The Rolls-Royce Chess Set

by Frederic Friedel
4/25/2025 – Looking for a very nice gift for a dear friend? Someone special who really love chess. Then the Rolls-Royce set is definitely something you should consider. It is magnificently designed, elegant as they come, and certainly something that will billionaires like yourself to play a game. Take a look.

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High-end luxury car companies like to diversify. Mercedes-Maybach sells branded horse saddles, Porsche builds custom kitchens, Bugatti will give you a $300,000 pool table that has gyroscopic self-leveling.

Now the latest Rolls-Royce creation has been anounced, one that is simply called the "Chess Set." Its designer Nick Abrams calls it "a contemporary work of art in its own right, as well as a practical, playable game." Here's what it looks like:

The board is split into two sections which you can slide apart to access the chess pieces. Both the board support and the chess piece holders are of polished aluminum and hand-crafted. The board squares are made from a wood veneer, all taken from the same log of wood, to have a consistent grain pattern. The black squares have a diagonal grain, the white squares are smooth. This is what the set looks like with the pieces on it:

The chess set is customizable, and you can order one to match your car. There are four different veneer combinations, Rolls-Royce tells us: you can get high-gloss Blackwood with Ceramic White or Macassar Ebony with Royal Walnut, or if you want an open-pore finish there's Smoked Eucalyptus with Paldao or Obsidian Ayous with Blackwood. Thirteen different leather colors are offered: Arctic White, Black, Cashmere Grey, Charles Blue, Forge Yellow, Havana, Iceland Moss, Lime Green, Mandarin, Peony Pink, Phoenix Red, Sciavaro Grey and Tailored Purple.


Nick Abrams, Transportation and Product Designer, who designed the Rolls-Royce chess set. In the following video he tells us about his creation:

This truly extravagant chess set is available for commission at Rolls-Royce dealerships and Private Office boutiques. Unfortunately, it does not seem to have a price tag yet. In any case, that may not fit in the width of our columns.

So a request: all readers who decide to purchase a Rolls-Royce Chess Set should please inform us in the feedback section below how much it cost them. And very important: did it come with additional queens for possible promotions?

Also read:


Editor-in-Chief emeritus of the ChessBase News page. Studied Philosophy and Linguistics at the University of Hamburg and Oxford, graduating with a thesis on speech act theory and moral language. He started a university career but switched to science journalism, producing documentaries for German TV. In 1986 he co-founded ChessBase.
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AnthonyRonaldBrown AnthonyRonaldBrown 4/27/2025 11:46
Hello,
First I would like to thank your company for showing interest in the wonderful game of Chess,by making a nice Chess set :)
I like your set except for a few important mistakes concerning the actual usability of it?
The 1st mistake is that you only have a spare extra 2 Queens,in hidden draws (which is nice!) but when playing a game of Chess sometimes a player needs to promote to a Piece other than a Queen,most commonly a Knight,where by using that Piece a forked Check mate can happen etc.
And to understand the next reason a person needs to be a Chess player! :) because sometimes a player needs to promote to a Bishop,or a Rook,which is a bit complicated but it can be for stopping a Stalemate etc.
So to round this up I would just like to say your Chess set needs 8 hidden Pieces 4 of each Colour,to be able to play a game properly.
I hope this message helps you with your nice Chess set :)

Regards

Anthony


P.S I am the inventor author of The A.R.B Chess System :)

https://www.youtube.com/@AnthonyRonaldBrown/videos
Frederic Frederic 4/27/2025 12:17
BKnight2003: I watched it and knew. Just wanted to see if others watch videos like this. Apparently yes.
BKnight2003 BKnight2003 4/26/2025 03:05
So nobody bothered watching the video (including the author)?? It DOES come with extra Queens.
david.rano@free.fr david.rano@free.fr 4/26/2025 12:26
Those ugly pieces... I don't see any chess player buying that.
Poiuy Trewq Poiuy Trewq 4/26/2025 03:44
Frederic -- This news came twenty-three days too late -- the *perfect* non-fictitious April Fools article!!
Frits Fritschy Frits Fritschy 4/25/2025 11:16
If there is an Aston Martin set as well, we might see it in the next 007 movie. "Your move, Mr. Bond, what do you expect, an exploding king?"
geeker geeker 4/25/2025 09:25
The first picture (board slid open to reveal piece-holders) strongly suggests that the set DOES NOT include an extra set of Queens. But I am delighted to see that they made the h1 square "White" (i.e. smooth). ;-)
arzi arzi 4/25/2025 05:58
I bet the price is 10000€ with the very used Yugo.
Frederic Frederic 4/25/2025 03:48
Nobody found an asking price? Nobody bought it and can reveal how much it cost?
PhishMaster PhishMaster 4/25/2025 02:47
Arzi, they throw in a used Yugo. :)
Wastrel Wastrel 4/25/2025 02:46
It's not magnetic, but it has that rounded bottom that looks like it will make the set rock back and forth if a player moves a little too enthusiastically. It's collector's item but it looks impractical. I don't like the design of the pieces. It's a good thing I can't afford it.
arzi arzi 4/25/2025 10:41
If I buy that chess set, do I get a car included? If I don't like the Rolls-Royce, can I get a Volvo instead?
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