Modern chess pieces

What is this?

This is a set of modern chess pieces. The set is an original design that aims for a sharp low poly aesthetic while still retaining chess piece legibility.

Piece dimensions

Below are the intended dimensions for each piece. Please double-check your scale before printing. The set ideally fits 2" x 2" squares (as shown in the cover photo) but can be scaled as needed.

Imperial

Piece X Y Z Notes

King 1.00" 3.40" 1.00"

Queen 1.00" 2.92" 1.00"

Bishop 1.00" 2.33" 1.00"

Knight 1.00" 2.34" 1.60" 1.00" x 1.00" base

Rook 1.00" 2.33" 1.00"

Pawn 0.90" 1.75" 0.90"

Metric

Piece X Y Z Notes

King 25.40mm 86.36mm 25.40mm

Queen 25.40mm 74.17mm 25.40mm

Bishop 25.40mm 59.18mm 25.40mm

Knight 25.40mm 59.49mm 40.64mm 25.40mm x 25.40mm base

Rook 25.40mm 59.18mm 25.40mm

Pawn 22.86mm 44.45mm 22.86mm

Printing suggestions

The knights will likely require support due to their bottom surface slope being 70 degrees relative to vertical.

The king will need support underneath the arms of its cross as their bottom surface slopes are 90 degrees relative to vertical. The king can alternatively be printed with its body and cross separately. If opting for this latter method, the king body has a hole on top for the cross to be fitted into. Tolerance has not been tested so cross may need to be scaled.

All other pieces should not need support.

Updates

- 17 November 2025 - Updated license from “Creative Commons (4.0 International License) Attribution-NonCommercial” to simply “Creative Commons (4.0 International License) Attribution” . - 30 May 2023 - Updated .stl files so that the pieces are: (1) upright by default, and (2) scaled to the correct size for Cura. If your slicer interprets the scale as mm instead of inches, please scale everything by 3.937%.