It's Good To Be King Inc — Local services in Elmhurst

Absolutely delighted with our brief shopping experience here on Christmas Eve morning. Alas, a truly magical and pleasant local store that carried decent chess sets! We are novice players and for some reason I unnecessarily feared being shamed for not knowing correct chess board types, terminology, pieces, etc but we felt very welcomed! They truly are a store for all chess players.

After helping two other paying customers, we were happily assisted within 10 minutes of arriving by the owners themselves. Thanks to Netflix and The Queen’s Gambit, the store had been nearly bought out of complete chess sets save for a few plastic and magnetic options. My fiancé and I arrived just in the knick of time and were able to ad hoc a set for purchase. According to the owner Tom, what was available were weighted chess pieces with inconsistent staining not of the highest quality (but still a complete set) that he’d sell for $40. A broken chessboard that had been pulled from the back room earlier was next to those chess pieces just for show, and he was nice enough to offer throwing in that board for free for us if the pieces were bought. My fiancé and I were here to buy a Christmas gift for ourselves as we’ve been getting back into the game, and we were more than willing to buy it right then and there. But out of the corner of my eye I noticed a beautiful chess board and decided to purchase that in addition to the weighted pieces. Last minute we threw in a basic digital timer that was almost sold out as well, and Tom one-upped us once more by allowing us to choose a complimentary chess puzzle book for free. We left the store as satisfied and excited customers. We will be coming back later on down the road when they restock to upgrade our pieces and for all and any other chess related needs, but for now we’re simply relieved to forget our plastic Lord of the Rings set and start playing with a great one!

Thanks It’s...

Awesome experience!! Bought two chess sets the other day. One a nice wooden staunton set with a nice non-folding board and wooden storage box. I also bought a heavy weighted plastic tournament set with the rolled up vinyl board and carrying bag. Lastly I also bought an inexpensive analog wind-up chess clock.

The owner there helped me directly answering all my questions, describing differences between the different sets regarding price range, craftsmanship, etc. He was very helpful and his friendly and informative advice was very influential in my decision to buy.

There is a great selection and whether you want entry level, hobby level or heirloom level chess sets this is the place to go. I would highly advise going there for your next chess set or chess accessories.

There's nothing like being able to see AND feel the chess pieces up close. Sure online you can see some nice pictures but I decided on one set on the better feel and I decided on a particular board because the stain of the dark squares was a little dark brownier and more pleasing to me than other boards that was the exact same model. Wood and stains on a chess board are not exactly the same and it helped being able to see the boards in person.

Lastly but very important, the prices are VERY competitive with what you would find online. Check them out. They are the only place in the Chicagoland area as far as I can tell that has a good selection of...

What a nice place! Even my wife, who has no interest in chess, found it to be a charming place with a lot of “nice things”. It’s Good To Be King is a real chess store. Not just a hobby shop with some chess sets in it. Not to disparage hobby shops, I’m simply emphasizing that the focus is ‘chess’. If you’re a chess enthusiast or someone who’s considering chess I think you’ll find great value in It’s Good To Be King. You can actually touch the item you’re considering and physically compare boards, chess pieces, etc. Unlike purchasing chess sets from an online merchant, where you need to consider the dimensions because you can’t always trust the pictures the advertisers use. In fact, that’s the situation I was in that led me to look for a walk-in chess store. I traveled from Aurora to Elmhurst during rush hour traffic and it was worth it to me. The owners were so nice and accommodating. They encouraged me to touch the items and compare them to other items, because they know that ‘over-the-board’ chess is a tactile experience and the pieces you buy should feel good to you. I did purchase a couple of items for my school’s chess club and the prices are reasonable. And the soothing background music was a nice touch as well. I’ll definitely be back to It’s Good To...