Pittsburgh Chess Set

Hello all,

I have developed a chess set using the buildings of Pittsburgh as the pieces. Check it out at http://steelcitychess.com.

Thank you,

Brad

Feedback welcome!!

Here is the set displayed in a customer's den.

Pieces seem very large for the board. Have you noticed any problems?

The board has 2" squares and the bases of the pieces are slightly under that. Playinig on it does require some care to not knock the pieces together but it just looks so good on display!

It's hard to tell from the picture but I think I might have trouble telling the pieces apart, especially the knights, and are there two different Bishops? The pieces have no signatures, they're all just buildlings, so if I'm looking at it right and two different buildings are the Bishop that's extra confusing. The main thing has already been stated, though; the board is too small for the set. I guess that can be a playing issue as mentioned, but with this kind of set it's mostly for athestics. It doesn't actually look good crammed together like that; it's normal to give pieces a bit of room to "breathe." I guess you could be trying to say something by doing it differently, but to most people it will just look like the board is the wrong size.

I did take some liberties and have 2 different bishops. One of the bishops is the Cathedral of Learning. That HAD to be a bishop right? The other is one of the tallest buildings in the city and I felt it needed to be included. 

Anyone know of a place I could find a board that has 2.25" squares? 2" was the biggest I could find.

I shouldn't be all negative, though. I think it's a pretty set not even knowing about Pitsburgh. The best unique designs to me, are asthetically pleasing but also it's easily apparent which piece is which. This one does the first thing for me and while it doesn't quite do the second thing, probably it does other things for people who know Pitsburgh, and if there's more things like the Cathedral Bishop then possibly that helps with the second thing. It's one of the better unique designs I've seen.

Thats a cool looking set.! I would reduce the piece size though so it will fit comfortably on a 2-2 1/4 inch square board. Thanks for the nice pics.!

Looks cool, but looks like a purely ornamental set. Doesn't look like it would be very practical for play.

I don't know about that! Large pieces are a joy to play with if they are weighted correctly.