NOJ's Tal Set--"An Anthem to the Reproduction of Chess Pieces"

nope not at all! .....looks nothing like CB version...and your point is exactly ? 

yes you are wrong...so can we get back on topic now?

Thanks, Carl. You're exactly right. Developing an historic set from a handful of photographs is an enormous amount of work, and it helps explain the costs and pricing of sets like your Piatigorsky and NOJ's Tal sets. This is exactly why I complained when CB pirated your Piatigorsky design.

I can't say my efforts will be destroyed should that happen here, as my goal was to recreate this set. I have no business interest in what happens to it, though for the sake of chess enthusiasts, collectors, and people like you who dare to take a risk and bring us high quality sets of historic and aesthetic significance, I fervently hope that NOJ does well with its offering, just as I fervently wished that for you with the Piatigorsky.

It is not my place to speak to NOJ's business model. They know their own experience with the piracy of their Dubrovnik sets. It's safe to say, however, that I would not have published detailed photos of NOJ's Tal set if I thought doing so would harm NOJ.

If CB does pirate the design, and lowballs NOJ's pricing because it did not have to incur the significant development costs that NOJ did, it will prove to be the height of irony. When I first became enamored with the Tal set years ago, I sought to take advantage of CB's "design your own set" program, and forwarded them many of the photos that we later sent to NOJ. Vik and Sapna said it wasn't enough for them to recreate the set.  I have the whole email chain. They had their chance. If CB comes back now with its own cheaper, degraded version of the set, people can judge for themselves what they think about it. For me, as I said when your Piatigorsky set was knocked off, I don't abide piracy.

I didn't notice this thread until now, so I guess I'm late to the party. Chuck, well done indeed! Gregor has done an outstanding job w/ this set. Looks fantastic. And well chosen - this is indeed an "anthem", to quote Arlindo...

As for the provenance of the set, does it actually have a specific connection to Tal? Other than being used in that pic? You're saying it was used at the 1961 Soviet Men's championship. Was this set also used that same year in the rematch that Tal lost to Botvinnik? Or the year before when he won?

Just curious...

Thanks, Frank! I don't believe this set was used in the Botvinnik-Tal match. The connections to Tal are its use in the '61 Soviet Championship, in which he played, and the iconic photo on the cover of his famous book.

Here, Tal congratulates Botvinnik upon returning the crown to him in 1961. Clearly a different set.

The set was used in some other tournaments, including women's tournaments. We can see in the Maaja Ranniku photo that the set used was very worn.

One of my favorite photos of the set shows Lisa Lane playing Gisella Gresser of the US in the 1962 Women's World Championship. Gresser beat Lane, and Nona Gaprindashvili won the championship.

Here is Nona playing black with these pieces...

Where was the '62 Woman's WC played ? Perhaps there is a connection of the city to the pieces. Also interesting how the clocks are facing the back wall and not the audience.

Ron, the '62 WWC was played in Moscow.

There actually were two Soviet Championships held in '61.  The 28th was played in January and February in Moscow. The 29th was played in Baku in November and December. Petrosian won the first, Spassky the second. The pieces were used in both. Stein and Petrosian, both pictured with the Tal pieces, played in Moscow, but not Baku.

Tal played in Baku, but not Moscow. Smyslov played in both.

This makes the picture of Tal kibitzing as Petrosian is seated at the set particularly interesting. 

Mikenas Tal from the '62 Soviet Championship in Erevan.

Of the '61 A USSR Championship, Chessgames. com writes:

"The 28th USSR Championship was played in Moscow from January 11 - February 11, 1961. It was the first of two championships that year, as the January-February scheduling was changed to November-December. The tournament also served as the Soviet Zonal, qualifying four players for the Stockholm Interzonal (1962). The players hoping for an all expenses paid trip to Sweden included:

"Yuri Averbakh; Anatolij Bannik; Isaac Boleslavsky; Georgy Konstantinovich Borisenko; David Bronstein; Alexander Cherepkov; Semyon Abramovich Furman; Efim Geller; Eduard Gufeld;Abram Khasin; Viktor Korchnoi; Anatoly S Lutikov; Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian; Lev Polugaevsky; Vladimir Simagin; Vasily Smyslov; Boris Spassky; Leonid Stein; Mark Taimanov; Vitaly Georgievich Tarasov.

"The most prominent newcomer was Leonid Stein, whose sixth round win over Petrosian marked him as a player to be watched. It also irked Petrosian to the extent that he unleashed his claws and scored 9 points in his next 11 games, taking a 1.5 point lead with two rounds to go and coasting from there.

