Basic Club Set

It is a staunton alike set.

This set is possibly a plastic copy of an older French design. The knights keep a big resemblance to some Lardy sets.

It is also called Gallant Knigt set because it was also sold in America by this brand (Gallant Knight was a brand from Arrco Playing Card, Chicago Illinois).

It is mainly known by "Basic Club Set".

Photo: http://www.chess-museum.com/lardy.html. Old Lardy design in wood

It has evolved into the Club Set over the years. It could have started selling in the 50s.

Some people claimed it was done with the design of Peter Ganine (The designer of the Star Trek and Gothic chess set), but the hypothesis os a french design is stronger.

This set was possibly made initially in England or America.

The pieces became trade mark of the development of chess.

There were English brands like "House Martin" that were already making Lardy plastic versions on the 50s, 60s.

Other countries began their manufacture, perhaps copying the mold.

It has widespreaded all over the world with slightly modifications and it's the most common club chess set nowadays.

In Portugal, one company, Majora, launched thousands in the market but curiously without much success, because the pieces were very bright and weightless at the base.

It is the basic Club Set you see in almost every USCF Official Tournament in the USA in 2010s and before.

Short playing vs Smyslov in some simultaneous. Usig this set. About 1976.

The legendary Cornbread playing in Washington Square Park

They are popular because they are inexpensive and really resistant. It is commonly used in schools, small clubs, and tournaments because they're cheap, they almost never break, and they're sized for the tournament size standard. (Four pawns per square. Can slide between each other without having to lift them. Etc.)

Nowadays it seems to be made mostly in China, there is at least a big manufacturer (http://www.cnchess.com/) that also claim to have the patents of the most common design of this set.

Extract from the CNChess page

The company CNChess is HuaQingTing Indusgtry Co, based in Jiangbei, Ningbo, China.

They are the largest chess manufacturer in China serving this and the basic club set all over the world. The company was founded in 1996.

Bought in 2015 in House of Staunton.

Plastic white & black, triple weighted.

This set has a king of 95mm-36mm and a pawn of 45mm-25mm. It suits best in 50mm chessboards.

Bought in 2015 to an internet retailer.

Plastic red & black, not weighted.

This set has a king of 95mm-36mm and a pawn of 45mm-25mm. It suits best in 50mm chessboards.

Bought in 2015 to an internet retailer.

Plastic silver & blue, not weighted.

This set has a king of 95mm-36mm and a pawn of 45mm-25mm. It suits best in 50mm chessboards.

Bought in 2015 in "la casa del ajedrez", in Madrid, Spain

Plastic natural & black, slightly weighted.

This set has a king of 91mm-37mm and a pawn of 45mm-25mm. It suits best in 50mm chessboards.

This specific model seems to be slightly different by its Queen and rook dimensions to the most common models. Also some aging customization has been done on white pieces.

Sources:

https://ajedrez.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/history-of-the-most-popular-cheap-plastic-set

http://www.chess-museum.com/lardy.html

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Cristóbal Ortega