Pieces for squares up to 1 3/4
inches large ("library size")
Soviet "Khalturin"
Material:
wood (but the Knight)
King
size: 2.4"
King
base: 1.1"
Rook
size: 1.65"
Square
size: 1.3 to 1.6"
Purchase: used
€38.30
A
quite modest set, but representative of working classes' chess sets
from the former soviet union. It dates from mid-80s (estimation, based
on identical sets still tagged with their original label). It
has
been made by Khalturin cultural goods factory (Khalturin city,
belonging to Kirov federal subject of Russia, has been renamed
to
Orlov since 1992). It is a wooden set, with the exception of the
Knight's bust, made of plastic. The pieces are rustic, felted but not
weighted, covered with a thick varnish layer. Inevitably, the USSR
pieces don't display any cross as King's finial (a plume is used),
neither any coronet for the Queen (a bobble), and no miter is symbolized
for the Bishop. Clarity is nevertheless much adequate, one gets quickly
used to identifying the pieces, that have a lot of character. The
folding board acts as a storage box, and I use this set as a travel one
I take with me during holidays. It does not fear much hazard! The 1.3"
squares board is somewhat crowded; thus at home I prefer to
use a
1.6" squares chessboard. The
factory still exists, and continues making very modest sets
(among others) for every day chess.
Ready for a
game. The original board is crowded!
(it is often typical of
Russian popular sets...)
King and
Queen (here, from left to right) have opposite color finials,
the
Bishop is slightly taller than the Queen, and the Pawn is as well
rather large.
The
Knight's resemblance to a horse's bust is rather approximative, to my
opinion
there
is a streak of a comics character, due to its big protuberant nose. It
is a much distant and simplified Latvian Knight version.
More
comfortable on 1.6" squares.
Lardy
Material: wood (boxwood)
King size: 2.7"
King base: 1.11"
Rook size: 1.39"
Square size: 1.3 to 1.6"
Purchase: used €35
I
was not actually looking for such a small (Staunton size 1) Lardy set,
but it was so cute; well preserved, complete including its original
box, its articulated board (a roll-up one, but you can just store it
flat-folded in the box), and not to mention the original brochure
and labels. Obviously, it had been barely used, and it was offered with
a cheap price. The black chessmen stain was slightly faded away,
nevertheless perfectly playable; but the stain had easily come off on
some wrapping paper added for secure shipment; so I could expect this
to worsen. As I derived strength from my experience with the Chavet
chessmen (see competition-size page), I stained the black pieces using
walnut stain, plus a clear wood sealer as a finish (also applied on
white pieces). The restored contrast perfectly fits my taste, including
so with regards to the colors of the squares. The chessmen are a bit
crowded on this board, which reminds of the size 4 Lardy "glass-eyed"
set displayed further down this page. Well, considering a so small set,
slightly oversized pieces are still a better choice than the other way
around! They were neither felted nor weighted, I managed to equip them
with felt to ensure a smoother, more pleasant contact with the wooden
chessboard.
Too cute!
On the glass-eyed knights Lardy board, which is larger (1.6" squares).
Norms
are complied with: 4 pawns fit in a square, and the Bishop can closely
slip between King and Queen placed on two diagonally adjacent squares.
This set of pieces fits rather well the slightly larger chessboard.
A nicely balanced set. The "Lardy" knight is well known and reknowned, with its distinctive horizontal forehead.
So reknowned, that it is most usually named "French Knight" abroad.
And used in the company logo!
Chessplus
Material:
plastic
King size:
2.7"
King base:
0.98"
Rook size:
1.81"
Square size: 1.6"
Purchase: new
€23.77
These
plastic pieces (package including a folding cardboard playing surface)
are specific, as in addition to enabling playing standard chess, they
are designed for a much interesting variant: two pieces (except the
King) can be joined, thus resulting in a new piece, featuring both
initial pieces moves abilities. In order to create such a superpiece, a
player can use his turn to play with moving a simple piece onto a
square that is already occupied by one of his own side (moving to a
square occupied by an opponent's piece being simply the usual capture).
The other way around, the player can later split a superpiece, moving
(using his turn to play) only half of the superpiece. Each half resumes
being a standard piece, featuring its original moves ability. Except
this, usual rules do apply, so playing Chessplus is quite simple for
anyone already aware of chess basics. The resulting gameplay is much
more dynamic, and games usually last less time. Some examples: as soon
as first moves, you may get a piece active by combining it with a Pawn,
rather than first pushing a Pawn to free the piece's
mobility.
