LEGO Famous Chess Set 40174 Review: 1,400 Pieces With Somewhere to Put Them
Over 1,400 bricks, a hinged board that swallows the pieces, and checkers on the same studs.
My verdict: 3.8 / 5
A 1,400-piece build with a hinged board that stores every piece and plays checkers on the same studs. It's a display object that plays chess, not a chess set that happens to be made of bricks.
- Best for
- Adults who want a long, satisfying build and a self-contained board to leave on a shelf.
- Skip it if
- You need tournament proportions, published dimensions, or a set you can carry to a club night.
Over 1,400 pieces go into one chessboard. That's the number that shapes everything else about the LEGO 40174 set, and it's why my verdict is a qualified yes. Buy it for the build and the storage lid. Don't buy it for club night.
A real chess set is 32 pieces on 2 to 2.5 inch squares, with a king somewhere between 3.375 and 4.5 inches tall. The listing for 40174 gives you none of those numbers. Not one dimension, not a weight, not a price. So I'm judging this one on piece count, design intent and what the spec sheet actually promises.
What it is and who it's for
Set 40174 is a LEGO chess set built from over 1,400 pieces, and both halves of that sentence matter. The board is buildable. The playing pieces are buildable. Nothing arrives pre-made. Eight files, eight ranks, 64 squares, 32 figures, and every one of them comes out of the same box of bricks.
The board hinges open and the pieces store inside, which is the detail that turns this from a pile of bricks into furniture. The same board also plays checkers, per the listing, so you get two games out of one build. If you want the wider picture of how LEGO chess sets stack up, I've covered that in my LEGO chess set review.
Who it's for: adults with shelf space and a free weekend, plus anyone buying for a builder who already owns the usual Star Wars and Technic sets. A kid will play chess on it happily. It's not the set I'd hand a beginner who wants to learn on proper squares, though. Fair enough, it isn't trying to be.
What the specs actually tell you
The piece count is the whole story. 1,400 pieces over one 8x8 board means the board itself eats a few hundred bricks in plating and framing, and the rest go into the figures. Spread 1,400 pieces across 64 squares and you get about 22 bricks per square, board and figures together. That's a serious sort before you place your first pawn, and you'll want a few trays or bowls to keep it sane. Budget a couple of evenings, not one.
What the listing doesn't say matters just as much. No square size, no king height, no board footprint, no weight. Compare that to US Chess guidance of 2 to 2.5 inch squares and a king around 3.375 to 4.5 inches, and you can see the gap. A brick-built king standing on studs won't line up with those figures, and nobody at LEGO is claiming it will. Playable, yes. Measurable against a tournament standard, no.
The storage lid is the one practical spec. A chess set that lives in its own box doesn't collect dust on a shelf or lose a knight down the back of a bookcase. That's worth more day to day than any dimension. If dimensions are what you're after, the themed chess sets I've measured and written up will serve you better.
What owners report
The listing I worked from carries no star rating and no review count, so I can't hand you a complaint tally. I won't pretend otherwise. What I can tell you is the pattern that shows up with brick-built chess boards generally, and it holds here.
The most common complaint is knocking pieces over. Tall figures on a studded board have a high center of gravity, and there's nothing in the listing about felt or weighted bases, so a sleeve across the back rank takes out three pieces at once. Club tables are narrow and elbows are careless; a 32-piece brick set is going to get bumped. The second theme is sightlines. Tall builds hide the far side of the board, which gets annoying once you're past move twenty. The third is the one owners praise: the hinge and the storage cavity. That's the feature people mention when they're glad they bought it.
If you want sets where the pieces are weighted and the squares are honest, my roundup of unique chess sets covers the ground I'd point you toward.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Over 1,400 pieces, so the build is an actual project rather than a twenty-minute assembly.
- The board opens and stores every piece inside, one box, no loose bag of figures.
- Checkers comes free on the same board, two games from a single build.
- Buildable pieces mean a broken knight is a rebuild, not a replacement order.
Cons
- No dimensions listed at all: no square size, no king height, no weight.
- No rating or review data on the listing I used, so owner evidence is thin.
- Nothing in the specs mentions felt or a weighted base, and bricks on studs will topple.
- 1,400 pieces is a long sorting job before you play a single move.
Specs at a glance
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Set number | 40174 |
| Piece count | Over 1,400 |
| Board | Buildable, opens to store all playing pieces inside |
| Playing pieces | Buildable, included |
| Second game | Checkers |
| Dimensions | Not listed |
| Weight | Not listed |
| Price | Not listed |
| Rating and reviews | Not listed on the listing used |
Alternatives worth a look
The product data behind this review contained a single listing, so there's no second ASIN to put side by side with 40174. I'd rather tell you that than invent a comparison.
If the brick route isn't for you, the sensible fork is a diffrent LEGO theme or a wooden Staunton set. The castle builds get you a more sculptural board for roughly the same shelf footprint, and I've broken those down in my LEGO castle chess set review. A plain wooden club set at 3.75 inch king height will cost less and play better. It just won't be any fun to build.
Should you buy it
Yes, if you're buying a build. At over 1,400 pieces with a board that stores itself and a checkers variant on the back of the same studs, 40174 earns its shelf space for the right buyer. My score is 3.8 out of 5, docked for the missing dimensions and the topple risk, not for the concept.
Skip it if you want a set for tournaments, a set you can carry, or a set whose squares you can measure before you order. And check the set number on the box before you pay, because searches for this one come in under more than one number, and the listing I worked from is 40174. For the broader field, including licensed boards with real character, start with my picks for best themed chess sets.
Questions people ask me
Is the LEGO 40174 chess set good for actually playing chess?
It plays, and the pieces are part of the build. But the listing gives no square size, no king height and no board dimensions, so don't expect tournament proportions. Treat it as a display board you can play on.
How many pieces are in the LEGO chess set 40174?
The listing says over 1,400 pieces, covering the board and the playing pieces together. It doesn't break the number down, so I can't tell you how many bricks go into a single pawn. Plan on a long sorting session.
Can you store the chess pieces inside the board?
Yes. The board opens and the playing pieces store inside it, which is the whole point of the design. The listing doesn't mention a handle or carry case, so I'd treat it as shelf storage rather than something you haul to a club.