Assistance to identify chess set

Any assistance to identify where this set is from would be appreciated - it was purchased with another set that is a restored russan torni set pic below

I have no clue if they are related 

It’s an Isaac Lipnitsky chess set! The bell-shaped pawns are particularly iconic.

Your set may be Mykhailo Kovalenko’s reproduction below, since he painted those accents on the finials of the royals, which the Chessbazaar reproduction doesn’t feature; and I’m not sure if the original set does.

And no, the sets aren’t related. I don’t know what Torni refers to, but the second set you’re showing looks like some kind of variation on the Grandmaster 3.

That is the set - I would of expected it is easier to find due to its shape but really struggled ... you have any other info on it links ect

Yeah it’s a pretty obscure set. I only learned about it recently through a post from Stephen Kong (Chess Praxis) about the Chessbazaar reproduction. From there I learned more about its history.

I read that it was likely made in Berlin on direction of Lipnitzsky, as the set has both Soviet and German featurees. Mike John Ladzinski writes:

“Lipnitsky was a high ranking Soviet military officer stationed in Berlin at the end of WW II. It was at this time he organized a chess club in Berlin at the Central Club of the Soviet Military Aviation Group and approached the matter with all seriousness. Tournaments were held at the club in which hundreds of players took part. A seminar on the study of chess theory was also organized, which was conducted for all masters and first category candidate players. In the spring of 1946, the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SVAG) Championship was held for the first time. It was here that Lipnitsky's Berlin Set was introduced. It was a uniquely fascinating set and unlike any Soviet set which suggests it was probably made in Berlin and selected by Lipnitsky for use in his club and tournaments.”

And as it turns out, the original sets did have those accents on the finials, but they were painted with less precision. And of course original sets will have signs of wear, which your set lacks. Below is an original set from Mykhailo’s collection.

Here is a better look at the hastily painted finial accents:

I will ask if I was to value the set what would it be worth .. it is the set in your first images

I have no idea! I only got into chess collecting this year. I’ve heard that Soviet sets have significantly increased in price in the last years. So it’s more a matter of what people are willing to pay for them than intrinsic value per se.

The Lipnitsky set is obscure, but perhaps desirable for its unique design rather than historical significance per se. But I have no idea how to quantify what people would be willing to give for it. The Chessbazaar reproduction is $280, so I imagine your set would be worth at least that; I bet more due to it being more accurate to the original.

Appreciate all your help - what has caused the spike in price over the last year ?

Last years rather. I think The Queen's Gambit is part of it. At least the series popularized the Mordovian (incorrectly referred to as Latvian) sets, which I imagine got people to look into other Soviet sets as well.

And the likes of Chuck Grau and his Soviet chess sets website also helped popularize Soviet sets.

Here is a link to my Lipnitsky set (including the original folding board) I am showing on my website with a bit of background to Isaac Lipnitsky and the iconic set. The Lipnitsky sets are extremely rare, only 5 or 6 have been found so far (mine included). https://www.chess-collection.de/newpaged9b2d2d5

Here is original footage from the 1946 tournament in which the Lipnitsky set was used.

And this seems to be from a simul Lipnitsky gave in Berlin, but the set can be seen in use there as well.

I’m noticing your set lacks the accents on the finials of the royals, and your bishops are sharper than Mykhail’s set! Do you know what the other sets are like? Were the finial accents included in several sets or possibly just one?

@WandelKoningin there are no colour highlights at the top of the finials, at least I strongly doubt it. It was a very simple set, made from plain wood and then lacquered. The top end of the finials is the part where the lacquer comes off quickly, e.g. through frequent touching, but also through knocks and friction with other chess pieces in the packaging. I believe that Mykhail's reproduction with the coloured accents was an attempt to imitate this wear and tear.

The only variation I have seen in original sets is that some of them came with finials in the same colour as the pieces, i.e. black finials for the black pieces and white finials for the white pieces, and some came with all black finials, i.e. even for the white side. Here are pictures of both variants (all original sets). You can see that the black finials do not have any highlights on top.

Very cool! The black pieces seem to be in a remarkable condition for such an old set.

Ahh, it’s exactly a GM3! I couldn’t tell the GM3 knights from the front; and I didn’t realize the bishops of the later ’60s GM3 sets had such shallow and often asymmetrical miter cuts.

But I just now recall reading recently about how those cuts in later sets weren’t done with care, and hence often came out asymmetrical. The quality of Soviet sets declined quite a bit in the ’60s. GM4 sets even came with plastic knights most of the time.

That reminds me though—this is quite a side tangent, but the Karelian birch 1914 St. Petersburg set had bishops with deliberate asymmetrical cuts. Such a fascinating set! Here is a screenshot from Fabiano Ferreira’s original set, as shown in an episode of The Chess Collective.

You are right - the guy who restored the set has replaced the knights "the dark knights would have been made of hard black plastic, but here I’ve chosen to use identical wooden pieces from an incomplete set of the same era (and in my opinion, from the same manufactory)."

Fascinating! I thought G3 came with wooden knights. So you got this exact set from Chess Schach?

Yeh it's the exact set - the kings are marked and the knights are exactly the same

Beautiful knights! I didn’t realize/notice until now that Alan marks his artistically restored chess sets. That’s neat! I wonder if those sets end up acquiring more value because of his marks, since he has made quite a name for himself in the chess collectors community.

Hi