CHESS

I'm sort of a chess fanatic (doesn't mean I'm good). Right now I'm an average tournament player.

I have several chess sets and books, and I subscribe to a couple of chess periodicals (Chess Life & New In Chess)

 

I have 13 chess sets (12 shown here)

This is a Capablanca Chess set (wooden pieces). Capablanca was the 3rd world champion (1921-27) and was worried that chess theory was at the end of its development so he created this chess variant by adding two more peices: a Chancellor and an Archbishop. Just like the Queen moves as a combination of Rook and Bishop, the Chancellor moves as a combination of Rook and Knight, and the Archbishop moves as a combination of Bishop and Knight. Differences in board set up and moves are: 1) Queens are placed on opposite colored squares, 2) the Chancellor is placed on the weak (King's) side between Bishop and Knight, 3) Archbishop is placed on the strong (Queen's) side between the Bishop and Knight, and 4) when castling, the King moves three spaces towards the Rook. Most quality chess sets come with two sets of Queens.

White Chancellor (far right)

White Archbishop

Black Archbishop

Black Chancellor

My favorite set, Rosewood (wooden pieces), also with two sets of Queens.

Rosewood set, White

Rosewood set, White

Rosewood set, Black

My second favorite set, Ebonized (wooden pieces), also with two sets of Queens. I keep these two favorite sets setup all the time because I use them nearly daily.

Ebonized set, White

Ebonized set, Black

My third favorite set, the design (Drueke) was very popular back in the early 70's when I used to play a lot as a kid.

Drueke White

Drueke White

Drueke Black

Drueke Black

This is my tournament set. The board can be rolled up and it with the pieces and chess clock fit into a special carrying case. Next to my two favorite sets, I use this one more than any other set.

Tournament, Black

Tournament, White

This is an ivory set that my brother gave to me several years ago. He got this thematic set in Africa. While I think that thematic sets are fun and interesting, I wouldn't play a serious game with one (most players would agree).

Ivory, White

Ivory, White

Ivory, Black

Ivory, Black

Another thematic set, the design is Egyptian. This set belonged to my folks for several years, but they recently gave it to me.

Egyptian, Black

Egyptian, White

Egyptian, White

This set is a little smaller than the others and use it as an analysis set (I have two of them and keep the other one in my truck).

This even smaller set is one of my travel sets, and my favorite and magnetic. It was a Father's Day gift from my family, purchased and celebrated in Barcelona, Spain. The dark pieces were originally the same color as the board, but since this shade of green is so dark it made it difficult to see the pieces clearly so I painted them a lighter shade of green. A good friend of mine told me that this was a bad idea, but now he thinks the set looks great.

Favorite travel set, White

Favorite travel set, White

Favorite travel set

Travel set, also magnetic

Travel set

This is a tiny travel set, also magnetic, and folds up like a book.

Small travel set

I used this computer travel set often, it's great for airplanes and waiting rooms (I've turned the stupid sounds off though).

 

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