"Staunton  Ivory Jaques of London 'Harwitz' chess set"  (c. 1880)

"Teotihuacan/Mayan/Aztec theme Chess Set in Terra-Cotta"

"The Charlemagne Chess Set"

"The Charlemagne Chess Set"

"The Charlemagne Chess Set"

"The Charlemagne Chess Set"

"Spanish 'Pulpit' Chess Set"  (C.1800)

i just have one "word" - WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"John Calvert Chess Set"  (C.1800)

"Handcarved & Handpainted Chess Set"  House of Staunton & Gardena Art

How about this, the seventh seal by Ingmar Bergman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9mcTCZwC8Y

The scene is a bit long, but have patients

Thanks fluffy rabbit, here is the chess scene for those who haven't seen it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyqg017aFrY&feature=related

Some kids playing with the same devil but with a different disguise...there is some mild language so if your averse to such this is not for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B-QE_g3JPU&feature=related

"Franz Wurmser 1987 3D Chess Set"

"Islam: Arabs Playing Chess in Spain"

Ken Maccracken  "Bradamante"

                Bright star! would I were
                steadfast as thou art

Bright star! would I were steadfast as thou art--
    Not in lone splendor hung aloft the night,
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
    Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite*
The moving waters at their priest-like task
    Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
    Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--
No--yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,
    Pillowed upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
    Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever--or else swoon to death.

                John Keats

* hermit

Ken Maccracken  "Chess Queen"

                         One Art

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day.  Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel.  None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch.  And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones.  And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied.  It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

                  Elizabeth Bishop

Jennifer Shahade  "Melting Pawns" from Burning Boards II  

   Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

                   Dylan Thomas

How great is Dylan Thomas !!!!!!!!!

I do a bit of photography. Here's a shot I took a couple weeks ago for an online contest...

Beautiful shot guru #:)