Zagreb - Yugo - Leningrad

There is a design of Knight that is very distinctive.  For me, it began with Frank Camaratta and his House of Staunton many years ago.  It was then that Frank came out with his Zagreb '59 Chess set.

Here is a quote from the description on the HoS page for this set:

The design of the Zagreb '59 Chess set is an adaptation of the most popular Chess set used at major international Chess tournaments throughout the 1950s and 1960s, most notably the World Championship Candidates Match that was held in Bied, Zagreb in 1959.

Now, some like this design Knight and some don't, and of course some, like me, are neutral and can accept them without any real love.

Of course many different companies started producing sets with Knights of similar design.

The House of Chess came out with their version.  Here is a picture of their 3.75" version Knight:

Then, for me I was on this forum reading and looking at pictures of sets.  I was aware of The House of Staunton having yet another version they called the Leningrad.  I was talking with the manager, Scott, one time and he told me they had this set made because some did not want the opposite colored finials.  Here is the House of Staunton Leningrad set:

Understand that I am presenting this in my personal experience, chronological order.

Well then I started seeing pictures of a set that Lou Balch showed of a House of Chess set they called the Yugo 4.0".  As Lou has said, this is a mashing together of the Dubrovnik style and Zagreb style sets.  I liked it and bought one to replace my HoS Zagreb set which I feel the bases are too small for good play.  Anyway here is a picture of the House of Chess Yugo 4.0" set:

I really like this set a lot because of the monster bases.

Recently, goodknightmike posted links and pictures for the Official Staunton Company's Leningrad set.  Here's a picture of that set:

Comparing pictures of the HoS and OS sets shows a remarkable similarity in both design and detail.  They look the same to me.

Official Staunton says their King height is 3.875" while The House of Staunton has their King with a 4.0" height.  They are offering the sets at a very similar price.  This is close enough in price that people in the US will save a few dollars from buying "locally" with HoS.  And people in Europe and otherwise East of the Atlantic will save some Euros buying from OS.

I remember Carl saying that both companies have used the same manufacturers or carvers in India and they often get their sets to sell from these manufacturers as offered by the manufacturers.  I suspect this is the case here.

I still like my HoC Yugo 4.0" set a lot.  The Dubrovnik bases and major heft of this set stands out.  And the Bud Rosewood is really nice.  I also like the opposite colored finials.

But I certainly can understand and appreciate the Leningrad sets.

Are there any other sets with this basic style Knight that you find nice?

The Soviet style set knight on the right is my favorite. Also the vintage Chavet knights from the early 1990's if I can ever find a set ... 

That Knight on the right does look sharp and nice.  I can see why it is your favorite.

I own the Zagreb from Chessbazaar.

I really like it, but one criticism of this design is that the Knight only looks good seen from a profile. In a sense it is more of a 2-dimesional design.

This is an issue with many Knight designs, there aren't many that look really good and distinctive from all sides in my humble opinion.

One exception is this Ajedrez Europa Knight that is reminiscent of the Chavet that Ronbo is hunting, that I recently reviewed here. A great Knight!

just to let you know..

Regencychess sells another "Zagreb inspired" set:

http://www.regencychess.co.uk/antipodean-series-rosewood-staunton-chessmen-4-inches-p-148.html

I own this one and i like it very much.

Have also add that this set doesn't suffer the issue mentioned by MakkeMus. The knight is carbed much better and look cool also form front.

I think it is an inherent quality of any Zagreb style Knight that they look much better from profile.

The above Yugo that Eyechess posted is no exception, and looks pretty similar to my CB Zagreb from the front.

How lucky then that it is so beautiful from profile, where I assume the original designer of the set envisioned it is supposed to be seen.

So this is just a minor point really.

 Only problem with Zagreb chess set is that it never existed in Ex Yugoslavia or anywhere else

i have read this before.

The one thing that defines this style set the most is the Knight.

Do we have evidence of this Knight shape existing before Frank Camaratta came out with his Zagreb '59 set in the late 1990's?

The House of Staunton and Carl of Official Staunton call one version of this set the Leningrad.  Did this Knight design start in the Soviet Union or Russia or one of the other countries of the former Soviet Union?  Did it start in Zagreb?

Do we have any historical facts about this design?

This style was started by Frank Camaratta,I was visiting tournaments all over ex Yugoslavia and i have never seen Zagreb set or Zagreb Knight.Zagreb set was never produced in Zagreb,Dubrovnik set was produced in Zagreb in Jakopović woodturning shop.I have seen almost every single Original Dubrovnik and Original Soviet set,but I have never seen Zagreb set anywhere.

It seems there is some consensus regarding the Zagreb that it has a fake pedigree, and if so it is kind of silly that manufacturers feel the need to come up with false stories to back up their sets. Does it really bolster their sales that much? Maybe, but if so it is the customers who are silly.

It is a nice design no matter its history. or lack thereof. Too bad it comes with false papers, it hinders its possibilities to create its own history.

But perhaps in the age of the DGT boards and "timeless" pieces that is an impossibility, even though some tournaments use different DGT-equiped sets now, like that Saint-Louise tournament with the HoS Imperial Collector or whatever it is called...

Where and when did that Knight design originate?

As you said, it is a design that many like, myself included.

No, I named this design " Leningrad" after it was offered to us from one of our manufacturers, HOS would have been offered this design after us and the manufacturer would have offered it as, The Leningrad.....it really is that simple. 

the Zagreb design .......a design that was extremely popular in Eastern Europe in the 1950's and 60's, and was the design used in the 1959 World Championship Candidates Tournament in Bled, Zagreb. This set's most noticeable feature is, perhaps, the contrasting coloured cross and ball finials on the King, Queen and Bishop pieces.

I understand how you named the design and the manufacturer then presented it to other sellers, like HoS, with the name you gave it.

Carl, do you know when this type of Knight design first came out?  This type of Knight design, with the head bent down that way, is pretty unique.

And I have not seen this design of knight in any historical pictures, especially from that era.

Did the bent down head design start with Frank Camaratta in the late 1990's?  I kind of doubt it would, but who knows.

This design was never in popular in Yugoslavia and it never existed in Yugoslavia,only popular design in Yugoslavia was Dubrovnik chess set.You said that this set was used in 1959 candidate tournament,no my friend on tournamet in 1959 they used Dubrovnik 1955 version or better known as Fischer set.Maybe Zagreb design was popular in small city in Yugoslavia that was called Pizda Materina.I have proof for everything that I said.

Where did you got this set

I like the simplicity behind the idea of this Knight: taking a thin piece of rectangular wood and making the most of it by cutting out a little around the corners and in the middle.

ChessBazaar - Zagreb - Boxwood and Sheesham.

Thanks.

One of the things about this Knight design is how nice it is to pick up the piece to move it on a board.

The smooth, swooped sides make a very nice handle to grab.  The German Knight is like this as well.

Honestly, I have never in my life heard the more offensive name of a town. I mean if you translate it to Polish