Ultimate chess set

After 5 years of no Ultimate Chess Sets..we are finally having them made again.  They should be available through your major suppliers in about 3 months or so.  

• Higher quality,  thick felts
• Double queens
• Triple weighted - Weighs in at over 3.5lbs
• 3 5/8" King

that news will make lots of people happy. Hope this is a big success for you.

"They should be available through your major suppliers in about 3 months or so."

Nice, real cool.

Can you tell me if the set will also be available through European suppliers. The shipping costs are mostly sky-high for a set with such a weight when you order it in the US.

Great thx!

What's the name of your website?

What a great surprise!

Yes!!!!

[UPDATE: the original Ultimate set weighed 3.25 lbs. and came with only two queens.]

Shelby, any chance of getting the dark pieces in nice tan and/or a reddish burgundy as options?

Shelby, I'm not familiar with the Pacific Cavalier.

I like the hues of a nice wooden chess set. Something I miss when playing with a traditional shiny black and white plastic set. Technically, black and white aren't colors at all, white is the combination of all colors and black is the absence of color.

Searching online I found this brown plastic fencing material that I think would make a nice color for the dark chess pieces.

Technically Lou, when dealing with pigments or solid colors black is a combination of all the colors while white is an absence of any color.

It is with light that the colors combine to make White light and an absence of light colors produces Black.

But, I certainly understand your point and agree.

The problem that I see is that most all plastic sets have shown Black as the color of the dark pieces, historically.  And the Black is the same as Ebony, also recently Ebonized, in the pieces.

Most of the light pieces in the plastic sets have been a beige or what most call Natural.  The White pieces have been copies of and even called Ivoty.

I own 4 or 5 plastic sets with one of them being an original Ultimate plastic set.  The light pieces are that beige or Natural while the dark pieces are indeed black.

And all my other plastic sets have the dark pieces being Black.  Heck, I just realized this very well might be a big reason why I don't ever use these plastic sets to play actual games with.

You have shown pictures of that one plastic set you own with the folding board where the dark pieces are a faux wood.  I believe it even has a graining to the finish.  I like that set.

The thing most seem to like about the Ultimate set is the heft or weight of the pieces along with its standard piece styling.  The plastic is also pretty much indestructible from what I have experienced.

So, if they did come up with a plastic Ultimate set with the dark pieces being a faux wood that might very well be kind of perfect.

Of course, I own the Rosewood Ultimate set from The Rochester Chess Center and it was made to be identical to the plastic version in design and weight but be made of wood.  I like it the most of my casual wood sets.

Here is a picture of that Rosewood Ultimate set on a Glen Butterman, Walnut, thin mousepad board:

Eyechess, thanks for straightening me out about black and white in the world of pigments.

I ended up selling that woodgrain plastic set (with folding board) because the highly reflective pieces were too glaring for most of the venues I play at.

I have an Ultimate plastic set, and have my eye on the sheesham version from Rochester.

I currently have four plastic sets, two of which have black pieces; the other two are a 4.25" Zukert set, and a 3.75" ProTourney set (pictured). Both sets are from the Chess Store and both are camel and burgundy, as below.

Lou, I like the pictures of that Chess Store set, both the colors and design.

I agree about getting the Sheesham Ultimate from Rochester Chess Center.  I know that I had to get them to pick the Rosewood set out for me that wasn't striped as the one pictured on their site.

The Sheesham looks much more homogenous in color.  Plus I have seen pictures of your boards and the Sheesham would look good on them, I bet.

Of course the Sheesham also looks good on green and buff.

And after reading your last post and then writing mine, I have come to realize that I don't like the black plastic pieces, thanks a lot for the awakening...rude no less

Eye, I addressed that very topic in an earlier posting:

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/im-abandoning-ebonyebonized-chess-setss

Bump, Just wondering how the Ultimate Chess set project is going?

Yea I always knew in the back of my mind that if they knew some wood sets coming out of India have lead in them they would refuse to import them. Chess pieces are classified under toys, everything has to fit in a classification unfortunately.  So I guess the manufacturer doesn't want to run the risk of them all getting sent back if they were inspected. You have a problem yes since steel is a lot lighter.

If I may ask you about the surprise magnetic pocket set. I collect so many I might as well buy this too. I just don't see how different this will be compared to the two cheap folding ones that are already available.  I am looking forward to this product too.  Thanks for replying, Mike

Why not use both, a lead weight topped off with a steel slug. That way you get the added mass, and it passes the magnet test.

The pieces on the set marked USCF tend to rub off also. I will give yours a try as soon as you get them in stock.

Shelby:

I have always feared my chess sets used lead weights and know that I know that's the case I will probably stop using them, even though I don't have direct contact with them I have little children and the risk is not worth it. So if you manufacture these without ANY lead at all I will consider that a tremendous advantage and will purchase them.

Have you considered using other materials aside from steel? Have you heard of high density composite resins? There are many of these composites in the market that tout non-toxicity and lead like weight density at a much lower cost then metal alloys and is being used in many applications to replace lead. Good luck with this and I hope you pull it off. It's time to remove lead from chess sets, I wonder what many schools would say if they knew their sets are filled with this.

I have been looking for the set ever since I saw it on a YouTube video by IM John Bartholomew.  I quickly began searching for one and found one on Ebay and purchased it for $12.00. Now that I looked this morning on your site after hearing that you found someone to remake the mold I began to wonder how the company that distributes the one I purchased got a very similar mold if you have been looking for someone to make it for you. The only difference so far is the Knight. They are very close yet so noticeably different. My set sadly is single weight and prefer the triple weight. My set also came with only one Queen per side. My kids love them as much as I do. I cannot wait till they are ready for ordering. I am on the wait list.

obed513: The set you purchased seems like a cross between the Ultimate and the DGT plastic set.