The Staunton chess design - an introudction

To all serious chess players, the Staunton pattern is the most respected and sought after for Championship and Competition play. Originally designed by 3 Englishmen in 1849; the then self-proclaimed World Chess Champion, Howard Staunton; the Morning Herald newspaper Chess correspondent, Nathaniel Cook and a Hatton Garden wood turner, John Jaques.

The main principles of the design laid around playability - many of the sets that Staunton and his contemporaries played with at the time were very unstable and often resulted in heated arguments or voided matches when pieces "tumbled" from the boards. So a widened flared base was designed to incorporate a lead weight inside which would allow the pieces to almost reach 45 degrees without falling over.

The now classic Knight's head was taken from the Horses of the Parthenon within the Elgin Marbles housed inside the British Museum.

In 1861 an additon to the design was made with the marking of the King's pieces with a small red crown which identified the King's Castle/Rook and Knight from those of the Queen. Bishops' were considered "divine" with no allegiance to "Crown" only to "God".

Since 1849 the Original Jaques Staunton chess set has been de rigueur for all World Championship play. It's most famous outing was at the 1972 World title clash, often referred to as the "cold-war classic" between Russia's Boris Spassky and the United States' Bobby Fischer for which we were commissioned to make the chessboards and boxes to accompany this famous set (see Spassky & Fischer page).

We currently offer three Staunton designs as follows: