Well, I didn't see anyone reply with a chess set, so here is a set with both black & white pieces, no board. They are low poly, but should be good enough for a start. Took a couple of hours on a Saturday night.
ChessPieces The most detailed is the knight, containing 982 verts, 1940 faces.
The smallest is the Pawn, 404 verts, 806 faces.
The skins are all 256x256 and adapated from pictures found on the 'Net.
Free to use, credit would be nice.
Cheers,
Mark