The Insider's Chessboard: Craft, Counsel, and a World Rarely Seen
A small workshop. A global, prestigious reach. Here's how the two are connected — and what it actually means when someone calls ChessboArt an "insider" brand.
A wooden knight, its crest hollowed out and filled with pressed flowers sealed in resin — a technique borrowed from bridal jewelry, used here for the first time on a chess piece instead of an earring. It's a small detail, but it says a lot about how ChessboArt actually works: not one workshop doing everything alone, but a small, curated network of specialists, brought in one piece at a time.
Not long ago, a run of projects like this would have been unusual. In 2026 alone, ChessboArt has stood beside the CAPTURES Turin Chess Festival, the WR Women's Chess Tour in Saint-Tropez, and the Grand Chess Tour in Warsaw — with the Global Chess Festival in Budapest still ahead this September. At the same time, quietly, individual boards have made their way to Venice, Monaco, Barcelona, Bangkok, Paris, Munich, New York, Buenos Aires.
None of that happened by accident, and none of it happened because ChessboArt is a large operation. It is a workshop of two people — myself, and my father, Marian. What connects a small Polish workshop to a private collection in Monaco or a boardroom in Bangkok isn't marketing. It's who I am inside this game, the network I've built around it, and what that lets me offer beyond the object itself.
A network of specialists
Not everything that reaches a client's home is made by us alone. Part of running this as an atelier rather than a factory is knowing exactly who to bring in for the details that fall outside our own hands, and naming them rather than folding their work quietly into ours.
The pressed-flower inlays you'll see below are the work of Tollini, a jewelry maker whose signature technique — hand-set flowers cast in resin, developed for her bridal "Fiore" collection — we asked her to apply to chess pieces instead of earrings. For broader work in epoxy resin, we've also turned to Barbara Razowska, an artist and workshop instructor in Katowice working since 2007 across resin, glass, and mixed media. The photography throughout this piece is by Monika Burszczan, with whom I shared an exhibition of chess and photography at the historic Town Hall in Pyskowice; her fine-art studies of individual ChessboArt pieces are available as prints in their own right.
Flowers sealed in wood
This is the newest and most unusual commission to come out of that network: a set of ChessboArt pieces — white in ash, dark in American walnut — each with a hollowed window filled with real pressed flowers, sealed in resin by Tollini. It's a technique borrowed entirely from fine jewelry, used here on a knight's crest or a king's crown instead of an earring. Photographed by Monika Burszczan.
The atelier: a small workshop, not a factory
That kind of collaboration only works because of what sits behind it: a workshop small enough that every commission still passes through my own hands. ChessboArt started in 2022, after 18 years split between competitive chess and a career in engineering — running a design office that built machinery for the automotive, pharmaceutical, furniture, and mining sectors, collaborating on projects with the European Space Agency, holding several patents, and at points managing teams of up to 25 engineers. Founding ChessboArt was a deliberate step away from that scale: a return to something I could make with my own hands, board by board, rather than manage through other people.
As of today, ChessboArt is still just two people — myself and my father, Marian. We use CNC machines for the precision work and finish everything by hand. Every board is individually numbered. Beyond the signature vertical chess sets, we restore vintage wooden chess clocks and build custom pieces — round boards, chess tables — shaped around what a client actually wants, rather than what happens to be in stock.
Inside the atelier
An insider, not a salesman
None of this — the network, the workshop — would mean much without one more piece of context: who's actually running it. I became a FIDE Master in 2005. I hold an Instructor License and a Class II Chess Arbiter certification. I've coached since university — among my students, finalists of the Polish Championship — and I once captained the Silesia team at the Polish Youth Olympiad. Today I still work with clubs, including Polonia Wrocław and Hetman GKS Katowice.
None of that is a résumé for its own sake. It's the reason people trust me with more than a commission. In 2023, at Superbet, I played in a simultaneous exhibition against a field of elite players that included Magnus Carlsen — and won that game. The same year, I worked on the scenography for W szachu. Ostateczna rozgrywka ("In Check. The Final Game"), a film built around the world of top-level chess. Since 2024, I've collaborated with the Judit Polgár Foundation, a partnership extended into 2025, and ChessboArt has had a presence at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest and as an official partner of the Cracovia Chess Festival.
For some of the people I work with, that history matters less as a list of credentials than as a kind of access. I've had the door open to rooms most people never see — press areas, commentary booths, private preparation before a simultaneous exhibition — and for a handful of clients over the years, I've been the route to understanding what chess actually looks like at the top, away from the broadcast feed.
I'll say plainly what that access costs: I don't always have time for new clients, and I don't always answer an email within a day. That's not a policy I'm proud of — it's just the honest state of things when the same person who plays in these events, sits on arbiter panels, and coaches national-level players is also the one building your board. I'd rather tell you that upfront than promise a responsiveness I can't deliver.
