new official FIDE WCC chess set

Tactical_Fight  Being a chess collector over 50 years I have quite the extensive chess book collection and many excellent books. Never read most of them in the last 35-40 years as I was busy rasing a family and supporting them. Most are in DN although many now are in AN. When I go play in my first tournament sorry to say I will be writing in DN as I am more comfortable right now with it.

Mike. The set I got off of Frank back in 1998 when eBay was at its infancy was a set made in India, not weighted and not staunton design. Was a smallish set and I bought it off of eBay from him.  I don't really think it is worth what I even paid for it and it is still wrapped up in the tissue he sent it in. 

The prize I missed on eBay back in 1998 was the 6th American Chess Congress, the orginal. I remember well as it was in excellent condition which is very rare. It went for $199.95 as I remember and I would have bid up to $300 back then and probably would have won it. My best finds have been in used book stores,a couple nice gems. 

The hunt is fun for old chess books. Only a few are rare and of course condition is everything. Sorry to say I was selling off many of my old rare magazine a few years back but now stopped. Almost brought my whole collection to Bob Long (a chess dealer whome I but a few collectable books through) a couple years back to sell for me.  Now I am buying once again. You only live once.

You definetely have a passion for chess books. Its ashame you didn't get the 6th  American Congress original book back in 1998. Sometimes its hard to let go of the Ebay items you could have had. i didn't pull the trigger back in 2000 on an 1849 Jaques of London Club size set with origianal box signed by Howard Staunton.  It was in rough condition, but could have been restored. It had a"buy it now" price of $2,000. The original box alone is worth at least that. But in my defense, at that time , my knowledge of Jaques sets was lacking.  I  will never again  see on Ebay  an early Jaques original set like this one.

Could someone show a comparison picture between the new and old FIDE official WCC chess set?

I don't believe FIDE had an official WCC set prior to commissioning this one. Typically, FIDE would pick a set from a maker in the country where the match was hosted (eg Spanish set in Seville, Chavet set in Lyons), and then since the mid 90s, the sets at most tournaments have been DGT (usually DGT Timeless) due to DGT's agreement with FIDE and the need to have pieces w/ DGT sensor coils for use on the DGT electronic boards.

I know they're worth a lot but I would have thought that, 14 years ago, $2000 for a rough condition 1849 wouldn't exactly have been a bargain. A couple of months back, a chess dealer was selling a very early Jaques in excellent condition with most of the lozenges still extant, but I didn't  ask how much it was going for.

I think the WCC set a very attractive set, but it's a bit pricey for my taste. I tend towards the practical, tournament-style sets that you're not afraid to play with. I have both wooden and plastic tournament sets, the wooden one is far nicer--but I prefer the ruggedness of my plain-ole triple weighted plastic set.

The knight is ugly but I like the king

I agree, a uniquely fascinating Staunton set. Love all the pieces and especially the Knights. It was nice to see that both Anand-Carlsen World

Championship matches and the 2013 Candidates tournament used this  set.

So much better than those mundane German Knights sets previosuly used.

So funny. First, I looked at the Fide set and didn’t like the Knight at all. But sadly I had too long a stare at the pieces, so when I continued searching for different Staunton pieces to buy, they all suddently seemed so... pretentious.

Don`t get me wrong; I love a nice Knight when I see it, but take The House of Staunton and the Bolzano set; I would break that Knights neck in a 3 minutes game (or at least it`s hair)!

The slenderness of the Fide set has grown upon me, and I`m going to buy a board and a set and pass it on to my son in due time as a heritage from a new era in chess history when Magnus sat his footprint on it. No other set, no matter how nice it might be, will ever replace an official set approved by Fide; it will be unique for that sake alone, whilst the Staunton variations will rightfully flourish J

Plz, plllz don`t mix the concept of function with the one of design. Don`t understand how you got away without comments till now.

The wheels on your car are round only because of function. Sure, they were designed that way, but only because of no other sane way to do it. Limited because of physics. Laws of nature. Cheap shot at an argument. Lazy. Easy. The way some always known things to be. Safe. Mom.

Old isn`t out of date; you’re right. It`s old. And my way of arguing is cheap too. Same-same, but different. But mother loves all her children, don`t you think? As a player should love all its pieces, no matter the flaws. 

Actually they are quite good to play with

I like them but, I don't like the price.

9kick9 wrote:

I like them but, I don't like the price.

+1, 😎.

Good point.

$345 for that?  It looks like it was made in a highschool wood shop.  Sorry, not remotely worth the price.

Hahaha... It`s the design you buy. Like Haute Couture.