Est. 1994 · Hand-finished in Europe

Sixty-Four Squares Infinite Mastery

Chess sets carved, cast and weighted by hand — from tournament-legal ebony boards to solid-brass collector pieces. Built for the players who treat the board as a stage.

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The Collections

Five houses of craft, one obsession.

Each collection begins with a material — rosewood, brass, resin, leather — and ends with a piece that survives ten thousand games without losing a millimetre of its poise.

Hand-inlaid wooden tournament chess board

Chess Boards

Inlaid rosewood, maple and ebony. Sixty-four squares milled to 0.1 mm tolerance.

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Luxury weighted chess pieces arranged on a dark surface

Luxury Pieces

Triple-weighted Staunton forms, felted and polished by hand.

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Tournament

FIDE-compliant sizing, roll-up mats, digital clocks and scoresheets.

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Accessories

Leather rolls, walnut storage chests, analysis notebooks.

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Apparel

Heavyweight cotton and merino, embroidered with the sixty-four.

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Featured Pieces

The four that define the house.

The Grandmaster ebony and boxwood chess set

Signature

Luxury Sets

The Grandmaster Ebony

(214)

$1,480 ~~$1,790~~

Solid brass and nickel metal chess pieces

Limited

Metal Pieces

Meridian Solid Brass

(96)

$2,240

Best Seller

Wooden Boards

Atelier Walnut 55 cm

(338)

$860

New

Tournament

Olympiad Tournament Kit

(521)

$310

Most Wanted

Best sellers of the season.

Gift Sets

Heirloom Rosewood Case

$1,120

Marble chess board with contrasting pieces

Stone

Carrara Marble Board

$1,690

Luxury Pieces

Cavalier Knight Series

$740

Accessories

Tempo Digital Clock

$180

Modern

Prism Crystal Set

$520

Travel

Nomad Leather Roll

$260

Just Landed

New arrivals, fresh from the bench.

Obsidian Onyx Set

$1,940

Luxury Sets · 2026

Sable Knight Editions

$690

Pieces · 2026

Axiom Minimal Board

$430

Modern · 2026

Rosewood Classic Set

$1,180

Heritage · 2026

Marble chess board with polished squares

Carrara Marble Board

$2,260

Boards · 2026

Meridian Brass Edition

$1,520

Limited · 2026

Shop by Material

Find your material.

01 — Wood

Rosewood & ebony, cut with the grain.

Hand-turned · Oil finish

Boards are book-matched from a single billet, so the figure runs unbroken across all sixty-four squares. Pieces are turned wet, dried nine months, then finished with a hand-rubbed oil that deepens rather than seals.

Book-matched grain — one billet per board
Nine-month cure before the first cut
Hand-rubbed oil, no lacquer film

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From $430

02 — Metal

Solid brass, weighted to the gram.

Sand-cast · Hand-polished

Each piece is cast in solid brass, then turned down to a tolerance of two grams across the set. The result sits on the square with an authority no filled piece can imitate — and takes a patina that records every game you play.

±2g tolerance across all thirty-two
Nickel & antique brass pairings
Living patina, sealed only at the base

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From $690

03 — Luxury

Gold leaf, lacquer, and four days a king.

Atelier series · Numbered

Our atelier line is finished the way a watch case is: twelve lacquer passes, each cut back by hand, over 23-karat leaf. Every set is numbered, registered, and delivered in a walnut presentation case built to the same standard.

23kt leaf under twelve lacquer passes
Numbered & registered to its owner
Walnut case with a fitted felt bed

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From $2,400

04 — Tournament

Regulation spec, built for ten thousand games.

FIDE proportions · Roll-up board

A 3.75-inch king, a 2.25-inch square, and a base-to-height ratio that keeps the board readable at a glance across the table. Made to be packed, carried, unrolled on a stranger's table and still sit dead flat.

3.75" king, FIDE-proportioned set
Sits flat from the first unroll
Triple-weighted with felted bases

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From $260

05 — Gift Sets

Arrives finished, down to the ribbon.

Presentation case · Engraved

A complete set, a fitted case, a certificate of origin and an engraved brass plate with whatever you want it to say. Packed the way it should be received — nothing to assemble, nothing to apologise for.

Engraved plate, up to forty characters
Certificate of origin for every set
Gift-ready — no unboxing required

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From $510

Shop by Category

Find your material.

The House

We do not manufacture chess sets. We compose them.

Every Ultimate Chess piece passes through eleven pairs of hands before it reaches yours — turner, carver, weighter, felter, polisher, inspector. A single Grandmaster king takes four days. We have never found a faster way that we were willing to accept.

The Atelier, Ultimate Chess

The eleven hands No. 01 — 11

01Turner
02Carver
03Weighter
04Felter
05Polisher
06Inspector

…and five more, each signing the work they finish.

0: Hands per piece
0h: Per Grandmaster king
0.8: Average review score
0%: Sustainably sourced

About Ultimate Chess

01 — Mission

Make the board worthy of the game.

Chess deserves objects that reward decades of use. We build to that standard, and price it honestly — no shortcuts hidden beneath the lacquer, no compromise a player will ever have to notice.

Every set that leaves our workshop is meant to outlast the hands that first opened it, passing from one generation of players to the next with the wood only growing more beautiful for the wear.

02 — Vision

A collector's set in every serious home.

From a child's first Staunton to a grandmaster's tournament board — one house, one standard of finish. We believe the tools of the game should be as considered as the moves played upon them.

A great set changes how it feels to sit down and think. It invites longer games, sharper play, and the quiet confidence that comes from holding a piece made to be held for a lifetime.

03 — Quality

Eleven inspections. Zero exceptions.

Weight, balance, felt adhesion, grain match and lacquer depth are checked individually — never by batch. A single piece that falls short retires the whole set from sale.

The standard is deliberately unreasonable, because the alternative is a set that disappoints you on the hundredth game rather than the first. We would rather lose the sale than lower the bar.

04 — Craftsmanship

Turned, carved and weighted by hand.

Our artisans train for six years before touching a king. The knights are carved last, and always by name — each one signed by the hand that shaped its mane and gaze.

No two knights are ever truly identical, and we count that among a set's quiet virtues. It is the mark of work done by people rather than machines, and it is impossible to fake.

05 — Heritage

Three decades on the sixty-four.

Since 1994 we have supplied clubs, championships and collectors across seventy-two countries — from quiet Sunday tournaments to boards that decided national titles.

Those thirty years live in every set we make today: the lessons of a hundred thousand games, distilled into wood, weight and finish you can feel the moment you make your first move.

About Ultimate Chess

A heritage measured in moves.

Mission

Make the board worthy of the game.

Chess deserves objects that reward decades of use. We build to that standard, and price it honestly — no shortcuts hidden beneath the lacquer. Every set is meant to outlast the hands that first opened it.
Vision

A collector's set in every serious home.

From a child's first Staunton to a grandmaster's tournament board — one house, one standard of finish. A great set invites longer games, sharper play, and the confidence of holding a piece made to be held for a lifetime.
Quality

Eleven inspections. Zero exceptions.

Weight, balance, felt adhesion, grain match and lacquer depth are checked individually — never by batch. A single piece that falls short retires the whole set from sale. We would rather lose the sale than lower the bar.
Craftsmanship

Turned, carved and weighted by hand.

Our artisans train for six years before touching a king. The knights are carved last, and always by name — each one signed by the hand that shaped it. No two are ever truly identical, and we count that among a set's quiet virtues.
Heritage

Three decades on the sixty-four.

Since 1994 we have supplied clubs, championships and collectors across seventy-two countries — from quiet Sunday tournaments to boards that decided national titles. Those thirty years live in every set we make today.

Player Voices

Trusted across seventy-two countries.

The weighting is extraordinary. Pieces land with a sound I can only describe as expensive. Four years of club play and the felt is still perfect.

Anders MøllerFM · Copenhagen

I bought the Meridian brass set as a fortieth-birthday gift for my father. He has not put it away since — it lives on the table like a sculpture.

Priya RaghunathanCollector · Bengaluru

We equipped our whole championship with the Olympiad kit. Sixty boards, zero complaints from arbiters — and the clocks are genuinely faultless.

Elena VasquezTournament Director · Madrid

The grain match across the Atelier Walnut board is something I've only seen on fine guitars. Photographs genuinely do not do it justice.

Tomás FerreiraWoodworker · Porto

Shipping took a week longer than promised, but the engraving on the case was flawless and the support team wrote to me personally. I'd order again.

Marcus OheneClub Captain · Accra

My students treat the set differently than the plastic ones. Better objects genuinely produce better attention — I did not expect that.

Junko AiharaCoach · Osaka

Your Move

Own the board you'll pass down.

Shop the Collection Our Story

Sixty-Four Squares Infinite Mastery

Five houses of craft, one obsession.

Chess Boards

Luxury Pieces

Tournament

Accessories

Apparel

The four that define the house.

The Grandmaster Ebony

Meridian Solid Brass

Atelier Walnut 55 cm

Olympiad Tournament Kit

Best sellers of the season.

Heirloom Rosewood Case

Carrara Marble Board

Cavalier Knight Series

Tempo Digital Clock

Prism Crystal Set

Nomad Leather Roll

New arrivals, fresh from the bench.

Obsidian Onyx Set

Sable Knight Editions

Axiom Minimal Board

Rosewood Classic Set

Carrara Marble Board

Meridian Brass Edition

Find your material.

We do not manufacture chess sets. We compose them.

A heritage measured in moves.

Make the board worthy of the game.

A collector's set in every serious home.

Eleven inspections. Zero exceptions.

Turned, carved and weighted by hand.

Three decades on the sixty-four.

Up to 25% off luxury sets & boards

Trusted across seventy-two countries.

Join the atelier list.

Own the board you'll pass down.