Having sold hundreds of thousands of chess sets produced worldwide, we’ve seen how different brands perform over the years.

In our experience, here are the top chess brands:

1. MTM Wood
2. JLP Woodworking
3. Naef
4. Noj Slovenia
5. Berkeley Chess
6. Millennium
7. DGT
8. Chess House
9. House of Staunton

Some are known for their chess pieces, others for their boards. Let's check out some of each brand’s strongpoints and why we ranked them.

Pictured: 3,500 Year Old Senator Tree - Chess Set No. 2

MTM WOOD & JLP WOODWORKING

A couple chess board producing brands stand out first of all in the hardwood category. Both JLP Woodworking and MTM Wood offer exceptional, hand-made wooden boards of stunning presentation quality.

For someone looking for collectible chessboard of excellent craftsmanship, both the JLP and MTM brands stand out. JLP Woodworking has not only the well-known Player boards but the unique STACK brand boards with distinctive magnet 4-quadrant layout.

MTM Wood focuses on end grain construction in cutting boards and chess boards. MTM chess boards stand out instantly and there are many styles offered.

The above two brands are heirloom quality. There are actually a large number of noteworthy chess board producers.

FERRER & MASTELLONE GUISEPPE

For example, the official Queen’s Gambit board was produced by Ferrer in Spain. This Queen’s Gambit chess board design is also produced by Mastellone Giuseppe of Italy.

DIMORF (VERTICAL CHESS BOARD)

For a display, vertical chess board, we recommend Dimorf brand of Hungary. Vertical chess sets are a great way to bring wall decoration and chess playing together.

NAEF

Another outstanding brand, known for their precision-made wooden toy products, is the Swiss company, Naef. The Bauhaus Chess Board and Chessmen are made by Naef and continue to be a leading, highly sought after chess set with a modern, minimalist aesthetic.

NOJ SLOVENIA

Noj Slovenia has been discovered and celebrated by chess connoisseurs. They are still somewhat of an obscure brand, but they deserve recognition for an extraordinary chess piece design and production house. In fact the demand has been so significant for their craft that the pieces are booked out several years. The two brothers currently create the pieces, and their partly retired father steps in to do the finishing touches. Check out Noj Slovenia for the “Best Chessmen Ever” that might nearly live up to that extraordinary claim.

BERKELY CHESS

Theme chess pieces are characters that depict topics or characters. One of the best theme chess brands that produces high quality theme chess pieces in the UK is Berkeley Chess. Following the great work of Studio Anne Carlton, Berkeley launched a made in the UK line of premium pieces in a wide variety of themes.

DIMORF (VERTICAL CHESS BOARD)

For a display, vertical chess board, we recommend Dimorf brand of Hungary. Vertical chess sets are a great way to bring wall decoration and chess playing together.

NAEF

Another outstanding brand, known for their precision-made wooden toy products, is the Swiss company, Naef. The Bauhaus Chess Board and Chessmen are made by Naef and continue to be a leading, highly sought after chess set with a modern, minimalist aesthetic.

When playing chess solo against a computer, there are a few electronic chess computer brands that stand out.

MILLENNIUM
Millennium in Germany stands out in our view as the best, with the widest variety of e-boards to play chess. They have luxury, modern, and classic boards to play chess online with the latest play sites or to simply sit down for a game of chess against the stand-alone device. Their Supreme 55 is a large tournament size chess board with onboard lighting to make practice or live play the most similar to actual tournament play. The eONE is a portable device that connects easily for online play against others.

DGT
DGT from Holland has provided the world’s top tournaments with the famous DGT eboards for a couple decades. These boards are also available for use at home or in clubs, adding to the tournament play experience or helping with broadcasting games. DGT also offers a wide variety of other innovative chess products

SQUARE OFF
SquareOff is a relatively young brand that boasts a self-moving luxury Grand Kingdom chess set that connects online to play with others any distance away – whether or not they have the same chess board. The set wows with pieces that move on their own when a move has been played and transmitted. Square Off has also created an innovative Pro roll-up electronic chess board.

There are many places to buy chess online. Here are some of the top companies offering chess supplies.

• House of Staunton in Alabama is the largest chess store and appeals especially to collectors who like to pay top dollar for their chess sets.
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• Chess House in Washington State is the most consumer friendly online store, with many exclusive products, and exceptional guarantees and service for personal, club, school, and professional products.
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• Chess USA is based in NY and has a physical store that you can visit as well.
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• The Chess Store is located in Oregon and also has friendly staff and a good variety of common chess sets.
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• Chess Bazaar is selling directly out of India where many wooden chess pieces and products are crafted. You can get deals on wooden chess pieces this way. However it can be a challenge to overcome the loss of a piece.
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• World Chess is the official FIDE world chess championship source and offers the official set used in the world championship cycle of competitions.

With the popularity of chess since the Queen’s Gambit, many sellers have joined the market. However, the game is not easy to source well and most legitimate suppliers have decades long relationships with resellers who have a good reputation and who are committed to doing the right thing for customers who will enjoy the game.

The recommendations for top chess brands hopefully provides some context and helps you in your discovery of this great game.