During the late 18th century and early 19th century, the increased interest in the game of
chess, particularly in international play, brought about a renewed demand for a more universal model for
chess pieces. The variety and styles of the conventional form, which began in the 15th century, had expanded tremendously by the beginning of the 19th century. Conventional types popular during the period included the English Barleycorn chess set, the St. George chess set, but elaborated in the style of a
Victorian architecture balcony. There were also practical innovations: A crown emblem was stamped onto a rook and knight of each side to identify their positioning on the . This was because, in
descriptive chess notation, the rooks and knights were often designated by being the "queen's knight", the "king's rook", etc. Another possibility is that Jaques, a master
turner, had probably been experimenting with a design that not only would be accepted by players but also could be produced at a reasonable cost. In the end, he most likely borrowed and synthesized elements from sets already available to create a new design that used universally recognisable symbols atop conventional stems and bases: The resulting pieces were compact, well balanced, and weighted to provide an understandable, practical playing set. It may have been a combination of both theories with the
synergy of Cooke the entrepreneur and Jaques the artisan. From 1820 on, diagrams in chess books began to use icons of chess pieces similar in many respects to the Staunton chessmen, including a change from arched crown to coronet for the queen. This shows that the Staunton design may have been taken from these diagrams, very likely created by a printer. ==Design==