Post Your Chess Sets

It's from Vijaya, Amritsar.

Found a decent, inexpensive but solid box for my new 1849 Staunton set on German Amazon. Normal chess boxes usually don't accommodate large pieces (4.4" kings like here), and I didn't want to fork out 150-200 bucks for a leatherette box from India. It's not perfect (some of the pawns have to put in horizontally), but should do all right.

It's sturdy, lacquered, it comes with a latch and metal hinges, and it only costs €24.

Looks like a Blake and Lake type box.These are very well made and priced fairly.I have three of these....Smart choice....Yeah! I bought one of the leatherette Indian cases a while ago,but it was much less expensive than today's asking prices.

In any "case"(ha)...Enjoy your prize.-

With sets scattered around the home - sometimes I am taken by a light that I hadn’t noticed before - here’s an early morning ray on an HoS 1914 St Petersburg repro - the Anjun would looks like chocolate!

The boards later stamped 'Hermann Produkte' were offered fearlessly affordable on ebay Germany. A typical board as I remember them would be dark, with some strong grain or dramatic root wood, or lighter with bird's eye maple, curly birch. Noble slices of assorted veneers, a decorative vein from pear tree and super smooth finish. Fairy-tale, not handed-down but new, with this breath-taking surface for a new millenium. While it didn't quite click with me, a board came along that I wanted absolutely. It is one that will always remain a big favourite of mine:

They had an outsider on their virtual shelves of a more scholastic type that I also took after some time.

So these few words and pics to celebrate and thank a quality maker who just kept giving, Hermann und Isolde .

Beautiful. It seems there were a number of people who purchased these wonderful boards. You are all fortunate indeed! @ungewichtet - clearly you have numerous stylish sets - where you learned your excellent skills over the board …. You are destroying me wvery time we play! 🥴👍

I used to think 'now we all have boards that we'd need a castle for to play, or castle film set'. But some beautiful pieces old or new can do.

Thank you for the compliment, @Powderdigit, you are naturally too kind.. You are a daring player, and rightly so, to not waste time and find things out. Great moves, bound to win! Thank you and keep 'em going. Courage! Your next board bloody amateur

Yes, I find it, good sets want to be used- and really motivate an extra effort over the board, added for them, too.

I now got the pieces and board my father and I spent so many hours with. Thank you, dad. A simple combination. That was chess, then:

Had I known many sets and where they came from, I would not have looked for the secrets of the game so intently on this one set. Many different ones remind us to play against many different players. Yeah. Let's go out and be the chess playing people.

This is a Morphy Staunton (4.4") set in distressed boxwood and ebony. And the distressed wood looks excellent, absolutely on the level of Staunton Castle & The Chess Empire. Carving is generally excellent, too. Weights for the pieces are:
Kings (white/black): 104g / 110g
Queens: 68g / 77g
Rooks: 74g / 80g
Knights: 68g / 75g
Bishops: 60g / 67g
Pawns: 35g / 38g
Set comes with 2 extra queens, of course. Sits comfortably on a 60mm square size board, I guess: Apparently it's quicker to get a chess set all the way from Amritsar to Frankfurt than a chess board from Munich to Frankfurt.
Absolutely delighted with this set from a "new" player on the scene. 3 year warranty against cracks (of course, it'll need a crack to find out what the warranty is worth).
Only caveat: No stamping on the king side knights and rooks. I think I can live with that.

5 days from Amritsar to Germany, incl. customs inspection.

1851 Morphy vs. 1849 Cooke knight.

This set is from antiquechesscraft, a new shop on Etsy (but they say they've been making sets for decades): https://www.etsy.com/de/shop/antiquechesscraft?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=1442932788

How does one say "Amazing" in German?

@magictwanger

Ive often used the word "Erstaunlich" when using this word in this context. But there are quite a few ways to express that sentiment in German. 😄

Hi Everybody.

I picked up a new set and wanted to share it. The pieces are wood, their proportions seem bulbous. The previous owner assured me the box originally contained these chessmen. They look to be Drueke Lardy imports. The highlight I think is the box and and instruction manual. Check out the photos bellow. Lemme know what you think.

I have a similiar version of this set, in an old Drueke Box, except with more finely carved knights and in black/natural boxwood. I'd estimate 1920s or so. Yes, 99% sure it is a French import, maybe Lardy. I like yours in red and white. Incredible condition, nice find.

I can’t speak to whether the pieces and box were originally sold together but in truth, it would not bother me. I think you have a lovely set of vintage painted Dogface pieces of European descent - most likely. As you say, the box and instructions are a highlight in themselves. I’d be stoked with such an aquisition. Enjoy.

* edited to add it would ‘not’ bother me - accidentally left the word not out of my original post - this is an excellent set.👍

Thanks for the feedback. It's true. While the knights have a fun style, they lack overall. I do enjoy the red on white. The bishops may be my favorite. The overall chunkiness of the pieces have proved to be a new problem for me. Now I need a larger board. It's weird to think instructions are about 1 century old. The paper feels so delicate. Anywho, thanks again. You all are the best.

Can't show my latest yet(it's coming in early Fall) but I decided on one more set to round out my collection(definitely the last).

The H.O.S. Russian Tsarist pieces. I have many of the standard looking sets covered and wanted something different with real eye appeal(to me).

I'll post pictures when it arrives.In the meantime I'll enjoy all the sets you folks have.

The curse of collecting … just one more set… ah, now one more board … and then just one more colour and one more style … 🥴😊. Again, a lovely set that you’ve picked up.👍

The red & white combo is my favorite. What a beauty of a set!

An old electronic chess set I purchased for sentimental reasons. When I started out with chess in 1980, I played only against dedicated chess computers, there being no one among family or friends who played the game. One of the vintage units that came out at that time was the SciSys Sensor Chess, the first - IIRC - with an engine by IM Julio Kaplan, who went on to write many other engines for SciSys/Saitek:

Complete with original box and accessories in good to great condition, but without the add-on modules that were available at the time: one for "strong play", one for "classical openings & super-strong play", and one for "hyper-modern openings & super-strong play".

It's a nice-enough machine, priced at UD$300.00 at the time: A pressure-sensitive board with 64 square LEDs, the opportunity to monitor games between humans, a one-button switch for the computer to change sides, and two analysis levels (which could solve puzzles up to "Mate in 4" - the Chess Challenger 7 I owned back then would only do "Mate in 2"). Other functions (like showing legal moves or alerting the player of threats) came with the optional modules only. How strong was it? The chess computer Wiki says ELO 1,300 - but I have my doubts. I chose level 4, which according to the manual is suitable for "tournament play":

Maybe one day 'll find one of the modules to see if it makes any major difference.