Tracing chess from its Indian origins to its modern form, this feature explores how luxury houses reinterpret the ancient game as collectible art. From Cartier’s Santos-inspired wooden set and Hermès’ mahogany-and-leather Samarcande II to Louis Vuitton’s portable trunk collaboration, a diamond-encrusted Charles Hollander creation, and the $9.8 million Royale Jewel Set, each board elevates strategy into opulence.
Chess originated in India during the Gupta Empire, around the 6th century CE, as a game called Chaturanga, a Sanskrit word meaning four divisions, referring to the four branches of the ancient Indian army: infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariots, which would eventually become the pawn, knight, bishop, and rook. The game travelled from India into Persia, where it became Shatranj, then into Europe, evolving over centuries into the modern form codified in the 19th century. Today, several of the world's most storied luxury houses have applied their own material language to the game's ancient structure. Here, take a look at five of the most beautiful results.
Cartier's chess set draws its design language directly from the house's Santos de Cartier watch, first created in 1904 for Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont and widely considered one of the earliest modern wristwatches. The set is crafted in sycamore and walnut wood, with individual chess pieces modelled on components of the timepiece itself; the pawns, for instance, carry screw motifs that mirror the watch's iconic bezel. Each set comes with a matching checkerboard, housed in a 40.4cm square box.
Price: SGD 28,000 (approx. Rs. 17.4 lakh).
Sleek, minimal, and unmistakably Hermès, the Samarcande II is crafted from natural mahogany and cassia wood. The board itself doubles as storage, with two drawers finished in saddle-stitched Taurillon H leather, while the hand-sculpted chess pieces double as functional objects, each engraved with the house's Clou de Selle motif and weighted like paperweights. The set was, in fact, the direct inspiration behind Hermès's popular Samarcande knight paperweight, released separately.
Price: SGD 13,200 (approx. Rs. 8.2 lakh).
Designed for a modern nomadic buyer, this Louis Vuitton chess box is built into a hard-sided trunk, part of the house's Spring-Summer 2024 collaboration with Tyler, the Creator. Crafted from Damier Golf coated canvas with natural cowhide-leather trim and gold-tone hardware, the trunk's exterior checkerboard pattern, rendered in green with pink "L.Vuitton Marque Déposée" text, doubles as the game's own board once fully opened. All 32 pieces sit within a dedicated interior compartment, 16 in beech wood, 16 in walnut, each reworked with a distinctive melted effect. The design turns portability into the entire concept, doing away with a separate board altogether.
Price: USD 18,800 (approx. Rs. 15.7 lakh).
Created by master jeweler Charles Hollander, this set is built from 14-karat white gold and set with 9,900 black and white diamonds, totalling 186.09 carats. Every stone is set directly into the surface of both the board and the pieces, transforming a functional chess set into a continuous, glittering jewelled object. It remains among the most extravagant privately commissioned chess sets ever produced.
Price: Not publicly disclosed but is estimated in the low millions of dollars given its diamond carat weight and gold content.
Commissioned by the Royale Jewel Company in Great Britain, this remains the most expensive chess set ever created, valued at more than $9.8 million. It is crafted from gold, platinum, diamonds, emeralds, pearls, rubies, and sapphires, positioning it less as a game and more as a singular work of jewellery, one that happens to be playable.
Price: Approximately USD 9.8 million (approx. Rs. 82 crore).