We ordered a chess board and loved the style but there were rough scuff marks on the side. Sohl was very kind to make things right. We are now enjoying our beautiful chess board and I am so grateful that they took the time to make sure that we were satisfied. The board comes in a thick protective cover and looks stunning!!!!
Not only do I LOVE this board, it was also so refreshing to buy from people who know and care about customer service and clearly care very much about their customers. My only wish; that they had more classy chess products to sell :) THANK YOU!
Simply put, this board is beautiful. The two woods (walnut and maple) play off each other perfectly. The level of craftsmanship it on point. Everything about this board - right down to the smell of the wood - makes me want to play the game.
In fact, the attention to detail and aesthetic beauty of this board is matched only by the next-level care put into the packaging and presentation of the board. The board arrives with corner protectors and is wrapped in.a think cottony envelope. This is then placed in a thick, two-piece black foam insert within a quality product box.
The presentation of this board would make it an excellent gift and, together with the quality of the board itself, makes it worth every penny of the asking price. But, BE WARNED - if you buy this as a gift, you will likely be tempted to keep it for yourself if you look at it before giving it away (that's what happened to me - so I ended up buying a second one to give away)
I had such high hopes. The whole assembly and packaging is well thought out and you really feel like you're getting something of grand quality. But then you look closer, and you realize the squares are crooked and don't line up. The squares on the edge of the board are smaller than the others.
I thought this was just a defect in mine, but I see it in all the other review photos too. Unfortunate, because if the squares/craftsmanship was on point, this would have been an easy 5 stars.
If you do end up purchasing, note that a 3.75" King feels a little small on this board. You might be able to get away with a 4.25"
It's exquisitely packaged, it comes in a nice heavy cloth wrapping with a simple card in it. It would make a great gift.
The board itself has the look of being hand made by someone skilled -- it's not quite machine-perfect, but the quality is excellent. I believe the finish is the same on both sides.
The only nit-picky thing is that I'd like the colors to be a bit more evenly matched, but the variations aren't bad, maybe some would even prefer it, the variations contribute to the board looking less machine-made.
This board size works well with the larger tournament-sized chess pieces, see attached picture (the king is 4.25 inches tall).
