Why Championship Chess Sets Are So Expensive | So Expensive

An inexpensive chess set can sell for $20, but a handcrafted wooden set certified for the World Chess Championship costs $500. Much of the set's value lies in just one piece: the knight. Each knight must be carved by hand to look exactly the same. Making this one piece takes two hours, and there are fewer than 10 people trained to carve knights for the championship chess sets. So, how are these chessmen made? And why are they so expensive?

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Why Championship Chess Sets Are So Expensive | So Expensive

[BusinessInsider]

This episode was especially fun to make after watching “The Queen’s Gambit”. One thing we didn’t have time to include is that the board alone for the full set (worth $500) costs $220. Thanks for watching this episode! What other expensive things do you think we should cover?

[wparo]

Sold for $500 dollars a set. And these workers will be lucky if they get $5

[G.r.e.g.g.l.e.s]

"What's your work day like?"

"I work all day, all knights."

[michaeljanzer]

The workers after seeing this video:

“YOUR SELLING THEM FOR $500 A SET??”

[gioueem]

Imagine a chess player say "The Knight is carved incorrectly, henceforth, I refuse to play with such an unadequate chess set!"

[MichaelRozie]

The pieces are tested in a wind tunnel to improve arrodynamic flow. This ensures maximum movement speed in the fast paced and exiting sport of chess

[thomaskendrick]

"Some chessmen must be dyed black"...I'm going to guess HALF of them are dyed black

[setsu_]

"Once the cutter makes contact, it immedieatly changes the wood."

yeah no shit

[Exl]

It makes sense that the knight is the hardest to make because it's one of two pieces that's not rotationally symmetric, and the other piece that's not rotationally symmetric (the bishop) only becomes nonsymmetrical with a single cut.

All of the other pieces, because they are rotationally symmetric, means you can put the piece on a lathe to cut to specific dimensions easily. You can't do that with the knight.

[bottledpeanuts]

To summarize this video: championship chess sets are so expensive because nobody wants to dedicate years of their life to working in a sweatshop for 5 dollars a day

[sword]

Sold for $500 dollars a set. Less than 10 people are trusted to make the knights and they have to work in a run down building and not in a professional workshop?

[kevinobrebski]

“Artisans use particular steel tools, called cutters.” Very profound.

[markthetranslator]

The more I watch the So Expensive series the more I understand that a lot of those things are expensive because of... no reason

[benwagner]

The contrast between the settings where these tournaments take place and the workshop where these pieces are made is staggering

[amphicorp]

This woman really just called the horse's mane its "tail"

[WafflesOfEgg]

"Only 10 people can make these pieces"
Correction: We could only get 10 people to make these pieces for 5$ a day

[superiortv]

Imagine crafting chess pieces with such painstaking precision, only for Anish Giri to steal them

[joselucca]

"Once the cutter makes contact it immediately changes the wood." Why they feel the need to explain this?

[piyushaggarwal]

Everybody talking about if artisans got the share of price, dude even "business insider" didnt care to even put artist's name to their profile. They would have loved it.

[adicus]

Doesn't look like the artisans get the share of the profits they deserve