That's a great observation. Come to think of it, I've never seen a warped Soviet set despite all the other damage they've endured over the years. I'm just guessing that Lardy used some awfully green wood.
I think one objective of the Soviets' thin stems and wide bases was to move the center of gravity down to enhance stability without much if any weighting.
Hi Chuck,
From my studies in cultural anthropology, it's common for the style of an object to go from one of necessity to one of decoration over time, such as pendulum-driven clocks to electric clocks, some with pendulums driven by electricity for mere decoration. Another example is spoked wheels on sports cars that transitioned to spoked hubcaps placed on rimmed wheels for decoration. Even spoked wheels themselves are no longer needed since the days of the covered wagon.
In cultural anthropology this is known as metataxis, the gradual transition of utilitarian objects or practices out of the culture by means of decoration, and sometimes as recreation, such as hunting in much of the Western World.
Anyway, from your comment as to the usefulness of the wide bases, it may be -- I repeat, may be -- why the style stuck after the Soviets could afford to weight the pieces when the regime became firmly established through the strong, unrelenting arm of The State, unfortunately.
Just thought you might find this interesting.
Best,
Bob
For comparison, here's some pics of my Averbakh set.
Great shots of an outstanding set, Mike! I like how we're going about naming the sets ourselves! The Averbakh Set. I love it.
Thanks Chuck, Yeah, its akin to Frank C's naming the different vintage Jaques sets. And thank you for initiating the naming process with the Tal set.