Long range pieces (Queen, Rook, Bishop) can act as a "carrier" to
quickly bring a Pawn to promotion; by the way the set includes three
additional Queens, to fit this easiness of "Queening" a Pawn. Splitting
a superpiece can be very powerful, for attack or defense purpose. I
much like the hypermodern design of the pieces, very stylized, and easy
to recognize despite being far from the Staunton standard. On the
drawbacks side: stability is poor, because of the reduced base and of
the lightness of the pieces; and view from the back displays the join
plane (essential to superpiece combination), less attractive and less
recognizable. As far as I could find, this game is only available in
Australia (where it has been designed) and in the USA, from where I
ordered it.
The
hypermodern design is very successful to my taste.
A vinyl
chessboard can perfectly replace the folding board.
Superpieces
samples: from left to right, a Rook-Pawn; a Bishop-Knight; underneath
view of a join; a Knight-Pawn.
Both halfes are simply coupled
(they are not clipsed).
Millennium "German Knight"
Material:
wood
King size:
2.8"
King base:
1.01"
Rook size:
1.54"
Square size: 1.6"
Purchase: new
€349 with the chess computer
This
wooden set, Staunton size 2, weighted and felted, delivered with the
Millennium King
Performance, is rather fine: the chessmen are definitely compliant to
the standard, nice, and pleasant to handle. The design is nevertheless
a bit too common to my taste, especially the Knight, named "German Knight" according to
custom.
VERO
Material:
wood
King size:
2.8"
King base: 1.1"
Rook size: 1.48"
Square size: 1.6"
Purchase: used
€49.90
These
Staunton size 2 pieces have much character and now took over the place of
the "German Knight" set on my King Performance. I had a big
crush
on this former GDR set, which appears to have been very popular around
the seventies or eighties. The pieces have been made in
Grünhainichen, by VEB VERO Olbernhau,
a conglomerate
specialized in wooden toys (Vereinigte
Olbernhauer
Spielwarenbetriebe). I am especially found of the Knight, to my opinion
it is so cute. I point out another version is equipped with
glass
eyes, but this is a bit too much to my taste. I like each and every
piece: the Queen is elegant, thiner than the King, that wears a simple
but distinctive cross. The Bishop's miter is nicely elongated, the Rook
is stocky, and the Pawn is chubby! The chessmen are not weighted,
stability is not that great, particularly the Knight with its center of
gravity shifted forward by the horse's nose. But the King
Performance, using push-sensitive squares input, is anyway not designed
for any blitz games: pieces stability is not that key.
A second VERO set, purchased with the VEB RFT Chess-Master Diamond.
Dark pieces are marbled (zebrawood)!
As the magnets they are equipped with add some weight, these pieces are very pleasant to use on a nice wooden chessboard.
On the Chess-Master Diamond. This chess computer is also from GDR.
The magnets trigger sensors detecting the position of the pieces, it is an auto-response chessboard.
Despite not being the original pieces, the VERO set is a fully consistent choice, and the result is very nice!
Collector Series
Material: wood (boxwood and ebonized boxwood)
King size:
2.85"
King base: 1.18"
Rook size: 1.6"
Square size: 1.6"
Purchase: new €124.43
I
bought used (a cheap €40) the 1.6" squares chessboard displayed on
these pictures (probably Creations RC brand). The glossy varnish created too much gleam to my taste
(check the above Vero set picture taken with oblique light), and the
board suffered some tiny scratches. I thus decided to remove the
varnish and polish the board using beeswax. I was so pleased with the
result, I decided to look for a classic Staunton quality set, to
complete a nice analysis set, compact and thus without taking up a lot of space. I
wanted nice little chessmen, fully consistent with the Staunton
pattern, wooden, weigthed and felted. The market offer for size 2
Staunton is poor, and more so if you are looking for a nice quality and
enough details. This set "The Collector Series Handcarved Staunton Chess Pieces in
Ebonized Boxwood & Natural Boxwood - 2.8" King" offered by Chessbazaar
lacked any serious competition: the pieces are nice, well-proportioned,
pleasantly weighted, of course felted, and the Knight features a great
care for many details one usually only finds with larger, more
expensive pieces. Definitely a great job! The set is provided including
two additional Queens, the price includes carriage, and delivery has
been blazing fast (from India to France): ordered on Monday morning,
delivered on Friday morning, same week! Worth pointing out: two
finishes are possible: either buff wheel polished (the one I
chose) or varnished (requiring additional charge and delay). About the
size, I let you appraise the pictures; to my opinion it is definitely
perfect on 1.6" squares!
