One could be forgiven for thinking that for almost every theme out there, is a chess set. Most of the popular movies and TV shows have them, famous cities have them, events in history have them, groups of people even have them. The themed chess set is certainly something of a novelty, and is more appealing to the fan of the theme, rather than the fan of chess.

There is little doubt that a fine chess set is something to treasure and marvel. People will get excited about one finely crafted ornament but a nice chess set is thirty two fine ornaments! So there is little wonder they are seen as items of value.

Themed chess sets are usually licenced by the brand owner and often designed and made alongside consultation from the rights owner. One of the most popular themed chess sets is the Lord Of The Rings Chess Set. The most prominent one being the official SAC version that is produced under licence from New Line Productions. This superb chess set is made from crushed stone composite and each one is hand painted to an excellent level of finish and quality.

Themed chess sets are a great way to sell a fairly expensive chess set to someone who would ordinarily never buy one. If you are a dedicated fan of Lord of the Rings the chess set might be too tempting to miss out on. Fans of themes like this are often collectors, so producing a highly collectable chess set is always going to appeal to the die hard fans.

It’s fair to say that actually playing chess is not so easy on a themed chess set. Identification of the chessmen is seldom easy so trying to tell your bishops apart from your rooks can be a challenge. Serious chess playing needs a Staunton set, there is little doubt in that. But there no getting away from the fact that a themed chess set is a great thing to own and treasure.