Very unusual Soviet chess sets

I was browsing Soviet chess sets on Etsy, and found a few rather unusual chess sets. I figured some of you might appreciate seeing them.

First, here is a super tall Soviet set from the ’90s. The king is 17 cm (6.7 inches) tall! I’m really fascinated with those insanely tall miters on the bishops.

Next, here is a set from the ’70s. Rather crudely made. Those bishops with the antennas make me laugh.

Below is arguably a less unusual set, from the ’50s; but the proportions are quite curious, with the thin bishops and the fat rooks. The king and queen remind me more of some of the Austrian coffeehouse sets I’ve seen, with those acorn-like hats.

And below is one of the classical ’50s plastic Soviet sets in terms of its designs; but surprisingly, the light side is cyan! Arguably it looks a bit jarring with the red finials on the black side, but I think it has its charm.

And finally, below is quite an unusual ’50s Soviet set in weighted plastic. I don’t think I’ve ever seen these Greek pillars as the bases. The king and queen remind me a bit of the Selenus chess sets, but the more pillar-like construction is perhaps more reminiscent of Philidor chess sets. Quite unusual to see such a pre-Staunton design in a plastic chess set from the ’50s.

I’m curious, have you seen any unusual Soviet chess sets? I didn’t realize there was such variety. Most of the Soviet sets I’ve seen were more or less variations of the designs we see in the Botvinnik Flohr set, the Mordovian set, and the Dubrovnik set.

Did you check out https://sovietchesssets.com/ already, Chuck Grau's website. It is the most extensive information on Soviet chess sets I have seen so far.

I personally like the early, antique sets, i.e. from the Tsarist era to the early Soviet sets. Here are a few examples from my personal collection. I am not 100% positive that the last two are Russian, even though I have some indication. The last is among my all time personal favorites.

You keep finding interesting sets. I have not seen Soviet sets like these ones.

Oh yeah, I read the articles on the Botvinnik Flohr and Tal sets, but I never looked beyond that until now. Fantastic resource!

Amazing! Really lovely ornamentation of that last set.

I saw that set with the cannon as a rook recently. I feel the cannon actually makes sense with the rook’s movement pattern. Do you know more about this design? Have you seen it anywhere else?

It is an extremely rare set, only a handful of sets I have seen so far. One specimen is displayed in a museum in Turkey, where it is said that it was presented as a gift to Atatürk. Chuck Grau discussed this type of set in this article on his website https://sovietchesssets.com/2022/02/22/pushki-on-the-chessboard-the-soviet-cannon-rook-set/

In Chinese chess, xiangqi, there is the cannon:

Very interesting!

Interesting! What is that cart closest to the camera? And do you know what the numbers on the bases signify?

The cart is the equivalent of the rook.

I don't know anything about the numbers (but maybe I saw them also on an old normal chess set made in China...).

Oh are the cart and cannon both rooks then? The cannon is the right rook?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangqi#Chariot

Oh wow, fascinating! I assumed they were distinct designs for the same chess pieces/game, but Chinese chess is quite different. I’m curious to try it.

I just came across such a strange Soviet set! Apparently it’s from the ’90s—possibly the ’80s.

The knights are particularly remarkable, with that cutout design. Had the set looked a bit more polished, I would have gotten it for those unique knights.

The bishops look funny—a bit like children with party hats.

Curiously, one of the rooks is smaller, with a slightly different design. It looks like it came from a similar set and was added to this one to stand in for a damaged or lost rook.

Nice chess sets! @WandelKoningin, do you have Dutch heritage? Because your username is Dutch.

Yes! Born in the Netherlands. Currently living in Canada.

Small world. Then again there are more people with Dutch heritage in north America than in the Netherlands nowadays.