Does anyone else play with non staunton or pre-staunton chessmen?

The Tal set, made famous by its appearance on the cover of The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal, and used in first level tournaments from the forties through the seventies. This is a reproduction I collaborated on with NOJ Slovenia to ressurect.

The 1940 Soviet Championship set, oddly enough, not used in the tournament itself, but made famous in promotional pictures taken at the event...

A Chess Bazaar reproduction...

An original from the thirties...

It seems to that you define 'Staunton' differently, Chuck and torriburubi. Personally, I would not classify the third, and especially not the fourth set, in the photos above as Staunton or even Staunton-inspired, but rather springing from an 'orthodox Christianity'-inspired design (as opposed to the Central European design which has clear Ottoman Empire influences), with their slender stems. They're more akin to pre-revolution czarist Russian sets than the Staunton of the mid 1800s. (The Czech and Hungarian national sets developed post indepence in the 1920s clearly have influences from all three traditions.) However, I do see where you're coming from, Chuck, when you want to loosely group those Soviet/Russian sets into the Staunton category, too.

Ola, I think you're right about our different definitions of "Staunton design." For me, it's a matter of design elements, not timing, subjective inspiration, or or intended derivation. For torriburubi, it seems to be whether the set was derived from the 1849 Jaques. I'd consider such sets English Stauntons, as they have their own peculiarities. I'm curious in your definition, and what design elements you would identify for Staunton and each category of non-Staunton sets you perceive.

Of course there are all the influences you say, Ottoman, orthodox, and so on. Dirk Dagobert's sets and the Petropolis sets have Brazilian influences. The Buenos Aires set has an Argentinian influence. Lardys and Chavets have a French influence. Escardibul sets have a Spanish influence, and so on and so on. That doesn't make them any less Staunton designs according to the design elements I've identified, "loosely" or otherwise. 

The whole problem here is that the Staunton design had a huge influence on other sets after 1850.

Hi BonCat. My point is that it is difficult to identify exactly the influences. However, in the two pictures above I would say that the Staunton-influence is evident in all the pieces. 

I think that often regional sets had merge both elements from the Staunton pattern with those of regional sets.  Several designs were simplified Stauntons. One extreme case of simplification is the German Bundesform.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesform#/media/File:Bundesform_Figuren.jpg

I guess that the Wiener Kaffeehaus design is an attempt to simplify the Staunton design.

I would also say this is a Staunton design, with some variations.

I've only used Staunton sets since I began playing in OTB tournaments in the 1970's.  That hasn't stopped people from giving me Christmas or Birthday presents of American Civil War figure chess sets, etc.  Maybe one day I'll display them.

So, I thought I'd post a pic of my regency set, which I like bring out, when playing thru Morphy, Anderssen or other old masters of the 19th century.

@cgrau: Wonderful photos! I really like the Botvinnik Flohr II and the Tal sets.

The Knight of the DGT plastic set (no offense for the comparison) looks very close to the one of the Grandmaster set, must have been be some inspiration.

But the knight of the early version... it just looks like a mix between a dog and a tiger. Very strange design !

I agree up to a point, but I would say that once you move away from Regency, St. George and Austrian Coffehouse, which all share many design elements (not least the 'Christmas tree' appearance and often the confusingly similar king and queen), where do you go? Basically, most models will share what we often refer to Stauntonesque features. However, for me the Staunton is characterized by the scored bishop, the intricately carved Elgin marble knights with a curved back/neck, carved mane and 'muscles' playing underback and head pointing more or less straight ahead, the cross on the king, rooks that are fairly 'straight' with not too marked crenelations, stems which are relatively robust stems, pawns with a distinct collar and a base with a score in the middle etc. As you say, since then this clearly has taken many forms and inspired various other makers everywhere, but I can help feeling that many Eastern European sets are distinguished by several features rarely found in the Staunton to merit another moniquer than Staunton. For instance, the finials (often opposite coloured), the lack of scoring on the bishop, knights which look very different from Staunton, often bulkier pawn bases, slender stems, knights with a completely different appearance, rooks with much more marked crenelations etc. Obviously some sets found there are very Stauntonesque, I grant that.

Wow, I bet these men would have been surprised that "Stauntonhuckster" thinks they were not playing "proper chess":

https://goo.gl/images/x2KEdC

I think the only toy here is your mind.  Or perhaps you was only making a joke and I didn't get it? 

Few people will indeed play with sets like Asterix or  Simpsons, but uncountable players are using non Staunton sets to play serious chess.  The Wiener Kaffeehaus, all the Russian sets,  Bundesform,  even Regency are still used regularly in several countries. 

You are somehow regarding "sets used in official tournaments" with "only playable sets".

I enjoy very much to use regularly non Staunton sets in analysis, especially of classical games.

You should try this once, it will perhaps help you to have a more positive meaning  about the beauty of variety and to develop a stronger sense for historical context. 

Sometime you add helpful comments, but regarding your tastes on Staunton sets just put it on you profile and please stop bothering us by saying the same thing again and again...

I think he is not well

Here's a Regence set I use to play through historical games when I'm feeling nostalgic. Kings are 4 inches. (I was lucky to find it on ebay for $20.)

Thanks, liml!