The Five Knights of Lockdown

Ahh, the King and Queen of Far, Far Away. Hope you’ve recovered nicely friend.

@Powderdigit What a wonderful setting to have a morning coffee or play chess.

Yeah,like I'm really feeling sorry for you Mr. Digit!  Sitting out on a nice warm day,while I'm freezing my tush off in New Jersey......8 degrees tonight!!

Hope you’re nestled in and prepared @magictwanger it doesn’t look good from the reports. 

Let's put it this way.....It's not fun!....I never could understand why so many folks want to go to Times Square,in NYC,to celebrate New Years Eve.

Attempted to do it with my old friends,back in high school and even we bagged out!

Not to mention it's a National Holiday for pick pockets....Trust me I know.....I'm originally a New Yorker.Sorry for going off topic.

Another Sunday morning, another coffee and a bit of chess analysis before the family wakes. With the magpies warbling as the sun rises, I swapped out one set and replaced it with the French Regence repro.

Albeit not expensive sets, its still nice (and I am indeed fortunate) to hold a few different sets which allows me to swap the pieces and enjoy an alternative  set up. 

Ah, they need not be expensive to be valuable. Well played @Powderdigit. Looking forward to Sunday morning myself. It’s just 1:30 pm here. You’re always a step ahead of me.

@Greenmiller - thank you for the compliment and I’m glad you like the set. Here’s the original thread that talks to the purchase: https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/the-french-regency-set-a-mystery-revealed

This board (in today’s photos)  is 50cm with 5cm (2”) squares. My apologies, I am not sure of the wood - I purchased it cheap/shop soiled and never asked what wood it is! 🤔 In the thread above I have it on a larger board. 

Very nice! No other way to put it.

A quick story of chess connecting people. I was not sure where to post this - so I thought I’d hijack my own thread 😉… as it would not have occurred pre-lockdown, pre-COVID, pre my interest in chess sets.

Firstly… there I was in the Dr’s waiting room earlier in the week. Playing chess on my phone, while waiting for an appointment. A gent walked by … saw I was playing on chess.com - we chatted, connected and we are now friends through chess. Very cool.

Next.

I have a kindly neighbour, I believe originally from Afghanistan. He bought my wife and I some apples this evening…
sometimes he may bring figs, if in season. Always we appreciate the gift.

We only have small courtyard gardens where we live - so, he uses every inch of his courtyard to produce lovely fruit and thus, is very generous in providing us some treats.

Anyway, on this occasion, I invited him in … he speaks broken English and he beamed when he saw my chess sets … he immediately noted pieces but how he might say them in a Persian dialect. The smiles on both our faces as I described a rook and he the word in his native language, same with the knight and pawns and so on … oh, the smiles - he is much older than I, and you could see the wonderful emotion in the memory.

He noted that he believed bishops were represented as elephants in his memory… albeit it got a little confusing for me … as I think he noted that there may be a different variants of the movement of pieces.

Anyway… nothing more here than chess connecting people and the enjoyment we all get from such connections whether it be in a Dr’s
surgery or a neighbourly conversation.

😊

@UnifiedChessTheory - the set was in storage …. I decided to open the lid for a bit of a peak … and all is still ok.👍

I like this set. 

I nearly didn’t post this because it is so laughable. Alas, it’s a long weekend in Victoria and the clan has trundled off to the Grampians. I walked to a cafe as dawn breaks… the family sleeps … and here I sit with a coffee, feeling fortunate to live where I do and musing the world and chess. So what’s laughable…?

This set … actually it’s more display piece actually - faux country/Hamptons/French provincial look. It’s not old … made to look that way … why on earth did I buy it?

On spec - it was basically being thrown out and I couldn’t walk by it …  there was something charming about it, if you can park the kitschyness of it all. Alas, it is now part of my collection journey. As I say, more a display piece in a country home… (which I do not own!) … enjoy and or laugh - whatever floats your boat and have a good weekend. 👍

The photos were taken a week or so back and I put my French Regency set on the board as an in-house upgrade.😉

… and now back to my coffee … pardon the morning spam!!

Mark, never apologize for your morning spam messages (my end of the work day messages). 

They are always fun to read and always nice to see your pictures. 

The first set is a fun set, a nice conversation starter. And your barista always seems to make some nice designs.