About Staunton Chess — The Jaques of London Heritage Site

What Is Staunton Chess?

Stauntonchess.com exists because no organisation on earth has a stronger claim to authority on the Staunton chess set than the company that made it. Jaques of London designed, manufactured, and registered the Staunton pattern in 1849. In the 177 years since, the design has become the global standard for competitive chess, adopted as mandatory by FIDE (the International Chess Federation) and used in every World Chess Championship on record.

This site brings that heritage to bear on a comprehensive chess reference: guides to the rules and principles of the game, the deep history of chess from its origins in sixth-century India through to the modern grandmaster era, detailed buying advice for anyone choosing a chess set, and authoritative accounts of the players who shaped the game. Every article draws on Jaques of London's unique position at the intersection of chess history, craftsmanship, and competitive play.

Our Mission

The internet contains a great deal of chess information. Not all of it is accurate, and much of it lacks historical grounding. Our editorial commitment at Stauntonchess.com is simple: accuracy above all, depth over brevity, and genuine respect for chess culture and its participants.

We want this site to be the first place a curious person turns when they want to understand the Staunton chess set, learn how to play chess for the first time, explore the history of chess across civilisations and centuries, read about the players who made the game legendary, or choose a chess set that will last a lifetime. Because we are Jaques of London, we are not guessing at the answers to these questions. We lived them.

Who Are Jaques of London?

Jaques of London was founded in 1795, making it the world's oldest games manufacturer still in continuous production. Over more than two centuries, the company has been responsible for several of the most significant moments in the history of organised play.

In 1849, Jaques designed the chess set that chess champion Howard Staunton endorsed, lending his name to pieces that would define the game for all time. The Staunton chess set was immediately recognisable: its pieces were functional, elegant, and unambiguous. The king stood tall, the knight was a true horse, the bishop wore its mitre, the rook stood solid as a tower. Unlike the wildly varied, often decorative chess sets that preceded it, the Staunton design prioritised playability. Tournament directors and club players adopted it within years; FIDE made it the mandatory standard for international competition, and it has remained so ever since.

The company's contributions extend well beyond chess. In 1851 Jaques standardised the rules of croquet, producing the first official rulebook and the equipment that gave the game its enduring form. In 1900, Jaques trademarked the name Ping-Pong, introducing table tennis to a mass audience and establishing the equipment standards that persist in the sport today. These are not footnotes in games history: they are founding moments. Jaques of London did not merely sell games. It defined them.

Today, Jaques of London continues to manufacture chess sets from its English workshops, maintaining the craft standards of the original 1849 design while offering pieces to suit every level of player, from first-time learners to serious tournament competitors. You can explore the full range of Jaques chess sets at jaqueslondon.co.uk.

The Legacy of the Staunton Chess Set

When Howard Staunton, the leading chess player of his age, put his name to the Jaques design in 1849, he could not have anticipated how permanent that endorsement would prove. The Staunton pattern has been used at every World Chess Championship since the formal championship began. From Wilhelm Steinitz in 1886 to Magnus Carlsen in the twenty-first century, every world champion has sat down to play with pieces derived from the design that Jaques of London registered 177 years ago.

The reasons for the design's longevity are not sentimental. The Staunton pieces work. Their proportions allow rapid identification under tournament pressure. Their weight and balance suit extended play. Their visual vocabulary is shared by every serious player on the planet, which means a chess player from Tokyo and a chess player from Toronto can sit down at any Staunton board and immediately feel at home. FIDE mandates the Staunton pattern precisely because standardisation matters in competition: when the pieces are identical, only the play is at issue.

The history of the World Chess Championship is, in a meaningful sense, the history of the Staunton set in use. Understanding one enriches understanding of the other.

What You Will Find on This Site

Stauntonchess.com covers the full breadth of chess knowledge. Whether you are reading the rules of chess for the first time, working through chess openings to sharpen your early game, studying chess tactics to improve your calculation, or researching the careers of chess grandmasters, you will find material here that is well-researched, clearly written, and grounded in genuine understanding of the game.

Our chess buying guide draws directly on Jaques of London's manufacturing expertise to help you choose a set that suits your needs, your space, and your budget. We cover wooden chess sets, luxury sets, tournament sets, and sets designed for children, with honest guidance on what to look for and what to avoid.

For those interested in chess as history, our articles on Victorian chess, chess in England, Howard Staunton, and Jaques of London's history offer a depth of context that only the originating company can provide.

Our Editorial Commitment

We take accuracy seriously. Where facts about chess history are contested, we say so. Where the historical record is clear, we present it plainly. We do not inflate the importance of any player, game, or moment at the expense of honest assessment. Chess has a rich enough history that it requires no embellishment.

We are equally committed to the craft of explanation. Chess can be taught badly or well. We aim to explain the game's rules, strategies, and history in language that respects the intelligence of the reader while remaining accessible to people encountering these ideas for the first time. Jaques of London has been introducing people to chess since 1849. We know what questions newcomers ask, and we know the answers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Who runs stauntonchess.com?

Stauntonchess.com is operated by Jaques of London, the company founded in 1795 that created the original Staunton chess set in 1849. As the manufacturers of the very first Staunton pieces and the world's oldest games company, Jaques of London is uniquely placed to serve as the authoritative reference on the Staunton standard, chess history, and chess craftsmanship. All editorial content on this site draws on that heritage and on 175-plus years of continuous involvement with the game.

Q: Did Jaques of London really invent the Staunton chess set?

Yes. In 1849 Jaques of London designed and manufactured the chess set that champion Howard Staunton endorsed and lent his name to. The design was registered by Jaques that same year and featured the distinctive forms now known worldwide: the cross-crowned king, the coroneted queen, the mitred bishop, the horse-headed knight, the castle-shaped rook, and the simple pawn. The set was immediately adopted by serious players for its clarity and practicality. FIDE, the International Chess Federation, has since mandated the Staunton pattern as the required standard for all official tournament play, and every World Chess Championship in history has been contested using Staunton pieces.

Q: Where can I buy a Jaques chess set?

Jaques of London chess sets are available directly from the company at jaqueslondon.co.uk. The range includes hand-crafted wooden Staunton sets in a variety of sizes and woods, club and tournament sets built for regular play, travel sets, and luxury presentation editions. Every set is made to the original 1849 Staunton standard that Jaques established, ensuring that pieces conform to the proportions and visual vocabulary that players worldwide recognise and expect.

Q: How old is Jaques of London?

Jaques of London was founded in 1795, making it over 230 years old as of 2026. It is widely recognised as the world's oldest games manufacturer still in continuous operation. The company's history maps closely onto the history of organised competitive games in Britain: it standardised croquet in 1851, produced the first official rules of the game, and trademarked the name Ping-Pong for table tennis in 1900. The 1849 creation of the Staunton chess set remains its most consequential contribution to game history, giving chess a universal visual language that has endured unaltered into the twenty-first century.