Visiting The Art of Chess | ChessVibes

Visiting The Art of Chess | ChessVibes

Chess pieces from history

Traditional chess sets are usually from middle age European setting, and that is because it was where the game originates from, but battles and wars were fought all over the world and there is a very wide range of themes to choose from as i briefly mentioned in my previous post. Have a look at this Chinese warrior and how he would look on a cool board. Amazing! Yes it goes well with a glass of wine and some traditional flute music or zen music in the background while while the fearsome warriors are pushing the boundaries on the fields..or in our case: on the board. Its probably 5am in the morning and to early for a glass of wine, but these pretty pieces make such a difference to the whole feel of the match, but the board has to mach accordingly ,and this adds such a new dimension to it all ,I even start wanting to play right now ,don"t you? This Zulu soldier was once a strong man on the fields of South Africa and is now the figure on our board who will either put me or you in mate!

Lets talk about boards: I prefer bigger and better ,heavy boards from wood or marble or a mixture of materials and colors matching the pieces so I would suggest you invest well as it makes little sense having bought high quality pieces and playing on a cheaper board. It also makes a big difference to the quality of the game and the internal atmosphere, if -also you have the right music in the back ground .

A few themes that I could also suggest, are the American Indian and  Asian wars, and hey we can even play a WW1 game, but the trick is to preferably still  be able to see whats going on. I have mentioned though that we do get used to it after one or  two games, and if you are the owner of the set and it is a complex set then it might even give you a bit of a head start.

Antique chess pieces and boards

Everybody who is a great chess lover knows the historical feel of the game and that this actually is war-middle age war. But if you play chess for the fun and the atmosphere rather than on a competitive scale with timers, then why its surely more interesting to play with beautiful and also antique pieces, on a matching board! Sure it makes it a bit harder to see, but much more fun I would say. Just gives the game a bit more "aroma" and you quickly get used to more interesting and/or detailed sets. But we can even use themes from other historical wars e.g the Anglo-Zulu/Boer war in South Africa or the historical American wars. I even like to go as far as playing with animal pieces on a natural themed board . We can also use different metal colored boards with mini motor parts or what ever theme you can think of.

Remember  an old chess computer game which had pieces of the different wars around the world witch you could choose from? But we don't really want to play with computers anyway. Look, I like to sit at at a table with a massive fancy board and beautiful matching pieces, and almost hear the horses galloping and the men screaming. I want to almost be able to smell the smoke and the dust as I look at my opponents eyes while they are holding it out.

This is by far the most intended way of playing real chess as opposed to hammering it out recklessly with timers. Imagine we could play a high-stake game in an ancient Babylonian or Persian setting, or Roman ages. Its the about the passion for the game ,and also, but not only about winning. Why don't you think about your wars of most interest or your specific style of playing and quickly buy or even have a look at all the antique and fancywancy chess sets that there are, I am sure anybody enjoys it so much more playing or let me say fighting it out with high ranked kings and queens and well educated bishops ,instead of some boring standard black and white board.