"Korchnoi came second with a furious finish, winning his last four games. Geller and Stein took the final two qualifiying spots; the former was at nor near the top most of the way, while the newcomer won a crucial last-round game against Spassky for the final slot.

...

"The Most Brilliant Game Prize was awarded for Simagin vs Stein, 1961 from Round 5, which is well worth checking out."

Of the 61 B USSR Championship, Chessgames.com writes:

"The 29th Soviet Chess Championship was the second of two championships held in the same year of 1961. This edition was held in the city of Baku from November 16th to December 20th. 21 of the Soviet Union's strongest masters and grandmasters participated, many of whom had participated in the previous championship earlier in the year, which had also been counted as a zonal tournament. In particular among them was Boris Spassky and Vasily Smyslov, who had both just barely lost seats to the Stockholm interzonal to be played in 1962. Spassky had had an amazing run until he was derailed by a loss to Lev Polugaevsky and then lost his last two games of the previous championship to finish sixth behind Smyslov. In this championship, with the absence of Tigran Petrosian, Viktor Korchnoi, Leonid Stein, and Efim Geller (who had all respectively finished in the top four, securing their participation at Stockholm), Spassky and Smyslov dominated from the start by leading 3½/4 after the first four rounds. Spassky then defeated Smyslov in their head-to-head encounter in round five, securing his lead for the rest of the tournament. Another significant victory on his road to the crown was his rematch with Polugaevsky, who had put a stop to his previous run. This time Spassky defeated Polugaevsky, which ended up being the decisive game of the tournament, as Polugaevsky went 7/8 in the final rounds, but was not enough to overcome Spassky's superb play. The future world champion won his first of only two Soviet crowns with an impressive 14½/20, having scored wins against half the field. Spassky's success was credited in part to his taking on Igor Bondarevsky as his trainer after his disappointing result at the Moscow championship and missing his chance to go to Stockholm. Spassky would eventually triumph at the next Soviet zonal and begin his journey to becoming champion of the world."

Of the '62 USSR USSR Championship, Chessgames.com writes:

"The 30th Soviet Chess Championship was held in the city of Yerevan (Erevan) from November 21st to December 20th, 1962. Twenty of the Soviet Union's strongest grandmasters and masters participated in the round robin event. Seven qualified from semi-final tournaments held earlier in the year: Igor Zaitsev and Vladislav Shiyanovsky qualified from Dnepropetrpvsk (with Shiyanovsky's seat incidently being won in a playoff among three masters who had finished tied for second); German Khodos and Yury Kots qualified from Novosibirsk; and Lev Aronin, Vladas Mikenas, and Leonid Stein qualified from Riga. The remaining thirteen seats went out as invitations, including to the previous year's Soviet champion Boris Spassky, recently deposed world champion and two time Soviet champion Mikhail Tal, winner of the 27th Soviet championship Viktor Korchnoi, winner of the 23rd Soviet championship Mark Taimanov, and perennial Soviet championship participant Ratmir Kholmov. While not as strong as some USSR championships of the past, due to the absence of grandmasters such as Mikhail Botvinnik, Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian, Efim Geller, David Bronstein, Paul Keres, and Lev Polugaevsky, the field assembled was a powerful mix of veterans and up and coming talents. Korchnoi dominated the field with wins against half the participants, starting with 12/14 and coasting to the finish. He had a full-point lead going into the last round, when runners-up Tal and Taimanov made it seem closer by winning their games. Korchnoi's fierce attacking style insured that this second Soviet crown would not be his last, as he would go on to win twice more at Kiev in 1964/65 and Riga in 1970 for a career total of four USSR championship victories."

All of this history gives rise to the question of the pedigree of the iconic photo of the Tal set that adorns the cover of The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal.  As Arlindo Vieria has elsewhere explained, the photo depicts the position after Black's 32nd move in Tal v. Krogius, played in the 1962 Soviet Championship in Erevan, a Ruy Lopez won by Tal.

I wholly agree, Alex!

My set is almost done  ! Got a message from Gregor and in natural brown is also a TRIUMPH Chuck !! Plus I just felt your historically important  thread here is deserving of a well earned BUMP to the front page ... 

Congratulations! How long did it take Ronbo? I subscribed to the queue months ago. Gregor told me it would take 6 months more or less.

About the same length of time I believe. I also bought a 1950 Dubrovnik from Noj last year.

And why not? It's a gorgeous set.

Thanks, Ron! Great news about your set. I can't wait to see pictures!