Review of Porat Jacobson's "Smyslova" set

Ever since I saw Mr. Chuck Grau showing a Soviet style set made by Mr. Porat Jacobson, I was perplexed by the beauty of it. It's amazing how several styles from various eras can be mixed and formed into a set so harmoniously. Mr. Chuck has explained it in depth the idea behind the set, it's a fascinating read https://sovietchesssets.com/2022/02/11/working-the-soviet-design-toolbox-porat-jacobsons-smyslova-set/

This 98mm KH set comes with extra queens, a pair of king's finials in case one breaks off and a storage box with the artisan name engraved on it. It also comes with a certificate, mine is saying JHC#5, it means my set is the 5th he made. 

This set is made from maple/padauk, unweighted and matte finish. Since every commission is custom made, you can choose what type of woods will be used, color/dyeing, weighted or not and what kind of finish you like.

Impression:

A gorgeous and elegant set. Beautifully turned and carved pieces, especially the beautiful Novgorod knights are eyecatcher. I just can't stop looking at the goofy looking face with it's tongue sticking out, you just gotta love that . 

Although unweighted, the pieces have good balance and are stable because of the wide bases. This is a set I'd use for regular play and certainly not for blitz. Not because it's not stable but because of the pointy knights ears and king's finial. You will feel those every time when you're grabbing those pieces with pace and strength.

If I have to pick just one Soviet set, this is it. 

Complementary pictures:

Since I can't decide the color of queen's finial, Mr. Porat suggested to use the extra pair for the other one. Brilliant!

This set is perfect for 50-55mm boards

Gosh that's a pretty set! I'm especially fond of the knights because their ears remind me of Philippine Staunton knights's ears. The simplicity of their shape is just lovely.

@TimmyC yes the horsies are savages yet playful at the same time. Those knights are the first thing that captured my attention when I saw mr Chuck's set for the first time. Just awesome.

@Chuck thanks for showing your set or I wouldn't have known the existence of this gorgeous set. Your set has awesome color scheme btw, red and black. It just breaths Soviet set.

@MCH yeah I don't know what it is with European maple, whether it's the fine structure or the finish but the wood is silky like. Very beautiful also with the beautiful grains clearly showing. I've seen the same with Noj set, it has different finish but also that silky like wood.

Congratulations, Michael! An excellent set by an excellent craftsman acknowledged in an excellent review. I love the display on different types of board, which shows how versatile the design really is.

Congratulations, Michael! Very rare set, new and historical simultaneously.

Yet another wonderful set and a very nice review. 

Thank you for sharing it with us. 

A well thought out and refined set. Excellent! 

I notice @cgrau's posted photos show the pawns with oval shaped heads and your pawns are spheres. Did you not like Jacobson's egg shaped heads? Come on, it's Easter tomorrow!  

Do you have a photo of inside the box? Just curious to see how these pieces travel. 

And, I know custom set pricing varies due to the options, but what does a gem like this cost? Rough ballpark estimate price is fine. Private message me if you are more comfortable with that. Thanks!

Yes Mr. Chuck has oval pawns, I saw mine was different when he showed me the first few pieces made of padauk. He never used padauk before. I can't find that part what he exactly said about it, we had many conversations over the last two months. What I can remember it was something like he keeps refining it. Mine is the 3rd Smyslova set he did (next to his personal set which was the first one he did). I liked what I saw, so I just let him do his thing. If it was oval pawns I would be happy too, I like them both.

Ah now you mentioning it, I should have mentioned the box has thick padded foam instead of regular thin cloth that you usually see. One layer of pieces and that white thin foam to separate the second layer of pieces. it all fits snug nicely, no movement.

Sorry can't disclosure the price as Mr. Porat asked me not to. He doesn't have a website yet but he's reachable at FB if you like to know.

@TheOneCalledMichael  His many refinements are interesting to see when comparing the photos. The new round pawn head matches the Queens round finial top. Nice subtle design change to make the chessmen cohesive as a set. Like you, I would've been happy with either pawn as well. The change in the Queen's height is also quite noticeable. All changes for the better. Let the artist do his art. 

Did Jacobson mention anything about his experience with working with Padauk wood for the first time? I hear it can be difficult to work with.

Yeah I did ask him how the experience was working with padauk. Like you I also heard it was difficult to work with. He said no problem, only the red dust annoyed him and he said something like his lathe is bleeding lol

I love those upright knights! Beautiful set!

Thank you Michael for the kind review. You take wonderful photographs!

I'm not really active on this forum anymore but thought I should still clarify a few points for the record. The set that Chuck Grau writes about in the link above "Working the Soviet design toolbox..." is a set I made for myself about two years ago.

Before the Smyslov design was identified by collectors I came across a black king and red-brown queen on Etsy which seemed very old and historically significant to me. So I bought them and decided to invent 4 other pieces to match. The full Smyslov set was subsequently discovered, as well as a photo with a young Smyslov playing with it (hence the name). But I was so intent on including the Novgorod knight in "MY Old Soviet set" that I decided to go ahead with my initial plan rather than merely make a reproduction. So the queen and king are originals and the 30 other pieces mine - i.e. the relative proportions of king to queen was fixed as well as the colour of the pieces.

When I decided to launch "Jacobson Handmade Chessmen" with this set (which is why the Novgorod knight is in logo) I felt the need to refine the proportions since no original pieces needed to be included. The adjustments included the queen (making it less squat and taller in relation to king) and the pawn's head (from oval to round, which was at the suggestion of Chuck) and minor size adjustments of two or three other pieces.

So that is the background. :-)

I've seen Jaques sets with lot of varieties in knights, bishops, monarchs etc but I gotta say I've seen more varieties in Soviets sets to the point I don't wanna go down that road, it's just too many variations out there. So in that sense I totally get your logic/idea behind Soviet sets that they're kinda interchangeable with the pieces. What you created just appealed to me, to me it's a unique set you created and therefor original. The set as whole feels Soviet to me and I love the Novgorod knights, someone here said it it's bleeping horsies and I love happy bleeping horsies! . Your latest refinement is great, the size proportions feels right so I'm good   

About Soviet repro, well it's still a repro. If I ever wish to get it I always can get it later down the road.

I find 53mm board hit the sweet spot for many of my sets. I think a 50, 53 and 55mm boards cover most of the sets out there.

Here is the latest Smyslova I shot on 50mm board, following the tradition of Soviet sets on tight boards.

On 48mm board

Love that set and the 'tight fit'.

I've been playing my 1950s on a 2 inch Dreuke, definitely tight, but I prefer it over my 2.25inch.

I have a vintage soviet set coming, with board, so I'm excited to see how those fit. And I have that Oldest Averbakh set on order, so I'll have to see if that fits nicely on either the 2 inch or 2.25. If that set is also 'in between' I'm going to have to order a 53mm or 2 1/8.

Thanks so much for the pictures, I really LOVE this set!!!!!