The Pawn is slightly oversized, and would as well fit for playing on 1.8" squares.
This choice fits my taste (Pawns are the soul of chess!)
The Knights: a level of details worth high-end sets.
Novag Constellation Expert
Material: wood
King size: 3.0"
King base: 1.19"
Rook size: 1.74"
Square size: 1.6"
Purchase: used €350 with the chess computer
Some
chess computer pieces are nice enough, especially wooden ones, to be
pleasant to use over the board as well. It is definitely true with
these original Novag chessmen, simply designed but nicely carved. The
chess computer they belong to dates from 1985, first one from the brand
to be made of wood, and the pieces are the very first Novag ones not to
be made of plastic. Novag commissioned them from India, and slight
differences in the carving execution of the Knights can easily be
spotted. That is part of the charm of local handicrafts!
The pieces are restrained, attractive, and sturdy as there are no protruding elements
The Knight is particularly original in its design that it partially shares with the plastic one.
I feel a tribal totem streak in it!
A&A
Material: wood
King size: 3.0"
King base: 1.24"
Rook size: 1.67"
Square size: 1.6"
Purchase: second hand, new €15
A&A stands for Alex.H
& Abel.C brand, which products are mainly offered on Amazon. I
purchased this set brand new to a private person on French Le Bon
Coin, with its original blister pack still intact; I could track
back the original price that was €44. I liked: of course the very
cheap price, the wooden chessboard (inlaid mahogany and maple) that
folds for carrying, nevertheless featuring 1.6" large squares, the
small brackets that raise the unfolded board, enabling it to lay flat
and without any nuisance at the joint, the felt bag to protect the
board surface once the box is stored or carried, and last but not
least, rudimentary but decent pieces design, felted and weighted.
I much appreciate the Knight, closer to a Chavet one than to a "German
Knight". A pair of additional Queens is available, and of course the
pieces can be stored inside the folded board. This set is absolutely
convenient for a decent playing comfort while travelling and without
any fear for damage, theft or loss, with regards to the tiny cost.
Pieces are rid of any fuss, straightforwardly recognizable, pretty solid.
The Knight is close to the Chavet' design.
A decent set for the price!
Metalochess
Material:
metal
King size:
3.6"
King base:
1.14"
Rook seize:
1.81"
Square size: 1.6"
Purchase: new
€47 (with floppy PVC chessboard)
Those
who enjoy rustic stuff (I belong to that group) will be delighted with
this indestructible set, to be assembled (230 parts to set up, this
will keep you busy a bit of time). The resulting set is splendid,
showing a nice contrast between black chessmen and white ones, and with
a well balanced respective sizing of the pieces. They are much stable,
heavy without going to extremes, and easy to handle. Of course they are
off-standard, nevertheless fairly obvious to identify. Because of the
non-compliancy, I would not suggest to use them for any serious game
with an opponent used to the Staunton design; on another hand I like to
use them for analyzing games. I bought the do-it-yourself kit including
the PVC chessboard displayed here - no way to use this set on a wooden
chessboard: the hollow cone-shaped base of the pieces cannot be felted,
the metallic edge would soon scratch the wooden surface. What a
character metal has!
The Knights.
The crowned heads.
Isle of Lewis
Material:
stone resin
King
size: 2.6"
King
base: 1.55"
Rook
size: 2.25"
Square size: 1.8"
Purchase: new
€110.36
Again
a set featuring much character, very cool for analysis - but of course
not that suitable for playing an opponent on the board, as one needs
to be used to it, for an easy enough grasp of the position. But the
beauty is amazing, and the set strongly evokes the very early times of
the game of chess (original set estimated as dating from the 12th
century). The pieces are faithful reproductions of a subset of
the
NMS (National
Museum of Scotland) exhibited
ones. Other pieces from the very same origin are displayed at
the British
Museum.
