Staunton Castle - Reproduction 1854 Walter Grimshaw Chess Set - Antiqued Boxwood/Ebony - Full Review

As promised from my recently uploaded photo, I am very excited to bring you all my chess friends my review of the 1854 Walter Grimshaw Reproduction Chess Set from Staunton Castle. This particular chess set features a 3.5 inch king and comes in Antiqued Boxwood and Ebony Wood. Hope you all enjoy watching this video, I do realize it is somewhat long, but I have included a lot of interesting information all for your benefit so be sure to watch video in its entirety if time allows. Below I will as promised include the link to where I bought this chess set:
stauntoncastle.com/products/w...
As well as at the end of the video I mentioned that chess bazaar is currently having a great sale of 40% off items over $300 so be sure to check them out too:
www.chessbazaar.com
As always, thank you everyone for watching, have a wonderful week!
Chess
#chess

[@wl6558]

I think you’re great, man. I propose your fans put up and contribute to sets for you to review. I look for sets for my friends all the time. Your chess set reviews are the best by far. Also, having said that, you don’t know anyone any apologies. Just keep up the high end content IMHO.

[@AlSuChess]

Thanks a lot Steve! It's always great to hear positive comments like yours. I'll probably just start a personal fund, because I do want to get a lot more chess sets. I want to expand the channel and make it more professional if and when I can, but that's probably going to take a little bit of time.

[@scrumpymanjack]

I really appreciate these reviews. Thanks. That said, none of the HoS sets that I have seen you review would tempt me. None of them convince me in terms of quality, colour, carving. Im lucky enough to have a club size Jaques set from about 1890, and nothing I have seen on this channel comes anywhere close. Just a different league.

[@Kubooxooki]

Thanks for another great review. You've assembled quite a stunning and diverse collection already, and it's very helpful to see the different sets side by side for comparison. I really liked the antiqued color of these pieces; but yes, they're on the small side of town for my taste. Nice to see the wood grain mousepad board complimenting yet another beautiful set of pieces!

[@AlSuChess]

Thanks a lot of watching. The pieces may not be as big in video, in reality they are a good size and pretty heavy and sturdy, definitely look nice and pleasant on the mousepad board.

[@armandcordova44]

Thanks for another informative video. It is really interesting when you show comparisons between different chess pieces detailing their respective designs and brands. The base of the Walter Grimshaw pieces look and feel very stable, and fits very well in a 2.25 in. sq. board. Keep up the good reviews coming.

[@AlSuChess]

I fully agree with you, it's a nice and stable set overall! Thank you for watching!

[@HugoJansons]

Quality review!

[@AlSuChess]

Thank you!

[@paulmalone1208]

Love the set its got a real vintage look to it the board is superb the old school sets are great brings you back in the time of the old masters i have a some nice old sets i like the lennon grad chess set did you do a vide on one i cant remember i also was chaseing an old club set for years finaly got one on line looks like the old russian sets anyway keep up the videos always enjoy them. Cheers.

[@ragnorak56]

Excellent review. You really capture well the aspects of a set potential buyers are curious about but can't be answered in a spec sheet. I said it other videos of yours, SC sets weight, feel and handling just feels so solid and well balanced. Many of my favorite sets are from SC regardless of price. I'm very happy to see that you finally own a set. I also whole heartedly agree with you about the grain showing in the SC ebony. Some makers dye/stain their ebony to make it more uniformly black. An interesting possible future video you could possibly due is on the Elgin Marbles and the similarities to the different knight designs. Check those panels out and then look again at some of these early Staunton knights.

[@AlSuChess]

Thanks a lot for sharing, there is definitely a worthy topic to look further into with Elgin Marbles and the similarities of knights. I'll look more into it for sure. Always good to have you stop by.

[@juancarlosl4133]

Hello Alex. IMO and preference, any diameter of King that uses between 70 to 75% of the square in length, looks quite perfect for me, and we can see it in the last option you showed, with the mousepad board, in which the king covers the 72% of the square (while the diameter is 1.62 and square 2.25 inches). More than or less than the range that I pointed out it, would be over-crowded or too-much-room for the pieces, and that happens when you presented the “Grimshaw” on the 2.5 and 1.75 square boards. And of course, nothing surpasses the test of the eyes to distinguish at first sight which board suits better! The mousepad board also look nice bc both colors of the pieces do not blend, as you commented, and they contrast beautifully. Great new set and video!

[@AlSuChess]

Thanks a lot Juan! I fully agree with you! For a good aesthetic setup you are better off choosing a chess board proportional in size for the pieces you play on, and while the Paulsen looks good on a 2.5 inch board, the grimshaw I feel looks best on the mousepad board! Thanks for watching!

[@t0dd000]

NICE set. And not insanely expensive.

[@AlSuChess]

Yeah I agree, it's reasonably priced for the quality. Thanks for watching!

