A Botvinnik-Flohr II 1940's-50's Soviet Tournament Set

With the never ending quest to feed the addiction,  I acquired another vintage 1940's-50's Soviet weighted tournament set.  Kings measure 4 1/4" in height with a 1.75" diameter base. Pawns are 2 3/8" in height with a 1 3/8" base. The pieces are finely turned with gorgeous chunky wide bases. The Knights have a pleasing  "goose neck" appearance and are nicely carved.  According to Chuck Grau, this set design  was first used in the 1935 Moscow Tournament and not to be confused with the set used in the 1933 Botvinnik-Flohr Match.  Here is a link to Chuck's wonderful post on his Botvinnik-Flohr set: https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/flohr-botvinnik-a-masterpiece-of-a-set

My set differs slightly from Chuck's, but for the most part, they're  the same design. To avoid confusion with the 1933 Botvinnik-Flohr set, I call our type design sets the Botvinnik-Flohr II set.
I have included many pics of the gorgeous set for your persusal.

 

More pics of the "goose neck"  Knights

More pics

The Rooks look similar to those in the sets used in the 1961-1962 Soviet Championships AKA "The Tal Set". 

beauty! Again!

Thanks Santi, I know how much you like red pieces!

Thanks Robert

I hardly see such wide-bases on chess pieces whilst surfing 🏄 online stores..... ..... and I do wonder if there is some history as to why the Soviets (in that era) made them that way, Mike

Hi, My name is Santi and i am an addict!

Yeah, that's  strange Lofina since so may collectors like wide base pieces. Good question as to why many Soviet sets during that  period had wide base pieces... I don't know if there is any historical  significance to wide base pieces. Maybe we can get some input from members.

welcome to the club Santi!

A beautiful chess set, thank you for sharing this with us.

Awesome set Mike. My knights wanted you to know  ...  

Indeed they do. The major Soviet designs tend to build off of previous ones.

Thanks, Mike. Great review. I like the addition of the "II" to distinguish this set from the one used in the 1933 Botvinnik-Flohr match. I intend to post here the analysis I've posted on your terrific Facebook equipment page. There is not one "Botvinnik-Flohr" set, but two. The first from their '33 match, and reproduced under that name by House of Staunton and ChessBazaar (CB mistakenly calling it the 1935 set); and the set introduced in the 1935 Moscow Tournament in which Flohr and Botvinnik tied for first. ChessBazaar and Kadun have reproduced this set, without referring to Botvinnik or Flohr, and many Soviet reproductions can be found on auction sites. I believe my set to be an original first level tournament set due to the high quality of its original finish and its heavy weighting compared to other Soviet sets I'm familiar with. The '35 set has a long and storied history, and photographic evidence of its use at the highest levels through at least 1960 abounds. I haven't seen similar evidence of the use of the '33 set.

I think that they used wider pieces to lend stability to the pieces without adding much if any weight to the bases. The heaviest Soviet set in my collection--by a lot--is my Botvinnik-Flohr II, to use Mike's terminology. But even it is lightly weighted in comparison to my English sets and reproductions--again by a lot. One consequence is that for all the wear my Soviet sets exhibit from the hundreds and thousands of games played with them, there is not a single cracked base. Not one! And yet the wide bases afford them very good stability for playing even with little or no added weight.

thanks Chuck, I have not held, or played with such pieces before... .... I figured they were made for stability, but had no clue they were light-weighted😱😮