DIY Chess Sets

It’s come to this: There aren’t enough chess sets in the United States because of The Queen’s Gambit.

Netflix reported on Monday about their series where an orphan rises up in the chess world with a little help from substance abuse. They seem surprised, but the company undersold the series in terms of advertising; Business Insider thinks word of mouth has helped the show’s numbers. Yet both the quality of the acting and the actual playing of the games of chess is stunning. It helps that the special consultants were chess masters Bruce Pandolfini and Garry Kasparov.

But in their listing of statistics, Netflix cited an analysis from eBay that the demand for chess sets is up 250%. NPR had a report that chess sets are becoming hard to find for Christmas.

Which got me thinking. . .what is the DIY scene for chess sets?

Hardware store

There are some great resources for making your own chess set from scratch, but my favorite was this set built with nuts and bolts from your local hardware store. Imagine making a set like this and donating it to someone who couldn’t find a chess set this Christmas.

Published Dec. 2, 2020.