Thanks, David!
Tal 1961-62 Set
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Xadrez... Thanks!! I am familiar with your brilliant video and collection. I just watched it again this morning. The picture of your dodo pawns is particularly helpful. Whatever I find I will share with you. Let me ask you a question or two. Would you say that the relative proportions of the "Tal-Erevan" set and the GM set you've pictured here are the same? Of the various Soviet sets with which you are familar, which of the knights comes closest to those in the Tal-Erevan set?
Fascinating. I have one of those Latvian sets. The knights are quite rudimentary, but all wood. I also have what you call a GM3 set in your wonderful video. I agree that the knight bears the soul of the set. But the knight is the least well portrayed in the photos I have, and the Latvian knight is perhaps only suggestive of the Erevan knight's shape. Thank you again for your insights. They are truly fascinating.
Thanks very much for the very fine photographs in your video. However, you are slightly mistaken about only one chess set currently being made in Russia. The manufacturer of that set, Orlov, makes a few different sets, including one exceptionally large one that is quite nice overall, with particularly impressive and attractive knights, which are quite unlike the rather crude knights of their other chess sets.
Arlindo, where can one order these Kadun sets? The Retro-Seventies set is particularly gorgeous. I couldn't make much out of their website, other than the pictures. I don't read Russian, the browser translators aren't helpful, and Google hasn't turned up any vendors (that I can find). Thanks!
The mass-produced soviet chess sets do have their own quaintly peculiar charm, although 3-1/2" and taller ones are a little difficult to find in undamaged condition.
I have one that I purchased from a Bulgarian seller, recently, that I rather like. 3-13/16" tall and weighing all of 15.4 oz.. https://www.etsy.com/transaction/258364736
It may not be an original soviet chess set, but a Chess Bazaar reproduction that I bought in November 2014, on sale for $79, appears to be an excellent replica of a soviet chess set that is considerably "better" than the original that I saw, in that it is carved and finished much more finely, has solid wood knights and not half-plastic ones, includes extra queens, and light though it is, likely weighs, at 31.1 oz., nearly double what the soviet original probably did. http://www.chessbazaar.com/reproduced-antique-russian-series-stained-chess-set-in-box-wood-4-1-king.html?___SID=U
The small squared soviet chess boards were meant to match up with the very narrow bases of the chessmen to make the chess sets look even taller than they were. This was the preferred style throughout eastern Europe, and not just in the Soviet Union, during the communist era.
You should see a 1980s Polish chess set with board/box that I have, in which the pieces barely fit on the squares.
I recall that about fifteen years ago, when an ex-soviet american-immigrant minor chess master, who turned out to actually be a former soviet union correspondence chess champion, brought his soviet chess set and board/box to an over-the-board chess tournament in the U.S.A., and was astonished to find that nearly all of his opponents refused to play with his set. "But why?," he asked, "Everyone played with sets like this in my country." "Because you're here now, and that is not a regulation set", was the usual reply of his opponents, with which the tournament director agreed.
I'm very interested in acquiring, or acquiring information about, the set depicted on the cover of The Life and Games of MIkhail Tal.It seems to have been used in the '61 and '62 Soviet Championships. I have a number of photos of the set with Tal, Stein, Smyslov, and Mikenas, but none of them is clear enough to duplicate the set from. Any information you could provide would be greatly appreciated. It's a gorgeous set.
