Searching for Tal's Set

In my quest to find the set that graces the cover of The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal, I've uncovered a photo I've not seen before. It shows Nona Gaprindashvili playing with it, and offers details not shown on other photos, especially of the knights. If you have any information about this set, please share it here!

Tal...

Smyslov...

Stein...

Petrosian...

I hope you find out more about this set.  Cool collection of pics.

Thanks, Remi. All the pics include world champions, except those of Stein. All except the Gaprindashivili photo seem to come from the 1961 Soviet Championship. I have no idea where her photo is from.

Hope you find it, cgrau!

There's probably some difference in details, but this seems to be the closest match I can find - 

http://www.chessbazaar.com/reproduced-antique-russian-series-stained-chess-set-in-box-wood-4-1-king.html

Thanks, Darth. While that's a nice reproduction of a common Soviet set, it's not what I'm looking for. CB's reproduction of that set is actually better than the original in nearly all respects. There's no modern reproduction of the Tal set, though I think one would be popular. There are several vintage sets that incorporate many of the same design elements, but none that I've found so far either are or reproduce the Tal set.

Yeah, I knew it wasn't really the same, but, I like I said, closest I've been able to find.

I'm really not a collector or anything, and thus don't really have, I guess you could say, that refined eye for details. But I do like the look of a lot of those Soviet era sets.

expert

I've seen a set with pawns like this come up on ebay and it fetched a high number of bids and final auction price. 

If you search this site:

http://www.worthpoint.com/

and use the terms "soviet chess" you will find several sets which have similarities to Tal's set.  However, I have not found an exact match yet.

Are you certain Tal's set was wooden?  Many bakelite sets bear strong resemblance to his. Such as this one on ebay right now:
There is also a set on chess-museum.com which is listed as a German set with similar Pawns and Rooks.

Many thanks, Jack. Wasn't aware of Worthpoint. Thanks for all the info. While one can never be certain based on 50 year old photos, I'm pretty sure it was wood. I've seen those plastic and bakelite sets with design similarities, but similarities is as far as they go. I deeply appreciate your interest and assistance!

Tal forgive me, but Nona looks like Kevin Nealon in drag.

I'm going to guess that this set is not a Soviet set.  It seems to have some things in common with German and Yugoslavian sets of the past.  Maybe Tal picked it up in his travels and took a liking to it?  It looks amazing for play.

This blog has some good information about Soviet chess sets, and has pieces which must be closely related to the set used by Mikhail Tal. 

http://xadrezmemoria.blogspot.pt/search/label/Soviet%20Chess%20Set

There is also this set from Chess Bazaar that is closer than the previously linked one in this thread to the old Soviet styling.

http://www.chessbazaar.com/1940-50-reproduced-soviet-era-russian-series-revised-chess-set-in-sheesham-box-wood-4-4-king.html

Thanks, Jack. Arlindo's blog is amazing. His video even more so. In fact, he includes the Tal set at the end as one of the great sets he's been unable to find.

As the photos above attest, the set was not a personal acquisition of Tal's, but an official set of Soviet Championships and tournaments between 1962 and 1964. Tal, Stein, Petrosian, and Smyslov all are seen playing on it in men's events, the Stein and Tal photos at least coming from the 1962 Soviet Championship. The photo of  Gaprindashivili dates from 1964.

As to the ChessBazaar sets, Robert is correct that I own the one you posted. Of the two CB sets, the first is the better reproduction. Originals of this set are on sale all the time on Ebay and Etsy. As I noted above, I think it's an improvement on the original as the knights' heads are wood rather than the original plastic, and the turning, carving, and finishing are superior while faithfully reproducing the shape and proportions of the pieces. I prefer to play on the other set, which took many liberties with the design it sought to reproduce and was criticized by Arlindo elsewhere in this forum. His criticisms are valid but I like it anyway.

I enjoy your many contributions to this forum. Your thread on Jaques reproductions and originals is phenomenal. Many, many thanks.