Dubrovnik - Fischer preference?

There have been so many posts about this on this forum that I lost track of them at some point. I think general consensus was that he played with, and liked, both. Which of the two was his favourite I really wouldnt be able to say. I myself have a Dubrovnik II reproduction from Noj which plays wonderfully, and which I would heartily recommend.

Fischer's personal set was a Dubrovnik II that he said he bought in Yugoslavia in 1970, and with which he was much photographed and video-recorded with in 1971, and which he is said to have praised as the best chess set ever.

Two decades later, Fischer is said to have wanted to use a Dubrovnik set for his "return" match with Spassky. The organizers of the match succeeded in borrowing an original 1950 Dubrovnik chess set to use in the match. There is audio of Fischer later praising the chess set used in the 1992 Spassky match as the best set ever.

There are fairly high resolution photographs of Bobby Fischer playing with Dubrovnik I style sets in the 1958 Interzonal and 1959 Candidates tournaments in Yugoslavia. It is also fairly likely that he also may have played with Dubrovnik style chess sets in tournaments in Yugoslavia from 1961 onwards, although I have never seen any clear evidence of this.

From Fischer's hearsay and recorded comments, it would seem that it's only really possible to definitely conclude that he preferred Dubrovnik style chess sets to all others, but not which particular style of Dubrovnik pieces he preferred, or, indeed, whether he ever even differentiated between them.

The Dubrovnik II is the set that Fischer owned and therefore used the most.  Most of the pictures and videos you see show him with this design.

it is apparent he used the original design in tournaments. As noted this is the design he approved and used in his 1992 match with Spassky.

So I can understand and agree with Jackie in what he says.

Gregor, of Noj, did obtain the design rights for both sets and most all agree that he and his brother and father make the most accurate sets to the design.

Last year at this time I was corresponding with Gregor about getting the most playable design set.  He told me that the Dub II was more stable, in his opinion, than the 1950 version.  He said the 1950 version was more elegant and not as robust as the Dub II.

He also said that the European Maple was a more robust and tougher wood than the European Walnut.  The set we see Fischer with was a Brown dyed Maple.

Here's Bobby on the Dick Cavett show with his set and close ups starting at 7:47  ...  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIE3CFNpZ5Y

For those who want a set from Noj, because of their quality and reputation, for example, but who, unlike Fischer, are not fond of the Dubrovnik style, I see that they have the Portoroz 08 set. This is a lot like a classic Staunton, although it differs in a number of minor details, just as the Drueke Player's Choice did.

I also own the Noj GM Pavasovic set which I highly recommend. 

Which version was on the Fischer cover of Life Magazine? 

What wood was in Fischer's own set? Sorry if this is mentioned above.

This looks to be what today we call the Dubrovnik II set.  Of course Noj is the only place that makes the set to be reproduced as close as this design.

The dark pieces are a brown dye.  If you look closely at the picture you can see some of the Maple showing through on the dark pieces as the stain or paint has worn off.

Fischer really gave the pieces a hard time, didn't he? Maybe the Dubrovnik designs are the only ones robust enough to stand up to that sort of treatment.

No, he certainly wouldn't be able to do that with weighted pieces! Having said that, many woods stand up to this rough wood on wood treatment, and in the case of maple and walnut, probably better than most. Don't they using one of the maple varieties for bowling pins? And walnut is also a tough, used for gun stocks and the like.