I have had a lot of chess sets over the years, but this one is really something special. There's something really satisfying about moving a piece that's handcrafted out of stone. (And I can tell these are, at least to some extent, handcrafted, as there are variations between what should be identical carvings.) The designs are relatively simple, but that actually lends to the charm; they are more evocative than your standard detailed wooden piece. This is a "grown up" set, and it is very much worth the premium price tag.The set comes with a bunch of felt rounds that you can adhere to the bottom. You get way more than you need, which is actually good, because for some reason, some of the adhesive just doesn't work. Using the felt is optional, and it's basically a tradeoff between protecting whatever board you're using (as this doesn't come with one), and hearing the satisfying clicking of stone on wood.I think the main thing I'm most impressed with, though, is the customer service. The packaging for this had a lot of protection in it, with the pieces snugly fit in foam. However, even though most of the pieces were in perfect shape, two of the pieces (a king and queen) arrived broken. Thankfully, they were both very clean breaks, so I was able to superglue them, but I also reached out to the company, and they very happily offered replacement pieces, which arrived without issue.Overall, if you're looking for a wonderful, classy, and serious chess set, this is a great option.