[@ericb252]

Excellent review! Still going through. Very very thorough. Question, have you considered adding chapters to the video? 40 minutes detailed is appreciated but it is really hard I think for most to spent more than 20 minutes according to youtube algorithms from what i heard

[@AlSuChess]

Yeah I agree with you! In fact I have considered doing some shorts though. I like to get into the details and I do agree with you it's hard for people to watch the video in its entirety. A lot of people tend to watch parts and then return and watch the rest.

[@ericb252]

@@AlSuChess yeah not a fan of shorts, i think it's gimmicky. But the youtube chapters are here kzbin.info/www/bejne/mGKpoJKDlNmdbNk

[@tank.4496]

Thanks for yet another great review bud, a very nice set although the queen is a little on the small side for me. Comparing the different square sizes is a great idea and maybe something you'd consider doing with future reviews. I just ordered the antiqued 3.75 1950 Dubrovnik from Staunton Castle and the antiqued 3.75 1900 Marshall from Chess Bazaar. That 40% discount is legit too, the Marshall set usually goes for around $375, I got mine for $225.

[@AlSuChess]

Congratulations on your purchases, the Dubrovnik from Staunton castle is a set I really was considering for a while. Thank you for watching!

[@KNGHTS]

It’s a replica, queen too small then blame Jaques himself

[@tank.4496]

@@KNGHTS It's just a little too small for my liking bud, I wasn't trying blame anyone or say that it's wrong in any way whatsoever.

[@Schaakman1]

Nice video

[@AlSuChess]

Thank you!

[@mattwuttke]

After playing jlp boards it's hard to play on anything else. Chess house is on my top list personally. Top notch gear.

[@AlSuChess]

Chess house has good things I agree. Thanks for watching!

[@qwe1231]

Their customer service is top notch

[@lewismartin4306]

So hard to find the perfect set. That queen is just so small!!! Otherwise the distressed boxwood and mahogany would be my next purchase

[@TheVolvo74091]

Hello! New to the channel and digging it. I was wondering what the chess board is in front of you. I recently purchased the mahogany grandmaster set from HOS, and this board looks exactly like the one I bought. The same color, notation on the side. I love the way this board looks! I was hoping it would look this good, and I hope this is the same board! Maybe you can give me some insight on which board this is, thanks!!

[@AlSuChess]

Thank you for joining! Glad you are enjoying the videos! The big board that has been my luxury board is the elm burl and birds eye maple superior traditional chess board that is the one 2.5 inch and I like to play a lot of my games on it. The smaller board has squares that are only 1.75 inches and you can see my very first video where I reviewed a chess set on that, I believe it's maple and either mohagony or rosewood, probably mohagony. I believe it retails for around 69 dollars or so on HOS. Hope this helps.

[@DonBrusko]

Quality chess men as you would expect from a well known company in Staunton Castle. But I was wondering if you've heard of not so well known direct makers like Chess Villa. About the certification thing, i believe collectors put heavy emphasis and deal on sets being made in Amritsar just because it is known as the center of the Chess handcrafting industry in India, or even the world. And you'd be surprised to know that most if not all of the luxury range sets by known brands HoS, Chess Empire, ChessBazaar, etc., are all made in Amritsar.

[@renannascimento2423]

👍🏽👍🏽

[@outdoorswithunclesergey6293]

👍 :-)

[@sebastian3213]

Can I ask you where did you get that mousepad board please? Grimshaw set is legendary

[@AlSuChess]

I am pretty sure I got the board from walmart! www.walmart.com/ip/WE-Games-Mousepad-Tournament-Chessboard-20-inches-Wood-Grain-Print/634451901?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=101019363 Thanks for watching! I think the Grimshaw Pieces are nice too!

[@ericb252]

There's actually variance between the different pawns for cheap house of staunton set

[@ericb252]

Some 11gram others 17 grams.. its such a joke HoS cheaper (such as their grandmaster) sets

[@AlSuChess]

I am not surprised, variance will be present in shape and height too from time to time. I would assume some weight difference, 11 to 17 grams sounds like a lot, definitely noticeable. I am the type where if I don't notice the difference during play that I am ok. Just like so many other things, I bought some weights for working out, there's variance in weights among dumbbells that are supposed to be the same weight.

[@christophermartinprado5560]

Hi I'm from Philippines 😊

[@AlSuChess]

Great to have you on the channel! Cheers!

[@leilee203]

I would play the set on a 2” board. But I really don’t really like playing on boards where I feel my pieces are getting lost. This on a 2” board seems just right for me.

[@AlSuChess]

Yeah I think you might be spot on, I was thinking about 2 inch square board while making this video! Thanks for watching!

[@pepecasagrande7215]

when people stop marking the king side?

[@thehypnox]

God this guy talks so damn much. 6 minutes and he still hasn't opened the damn box.