahaha

I´ve bought four sets from RCM and am very pleased. DHL screwed up one delivery but RCM: s customer service was helpful.

Agree with hermanjohnell....My only experience with RCM was excellent and the set was superior to what I was expecting. Their Edinburgh pieces.

Royalchessmall quality is surely better than chessbazaar from my experience but their price needs to be moderated.

I´ve bought a few sets from RCM and am quite impressed by the quality of the pieces. Every item has arrived safely packaged, each piece individually wrapped in bubblewrap and i sturdy carton boxes. When DHL goofed I found RCMs customer service very helpful.

Some time ago i took a chance and ordered a Slightly Imperfect 1950s' Fischer Dubrovnik Chess Set - Chess Pieces Only - Mahogany Stained & Boxwood - 3.8 " King. When the set arrived I checked it thoroughly but couldn´t spot ant imperfection. The pieces were, at least as far as I could discern, perfect. On the pictures on RCMs homepage one could see that the staining of a dark knight was iffy but in this respect the pieces I received were much better and not in any way "imperfect".

I then ordered three more "slightly imperfect" sets with the same result. It may well be that I am a poor judge of the quality of chess pieces but I don´t think so and there´s nothing wrong with my eyesight. i guess that either RCM were overstocked with some sets and justified lowering ther prices by selling them as "slightly imperfect" or they have a extremely stringent quality control. Anyhow I´m a happy camper!