Thinking about giving someone special a chess set after binge watching "The Queen's Gambit" on Netflix?
Chess has topped a lot of Wish Lists lately! A complete chess set can be printed on any desktop 3D printer in just a few hours.
"Ever since The Queen's Gambit launched, our chess sales have increased triple digits," marvels Elizabeth LoVecchio, vice-president of marketing at Spin Master. The huge toy company has a division of classic games — such as chess, checkers and backgammon — that owns about 70% of the market share in the United States. ~
NPR.org
I've found a number of really good chess sets to 3D print on free file sites like Thingiverse and MyMiniFactory.
But if you want to make a truly unique set, you can design your own pieces in Tinkercad or any other 3D design software.
How Many Pieces are in a Complete Chess Set?
There are 32 pieces in a standard chess set, divided into two sets of 16. Traditionally these are made in black and white, but with a 3D printer you can use any color you like.
To make your own set you'll only need SIX unique designs: King, Queen, Bishop, Rook, Knight and Pawn. The Rook, Bishop and Knight come in pairs and there are eight Pawns to a side.
If you're not familiar with chess, the Rook is a piece that generally looks like a castle, while the Knight is traditionally depicted by his horse. The King and Queen dominate the other pieces and are often taller. The Bishop can look a lot like a king or queen, but is a bit smaller.
Pawns are the foot soldiers of the game with the smallest pieces.
Traditional sets have simple pieces -- after all, the first chess sets were hand carved. You can find modern sets with 32 unique pieces, which sometimes makes it difficult to keep track of who's who.