Here’s my first WIP… after my first test here… http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=72102
First free WIP after Gus …
All opinions (good or bad) are invited,… 
I’m getting on trying to smooth the mesh without making it look very artificial … so thats not been done yet…its a small preview size render…
P.S. Iknow the black piece needs better texturing…
nice job on the glass material, but i think the board texture could be more interesting. the marble texture would work well, or the combination of glass and wood could be interesting too. or brushed metal, using the new antrioscopic ( ? ) shader.
Thanks for the suggestions!! i’ll try and add them and put up a new render with an improved black piece too … and maybe i’ll model a few other pieces …
The Chess pecies look very top heavy. As though they would at the slighest touch fall over. Take a look at this diagram:
http://www.shopnbu.com/chess-piece-sets-staunton-wooden-chessmen/chess-pieces-staunton-wood-chess-men-sets-feature.jpg
Notice how the bottom is larger than the top ballAnd the shadow on the board just doest seem to fit in. And the black piece seems to be on its side. Oh, and just checking, you are using an 8x8 tile right?
Katsuro
thanks for the resource… now i c why the piece looked a bit different… (i’ll work on remodelling it from now…) I’ve been keeping busy …so its been a bit slow…
Heres what i’ve got for now… (based on Modron’s suggestions)
i couldnt find good trextures for black and white marble nor wood that would look good together… so heres a temporary render… with the old but fixed black and the temp. new board,
(its not perfect … did a quick copy paste on my old board (so some bllack part … ) didnt get the time to put in proper work … 
and here…
the wood is nice, it looks a bit like a photo though, have you ever seen a freeware called ‘wood workshop’ ? makes very nice wood textures, and all tilable. and it’s free.
Yes the board image is too low quality to use.
Go get that Wood Workshop program that Modron
told you about and use that to make a high quality
chess board texture.
Thanks guys… i didnt know bout wood workshop… (i did a rough copy paste for that wood) thanks i’ll use wood workshop now…