Chess Equipment

Chess Equipment Manufacturing 

The Equipment we produce and manufacture at Jaques are made by highly skilled craftsmen for over 150 years. The Chess craftsmen use the same materials and manufacturing methods and to the same specifications during this manufacturing process since 1849 right up to the present day.

Jaques Sets are still hand Crafted from ebony and Boxwood. Each and every piece is polished by hand without using lacquer to bring out the natural color and feel of the wood.

The turning and crafting of the pieces is, of course, mostly done on the lathe, but still by hand rather than machine. The Queen along with the and are still manufactured and completed by hand out of the lathe. The kings cross is turned and then the two sides cut away. The rough shape of the knight chess piece is made with a pattern copying lathe, but the ears, eyes, teeth, and mane are still hand carved, quite a lengthy operation. Remember each piece has to be identical and considerable skill is needed to achieve this result. This wonderful process means that all Jaques Chess sets are in some way different and unique.

The Staunton set soon became the standard design not just in England, but also in Europe and the rest of the world. Apart from minor modifications to prevent breakage, reproduction on a quantity basis showed the need for few changes - another tribute to John Jaques' thought and talent. The frills and beads were slightly strengthened, the knights' ears set further back, and the collar of the pawn at a rather less acute angle.


There are always people who see a degradation in the quantity production of any article previously made by hand, or the commercial success of a cheapened line. But as JRJ Murray - the notable authority on Chess history - remarked, "There are few Chess players today who would care to use anything but the Staunton Chessmen". The Jaques Chess equipment is still a world leader today. The universal adoption of a standard design has done more for the game than simply to provide its devotees with an agreeable instrument of play. The rapid popularisation of the game from the late 19th century onward must have been due in part to the simplification of play following a more easily identifiable set of pieces.