Which Vintage Soviet Russian Set do you Like the Most?

Very nice.  I believe that's circa 1996.  Notice the DGT clock.  I believe that was their first with delay or increment.  I bought one of those in about 2000 and the displays were quite small compared to later clocks.

Yes, thee set looks very nice.

-acronym is not what you mean? lebid could be short for (lebedev); a wide used surname in Russia..  ..(in my community) lebedev clan came from Tavria province (but present day, Zaporiz'ka prov/ Ukraine).. lebed means 'swan'; might have been given as a nickname, for someone who possessed some qualities of a swan : ) (perhaps graceful or beautiful person)..lol

i sure thought set 1 that goodknightmike posted is amazing.. - and no, 4 is rustic; ..like my grandfather could have carved it/chosen it as second favourite. 

Я знаю. Но он канадец нет? Может быть, из Новой Зеландии.

Oy -ты смешной - и быстро. : )  Da,, or Nyet i mean,, he is Australianskiy, it 'says'/

Vot ;-)

Nhu Tak, Sheridan,, ee spaseeba, znokomitz s tebye.. : )

Nice to meet you too nena-h :-)

OK, Mike. Here are the pictures of the Latvian set, #1 on your list. It's unweighted, and missing many of the felt bases. The knights are cruder than yours. It came in a folding board/container, with the characteristic grossly undersized squares. I shot it on my Drueke 2.25" board, which affords it the space it needs to breath. The pieces are so slight, they would fit on a somewhat smaller board. The clock is a Koopman.

Thanks for the pics Chuck. A fabulous looking set! I too love those thick Knights. This set was a favotie of Tal and there are many pics of him on the internet with this style set.

Was there ever a manufacturer associated or has their name on any Russian made chess set?  How many sets do you think we made from forced labor in the Gulag?  Russia also had what they called "labor colonies" hundreds of them which produced finsihed goods, I am think some of the examples between 1930's and 1950's were from these lesser physically labor intense "labor colonies" that were forced to make goods for "Mother Russia".  

I ask because whenever I see these older Russian sets I never see a name go with them.  

<<Silly me I am adding this after posting.  That betwixt those years any set coming out of Russian would have been forced labor as the "STATE" owned all the factories,land, and your life, and told you what to do. You didn't have a healthy  alternative. >>

Wiscmike, as much as I would enjoy a dialogue on comparative economic and social theory, I don't think this is the place we should engage in one. But you asked a very interesting question, which I can answer only insofar as my three sets allow. The Latvian set, GNM's # 1, has no markings other than a "5" stamped on the inside of the board. My versions of GNM's #1 and #4 sets came with boxes, neither of which I can read. Nevertheless, I am pretty confident that none of these three sets were manufactured in gulags. I'd very much like to read about sets that were, and would be extremely grateful if you could cite me to any materials that would quench the curiosity you've aroused.

And barbed wire, and other things. But it would be nice to have a discussion about chess sets without people wanting to turn it into a political diatribe. If you want to chat about who inflicted which atrocities upon whom, please contact me on Facebook and we can discuss it there. It's a target rich environment in which few are without sin. Otherwise, I'm here on chess.com to talk about chess without political commentary and editorial asides.

2 words... Gary Kasparov. 8)

Just found these two sets. I'll review them when they arrive from Moscow.

No worries, but someone with much more chess history than all of us on here typed on a thread that looks like a "gulag" knight as they had a quota to make.  Obviously the nicely finished sets did not come from there but not too many left the forced labor camps either alive.  Not politics people it is facts. Like buying an ivory chess set today even though new ivory is banned knowing where it came from. Just saw a commercial on TV about 5 minutes ago as the slaughter of elephants is still going on today by the thosands just for the ivory. Yea it'snot legaal but it is still done everyday as long as people have the appetites of buying carved ivory. 

About 60 million died in the USSR last centuary a large majority within the GULAG camps and these were administered by the KGB.The present leader of Russia is KGB trained and he,Putin,has at least twice publically stated that one never leaves the KGB.Look what happened to KGB defector Alexander Litvinenko when he tried to expose some of the crimes of the KGB in a book...he was poisoned by Russian agents who used radioactive polonium as a food poison.

Beware, KGB already identify You via Internet. Call the doctor for help.