Good days and Good Knights

@ 9kick9

I own a Wegiel chess set, and currently it is my only tournament grade wooden set. They use what is commonly called the "German knight" (see post #15 in this thread) design.

They are indeed in common use in tournaments here. The 35 gram weighted king is just about right. In the picture below, you may spot a little curiosity; they misspelled the word "tournament" (wrote "tournanent") on the paper cover box:

Simplicity and elegance.

Take a look at the seller's feedback. 70.1% positive, and in the last month, 10 negatives and 0 positives (negative feedback from the buyer of that Jaques set too). Taking the money and not sending the item is the most common complaint, for example:

"Fake tracking number, no communication, no delivery. Fraudulent seller."

I wonder why hasn't eBay banned him.

As for knights, I love the goofy expression on these:

Those belong to a member here:

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/my-grandfathers-chess-set2

Wow for sure he should be banned from eBay. Seems like he started out good when he sold coins, when he shifted to chess products it seems like he doesn't ship them or ships so little. Very strange. The guy who bought the Jaques did get the set but still left a red mark but no reason. 

A few of the buyers left seemingly positive comments but negative feedback. I'm wondering if it is a case of people prematurely leaving positive feedback when they get the tracking number, assuming all is well, and later changing it to negative when they find out the tracking number is fake (assuming that's possible). I can't think of any other reason for multiple people leaving positive comments and negative feedback (I could see it happening once, as a mistake, but not a few times in just the past month.

I wonder if it is a case of a stolen account. That is often the explanation for a previously good seller suddenly going down in flames. As you mentioned, he got all positive feedback when he was selling coins, and then suddenly he shifted to selling computer hardware and chess equipment, and got nearly all negative feedback for those auctions (33 negatives, 1 neutral, 1 positive).

Chess equipment is a very odd category for a scammer to choose. They usually go for something like current mainstream electronics, because there's such a huge demand, which allows them to "sell" as many as possible before being banned.

I want my Knights to look good and also fit easily in my grasp when playing.

My 2 Noj sets have good looking Knights by my standards and also fit very nicely in the hand when playing.

Here is the Best Chessmen Ever Knight:

My set has the Stainless Bottoms giving more weight, I believe.

Here is the Dubrovnik 1950 II

This is my favorite set.  I find I like the smaller pieces like this and the HOS Players Series.

By the way, both of the above sets I have in European Walnut (pictured just above) for the dark pieces.

When it comes to Blitz I use the HOS Liberty Series in Rosewood.  It is a reproduction of the Pinney set from the 1940's.

Sure, this Knight looks crude.  I have had many people say how crude and simple it is.  Then we play with the set and every one of them has commented on how nice the set is and one guy keeps offering to buy the set from me while he was the one that complained the loudest at the beginning on how crude the Knights were.

These Knights just fit naturally in the hand when playing.  I also really like the tops of the pawns and bishops in this set.

Here's my recommendation for Blitz chess, a recent release by ChessBazaar. Kings measure 3.8" in height. Heavily weighted, wide base pieces for extra stabillity.  Available in black stain or Sheeshamwood with a great price!

I like the Liberty set very much.  It should be a nice handling inexpensive set like the one above.  CB is suppose to release a Libery set. If it is prices over $89 it will be too much.  I know HOS thined their supply of Liberty sets for as low as $40 each on eBay. 

Hey MIke can you give me the link to the Ebay  HOS Liberty sets?

Re post 73, dating of Jaques 4.4" ivory sets, they were first manufactured in 1850.  From Staunton's Illustrated London News column, 1850-04-06:

They don't have any more Liberty sets on eBay anymore.  But I Know Alan K from our chess club said he bought it off HOS on eBay for $40 some months back.  I think it was an auction.  

Thanks Mike

Mike, it's good to see a familiar name on a chess.com forum!

Thanks Jon, I hope you are doing well

Actually they look a bit timid front on and not as forlorn as these fellows.

Couldn't agree more on the feel, but not really crude.  I'd say sturdy.

Now, here are some interesting beasts...

Damn, these things are ugly!

That's because this horse just ate the last four apples in one bite: