Post Your Chess Sets

I will not play on a set that is too “busy”. But, as a collector set, it is preddy!

It’s called “Figured Lilac”. I actually don’t like playing with it, but it is pretty. Too busy for a game I agree. 

https://www.houseofstaunton.com/clearance-the-exotique-collection-fischer-spassky-series-luxury-chess-pieces-3-75-inch-king-25599.html

Well,I felt that if someone spent their hard earned cash on it,I would not be the one to knock it.

Everyone has their own tastes.

 Yeah, I'd like to see them offer it other options for the dark pieces - sheesham, rosewood, etc., even stained.  Anything but black. I'm no longer in mourning. It's time to move on.

I love all my pieces.  They're jammin'!  I only recently started playing again at 58.  Never had a nice set till now.

Well you sure do now!

Enjoy the sets and the addictive frustrations of the game...Ha.

I wouldn't mind seeing those black and "reddish" looking pieces set up together.

The new board with the Ebony and Rosewood pieces

And the Figured Lilac, hopefully a hit with the ladies

Thanks! That's interesting for sure. Very nice!

A Study In Contrast

Two dark colors, with their hues being so close, don't offer enough contrast for my taste (IMHO). Interestingly enough, HOS has five of these Prestige sets on their website, Two are out of stock and the other three are on clearance at 50% off. They used to stock a lot more. Apparently, they weren't as popular as they had hoped.

But you can end up with the same low contrast by going to the other extreme as well.

And finally, the Goldilocks Zone, warm colors with just the right amount of contrast, again IMHO. YMMV.

Funny but I can tell the difference between the two sides very easily

Perhaps it's my dyslexic vision.

[Another post-midnight rant]

MCH818,

I've fallen out of love with black chess pieces, both ebony and ebonized, though it's hard to tell them apart without closer inspection. For the last half-century, I almost always played on stark, ultra high-contrast black and white sets, mostly plastic. When I began collecting nicer wooden sets, most of those were black as well (guess old habits die hard). When I began expanding my chess horizons I started noticing great looking sets in red sandalwood, rosewood, Sheesham, padauk, etc. I was really taken by them. I thought they looked "classy" and elegant. By contrast, my ebony/ebonized sets began looking rather dull. Still, I would buy a set if I liked the design, even if it was only available in black. Over the past year or so I've sold off most of my black wooden sets (only two left to go). And here's another thing I've noticed. See if you notice it too. Go to the House of Staunton website for example. I'm not promoting HOS, it's just that they have a massive number of high-quality chess sets that are nicely photographed. A must for this exercise. Now focus on their ebony sets, especially those with those super fancy knights, like those pictured below. Look at how much less detail stands out on the ebony pieces compared to their lighter wood counterparts, The jet black color masks a lot of the details. In-person, it reduces our dimensional perception (no shadows), those subtle variations of light and darkness we see in the light-colored pieces that are missing, or at least muted, in the ebony pieces, unless you beam a floodlight on it.

Compare the following photos and see what you think. Notice the amount of intense lighting the photographer needed to bring out a contrast in the ebony knight. Not the kind of light that would be available over the board, unless you were playing in an interrogation room.

MCH818,

No right or wrong here. As the old saying goes, "different strokes for different folks." Ebony is a beautiful wood, no doubt about it, but along with the benefits, there are a few drawbacks besides what I mentioned above. First, ebony is more prone to cracking than other woods. Second, and this is the weird part, most ebony harvested these days is striped, always has been. But in the good old days before conservation, loggers would fell 100 trees and only harvest those that were jet black. You see, there was no way to tell what the quality of the ebony was without chopping down the tree. The result being, 80+% of their harvest was left to rot. Now all the ebony is being used. Since most of it is striped, chess vendors ebonize the ebony because that's what their customers want -- jet black ebony. Their customers won't pay the same price for striped ebony.

I have an ebonized Dubrovnik set from HOS. The finish and polish on that set is so good that I can't distinguish it from real ebony. So here's the $64,000 question (I'm really showing my age), if the ebony and ebonized sets look the same from the outside, is it really worth the $100+ dollar upcharge just to say I have real ebony pieces underneath the black stain? For the same price why not choose a beautiful rosewood or padauk, at least you can see where your extra $100 went.

As long as we cling to an outmoded standard that, for the most part, can only be attained by ebonizing, we won't be seeing real ebony sets like the one shown below.

Don't know about you, but (for the same price), I'd much rather have this than stained ebony. As chess players we have to ask ourselves, do we really prefer fake black over real wood?

Want to know the truth about ebony? Then watch this video from Taylor Guitars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=154&v=b6dSKwV-UNk&feature=emb_logo

With the except perhaps of some mega-buck sets, this is the raw ebony our 'ebony' sets are made from, but since it isn't perfect, they paint it!

I love that striped ebony!  No one makes that anymore?  I'd buy it.

My current games (still loving everything about both sets):

As you can see I'm crushing it with the figured lilacs against the ebonized real (striped?) ebony!

Interesting stuff here.I like Ebony as well,but if you keep a safe humidity,the cracking issues are greatly diminished.I saw that Taylor info quite a while ago,as I used to collect acoustic guitars.

Btw,in the words of one of the top guitar restorers..."All wood wants to crack"!

Just be careful about how you take care of the stuff and don't over think it,imo.

I never had a guitar crack and I have not had any of my 21 chess sets crack,since I got them.

HOS has a striped ebony board, but the squares are too big for what I need. If they were 2" I'd buy that thing. It's beautiful. They also use it on one of their chess tables, I believe.

Wish they would just for you Lou.