Magic, felo: Thank you!! I am trying to become the fool laureate now.
Yes, I'd somehow expect this brown stained to be the light side, so ebony sounds good.. it should not be an opaque black for me but have some grain visible, too.
The Kasparov Set From Oleg Raikis
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This set is growing on me. I really am starting to appreciate the Bishops. They do have an Alice in Wonderland type vibe
ungewichtet wrote:
felonet wrote:
It causes me to reflect on this shared game we enjoy. After so many years everything about the objectively strange game of chess has become familiar - but this set brings back uncertainty and I'm left feeling uncomfortable. "What are these pieces and what do they do?"
Oh, wow, how is chess objectively strange for you? If you just had a few more lines about that, that'd be great.
As for the set, how beautiful and soothing the brown side in the third pic in post one is. (With what wood and colour is it paired?) Earthen, not alien. King and queen in this set are not organic, while rook, knight, bishop and pawn could have passed for that. But I think, this contradiction could make some sense. If the highest powers go into aesthetic, ornamental, decorative reduction, while the people remain strong, wild and well-defined, art does it, again. While I do not see a paradox to resolve in the brown version, where the strong grain on the king and queen are making them vivid parts of the lot. Is the brown side part of a certain set, I mean, does it have an actual counterpart?
Yes, these pieces are part of a set; I spoke with Oleg and he said the light side in the case was simply natural boxwood; Oleg says he has replicated this stain many times for other clients. I think these brown-stained pieces can be used as light-side or dark-side pieces, and could therefore be paired either with a bright white material (like mammoth ivory or holly (although I've only ever seen holly used for boards)), or a very dark material (like ebony, African Blackwood, etc.).
Yeah I agree - our German friend @ungewichtet is the best English speaker on this website by my estimation lol.
What would you pair with that brown stained set? Ebony? Seems like you'd need another perhaps better complimenting color?