Some of what follows you may already recognize from our Instagram or from the Gallery page on this site — these are the moments that made the case for everything above, and the ones I keep coming back to.
Where I've stood
What advisory actually means
A commission with ChessboArt rarely ends at "here is your board." Choosing between ash and walnut, or sizing a piece for a specific wall and a specific room, is itself a kind of consultation — the same instinct I'd apply to reading a position, applied to an interior instead. But it goes further than that. Some of the correspondence I keep up with clients has nothing to do with wood at all: how to keep improving after years away from serious play, how to introduce a child to the game without killing their interest in the first month, how to think about a position that's been bothering them.
This isn't a formal service with a price list — it's closer to what I already do as a coach and instructor, extended informally to people who happen to have bought a board. Formally, I also offer training, workshops, and lectures on strategy, decision-making, and applied chess thinking, along with simultaneous exhibitions and individual or group coaching, online or in person. But most of what I mean by "advisory" is quieter than that: a reply to an email, a suggestion, a way of looking at a problem that comes from having sat across the board from very strong players for a long time.
Case study: clients who return
When I started, I assumed most people would buy one board. For a long time, that held: a single ChessboArt800 on one wall, and that was the whole relationship.
That's no longer the whole picture. Clubs and organizations were the first to break the pattern — buying several boards at once, for themselves, then later as gifts to members or partner clubs. More recently, the pattern has shown up with individual clients too: people who already own one board coming back for a second, sometimes a third — one for the home, one for the office, one for a child's room. Some come back for a matching restored clock, to sit in a different room than the board itself. And increasingly, the reason is a private game room — a space built specifically to hold pieces like this, rather than a single statement piece in a living room.
A number of these purchases have ended up as gifts, and rarely the obvious kind. Not a birthday present, but something given to mark a partnership, a retirement, a milestone that doesn't have a standard gift attached to it — chosen precisely because nobody else would think to give it.
Presence, not promotion
I don't chase sponsorships. ChessboArt's presence at major events — CAPTURES Turin, the WR Women's Chess Tour in Saint-Tropez, the Grand Chess Tour in Warsaw, the Chess Olympiad and Global Chess Festival in Budapest, the Cracovia Chess Festival, the Pia Cramling Cup in Stockholm — has grown out of relationships built over years, not a marketing budget. If you want the full story behind any of them, they're written up in detail elsewhere on this blog:
- CAPTURES Turin Chess Festival
- WR Women's Chess Tour, Saint-Tropez
- Grand Chess Tour, Warsaw
- Cracovia Chess Festival
- Pia Cramling Cup, Stockholm
- Global Chess Festival, Budapest (2025) — with the next edition this September
A small workshop, a global reach
Two people, one workshop, and boards that have found their way to Venice, Monaco, Barcelona, Bangkok, Paris, Munich, New York, Buenos Aires, and beyond, alongside a home base in Kraków and a growing presence on the French Riviera. That contrast is the point. It isn't the reach of a large company with a large marketing spend — it's the reach of a small, exacting workshop, found and chosen one relationship at a time.
Frequently asked questions
Who is FM Michał Fudalej?
Michał Fudalej is a FIDE Master (title awarded in 2005), a certified chess instructor and Class II arbiter, and the founder of ChessboArt. Alongside 18 years in engineering and a background that includes scenography for the film W szachu. Ostateczna rozgrywka, collaborations with the Judit Polgár Foundation, and appearances at the Grand Chess Tour and Chess Olympiad, he now builds hand-finished wall-mounted chess sets, tables, and clocks in a two-person workshop with his father, Marian.
Does ChessboArt offer advice beyond the finished piece?
Yes. Beyond helping choose wood, size, and placement, many clients stay in touch afterward for chess advice — how to keep improving, how to teach a child the game, or general coaching. Formal training, workshops, lectures, and simultaneous exhibitions are also available on request.
Can I order more than one custom chessboard or clock?
Yes — this has become increasingly common. Clients order additional boards for a second room, an office, or a child's space, and separately restored clocks to complement a board already on the wall. Each piece is still made individually, so a second or third commission is treated with the same care as the first.
Is ChessboArt only for professional chess players?
No. While ChessboArt is trusted by clubs, federations, and titled players, most clients are collectors, design-conscious homeowners, and people buying meaningful gifts — the common thread is an appreciation for craftsmanship, not a chess rating.
How long does a bespoke commission take?
Because every piece is made to order in a small workshop, timelines vary with the complexity of the commission — a standard wall-mounted board differs considerably from a custom table, a restored clock, or a piece involving specialist collaborators such as flower-resin inlays. Get in touch early, particularly around a specific date.
Do you ship internationally to collectors and private residences?
Yes. ChessboArt pieces have shipped to private collections and residences across Europe and the Americas, alongside clubs, festivals, and event organizers worldwide.
If any of this speaks to what you're looking for — a piece, a conversation, or both — I'd like to hear from you.
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