I'm a fan of this little chess table. It was easy to assemble and looks marvelous in front of my fireplace with matching chairs on either side facing the table.

It was immediately obvious that the screw holes didn't line up when we went to assemble this item. We proceeded to assemble, but because the holes didn't line up the screws mashed the cheap particle board rendering the whole thing useless. It simply could not be assembled properly. The finish is a faux finish (made to look like wood grain) over particle board.

Luckily my husband can figure things out, because someone goofed on this one! The actual quality of the wood, well, it looks better in the picture, although it will serve its purpose.

this is a sturdy, charming chess table. easy to assemble. the squares are a bit less than 2" square and take a king size of 3.5" easily. (we used with a 4" king and it was a bit tight, but ok.) the rounded areas beside the actual board are convenient and adequate for the captured pieces. so it's a good 'working' table.the finish is waxed and the painted decoration is subtle and attractive. it's sturdy when assembled.i saw this chess table on another site for $250. so overstock has a good price on this.(the squares are painted on. it is not separate squares of wood, inlaid. you'd have to go way up in price for inlaid squares of light/dark wood.)