The scale is slightly reduced, and material is grinded
stone and resin. Each and every piece is amazing, my preferred one is
the Warder (Rook) represented by a berserker, with a hallucinated stare
and furiously biting his shield. I carefully checked various offered
sets before choosing this one: I didn't like many of them,
here
are the disqualifying criteria:
- inspired sets,
most probably lacking licence and therefore not faithful to the
original one
- poor quality reproductions
- normalization of pieces, most commonly with replacement
of the Warder by a medieval castle tower (non existent in the
original set), and replacing the Pawn by the Warder.
The King
has plaits, the Queen wears headdress.
The Warder
(game's Rook); with a hallucinated stare: he is a berserker.
The
set can also be used on 1.6" squares. King and Queen are a bit more
cramped for room, on another hand the small pawns are less isolated.
and here is a very successful alternative, ordered at ColdCastDesignsGmbH: rollable board with 1.732" squares, made of thin cork
layered over a fabric bottom. The size, the graphics and the natural flavored material perfectly fit.
taking a vacation at the beach...
A "realistic" depiction of the Queen, generated with DALL·E (OpenAI's image generation model).
Didatto
Material:
plastic
King size:
3.3"
King base:
1.33"
Rook size:
1.89"
Square size: 1.8"
Purchase: used
€10.70
In
some situations, you would better avoid any hazard threatening your
nice wooden chess set, so I looked for a cheap used plastic one.
Didatto is an Italian brand, that did produce wooden sets, and plastic
ones as well. This one is a quite faithful reproduction, size 4, of
Lardy pieces used during the 1974 chess olympiads in Nice. No worries
with regards to the Staunton compliancy, so. I like the classicism and
simple beauty of these chessmen, weighted and felted, which material
features a sort of deep grain (fibers?) pleasant to watch. A nice
finding, for less than €11...
Lardy
Material: wood (boxwood)
King size:
3.3"
King base:
1.33"
Rook size:
1.86"
Square size: 1.8"
Purchase: used
€16
After the above Didatto, another slightly scaled down version (size 4) of the classic "Nice 1974 chess olympiad" Lardy series. I
bought it mostly out of
curiosity, as the pieces looked to be identical to
the Didatto set, except for the wooden material. In addition they
did not
display any color fading, and looked overall mint condition; without
any sign of use. So, why not buy them for cheap €16? They were
weighted but not felted (without any trace of eventually removed
former felt), so I myself pasted some felt (for stylishness sake:
black felt under light pieces and red felt under dark ones). I also
applied a thin layer
of clear wood sealer to protect the wood and seal the present
stain, whilst adding a touch a warm tones. These small handicraft are a
pleasant hobby work and do increase the enjoyment I get to play
afterwards.
A direct comparison between the two versions I own; Didatto (plastic) and Lardy (wood).
Lardy "glass-eyed" (Parisian knights)
Material:
wood (olive-wood and rosewood)
King size:
3.4"
King base:
1.27"
Rook size:
1.84"
Square size: 1.6 to 1.8"
Purchase: inheritance
This
Staunton size 4 chess set was handed down to me after the death of my
grandfather; my parents had offered it to him during the seventies. The
peculiarity of this set lies in the glass-eyed Knights; some think they
are a bit scary, but I do love them. The set is not fully compliant to
current standard, because of the oversized Knight, taller than the
Bishop... but this is a distinctive feature of Lardy "club" sets from
then. The pieces are weighted and felted; the original folding board is
slightly too small to my taste (1.6" squares), and the pieces better
fit 1.8" squares boards.
on the
original chessboard, with 1.6" squares.
With more
room on 1.8" squares.
Take notice
of the size of the Knight, and of the distinctive Bishop ("beret"-shape
finial).
The amazing
glass-eyed Knight.
Soviet "Valdaï"
Material:
wood
King size:
3"
King base:
1.46"
Rook size:
1.67"
Square size: 1.8"
Purchase: used
€139
Again
a set dating from the soviet era, magnificently
shaped, with
much character, and full of history (purchased from RetroRussia via Etsy). They are not scarce, number of
these sets were made in the sixties in the Valdai gulag, Novgorod
federal subject, Russia. They are outstandingly elegant, with their
thin body in contrast to their large base, providing excellent
stability despite the lack of any added weight. The stylized Knights
are much distinctive!
Material:
wood (but the Knight)
