Today's Analysis Set

Last night I was going over Capablanca v. Blackburne, St. Petersburg 1914.

Chuck,

Compared to the Regency Pioneer set, the CB "Old Vintage English" is slightly larger with a 1.7" king diameter as opposed to the 1.5" diameter king of the Pioneer set. Where the CB set is sized to fit a 2.25" board, the Regency set is scaled to fit a 2" board, two sizes smaller.

Chess Bazaar Old English Vintage

Regency Pioneer

The base size difference makes the sets look quite different to each other as well, especially the Rooks, Knights and Bishops.

Lou, how is that smaller based set for stability?  The Knights and Bishops look a bit precarious in the above picture.

Ron, the set is fairly stable. So far, I've had no issues with pieces tipping over. However, the set is substantially lighter than advertised (over a 30% difference). I've e-mailed Regency about the discrepancy and am awaiting their response. Since the set came with only two queens instead of four (an oversight they're currently correcting), I was wondering if their supplier had changed the specifications on this set without telling Regency beforehand. It wouldn't be the first time. I had ordered a set from another vendor based on the pictures on his website. When the set arrived it was radically different from the set I'd ordered. The manufacturer changed the design, but never bothered to inform the vendor. Surprise, surprise.

Overall, I like the Pioneer set. It fits very nicely on a 2" board. The fit and finish of the set, including the quality of the felt pads, is better than the two or three CB sets I've seen in this price range.

I'll update you on the results of my inquiry.

Lou, I love your Regency Pioneer set--especially the knights and bishops. And, Tartakower's 500 Master Games is the winner of the "Best Books To Be Stranded on a Desert Island With!" 

I would have been completely embarrassed to post my usual analysis set... it's an old 12" folding board with plastic pieces.  Very old and sad... it was LONG overdue for retirement when I finally decided to do something about it and obtain something decent.

I placed orders last week, and put it all together yesterday.  It consists of:

House of Staunton "Zagreb '59" pieces with 2.875" King, Blood Rosewood (Padouk) & Boxwood.  Ball and spike finials permanently installed with epoxy.

Solid block Walnut and Maple 14" borderless board (1.75" squares) from Eureka puzzles.

Total cost:  $300, including shipping from both vendors

I love, love, LOVE this set!  It is going to be my analysis/travel set from here on out.

Very nice. I see why you love it so much.

Yes, Bawker, I've been eyeing a Zagreb '59, too.  Your set looks more substantial than my lightly weighted BH Wood Russian knights set, and when analysing, it is nice to have the properly weighted "plunk!"

Can you post pictures of your BH Wood set

This set was offered by BH Wood around 1980

This week I have been studying games from The Golden Age of Chess (as Napier put it), and opened my copy of Carl Schlechter! The Life and Times of the Austrian Chess Wizard by Warren Goldman, and to get the proper atmosphere set up my circa 1900 Jaques Staunton Chessmen 3" king on the HOS bird's eye maple and striped ebony 1.875" Traditional Board

I too have the Regency Pioneer set and I love it. The knight is the piece I fell in love with first, althougb not to everyone's taste!!

Very nice, I bet you love using those pieces, the patina on the white pieces is gorgeous. Was it a gift ?

An interesting set. The pawns remind me of the Bundesform pawns of the Munich Olympiad.

A perfect choice. Gorgeous patinaed antique Jaques set well-paired with that board.

Excellent photos, too, Mark.

Thank you, Chuck.  Coming from you and our chess.com collector experts (like Crimsonknight7 !) that endorsement means something

I acquired this set in Houston around 2003 or 4.  It's the only antique Jacques I own, although I have the company's 2000 Millenium reproduction in a 4" king.  The latter set cost about $5000 at the time, and it is a very nice set, however, as noted in other strings on this forum, the style is not exactly a copy of the circa 1900 antique sets, particularly noticeable in the knights' heads.

The iphone does okay, as you predicted, Chuck.  However, my next project is to find a digital Canon that hopefully will be as nice as yours!

Oops!  I misspelled "Jaques" above by the spelling for some good family friends of mine--it's a habit!  (for proper spelling, see Cgrau's note).

Yes, CrimsonKnight7, my chess.com friend joshturin and I like to get together and research classical chess openings from ancient times forward, using sets from various countries--sometimes with period music in background--to get the best experience we can for our chess history.