Chess Blogs Archives - Page 2 of 7

Benefits of Chess January 28, 2020

Skills to Master Through Chess

Chess, the game as we define it, is an amalgamation of moves, moves that define your winning or losing. The same way your life’s outcome depends on your moves (your habits, your consistency and planning). In chess, our goal is to checkmate the king. In life there are many goals, may it be quitting a bad habit, clearing a competitive exam or acquiring a new skill. All of them need focus, consistency and planning. But the million-dollar question is that how can you develop these skills?

Most of the chess champions are from Russia, now why is that?

The answer is practice.

Because in Russia, chess is practiced from a very young age. It’s added in their academic curriculum in mostly all education institutions. Practice or play chess as it will help to improve your skills, these skills are essential to help you to achieve anything in life.

At chessbazaar, we believe in providing chess for everyone. We provide all types of chess-related products such as chess set, chess pieces, chess boards and other chess accessories at reasonable prices without compromising on the quality.

The following are some skills you can master through chess, if you practice it regularly, you will surely see its positive effects in your life.

Collection of Chess Pieces and Chess Boards — The 1950s Soviet Latvian Reproduction

Observation

“To acquire knowledge, one must study;
but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.”
― Marilyn vos Savant

In this context, we just need to keep our mind focused and your glance on the chessboard. Don’t let yourself get distracted by anything. Observation doesn’t mean you have to observe everything in surroundings, but you should rather be focused on your next move.

Memory Enhancement

Memory is an important feature of the human mind. Memory gets sharp when one tries hard to remember chess moves of the opponent as well as his own. We should use this aspect of the human mind to our fullest potential and we can do it by mind exercises and what better exercise than chess!

Logic Enhancement

Logic is free of emotions and it deals very specifically with a set of information in its truest form. Logic plays an important role when one is clouded by enormous thoughts and strategies. Asking yourself the right questions to find a logical pattern (which is the key) and once the pattern is found, then the logic fastens and your logical ability to solve a puzzle craves for more problems.

Analysis

When we play a game of chess, after finishing we must analyze the moves and try to figure out what we could have done, what we should have focused on, this technique will help the player in future games. Through this process, we teach ourselves to get more advanced in the game by analyzing our and competitor’s good and bad moves.

An analysis is very important for progress in any field. At chessbazaar, we have exactly the chess set which is used by players to analyze the chess games in their training called analysis chess sets.

Academic Performance

It is said that the ruler of India asked his wise men to devise a way to teach the children of the royal family to become better thinkers and better generals on the battlefield. Chess was the result.

Most schools in the world have chess as an extra-curricular activity. Countries like Albania, Netherlands and many other European counties lay emphasis on chess activities. Chess helps in Focusing, Visualizing & Planning which helps the students in other subjects significantly.

Calmness under Pressure

In order to reap the rewards that a state of calmness can bring into your life, you will need to become more mindful. Being more mindful means being more focused on the moment.

It means letting go of past regrets. It means redirecting your mind away from current stresses, and it also means refocusing yourself away from future worries. You can try this by focusing your mind on a puzzle or a chess game.

Chess forces you to think critically and slowly, it forces you to be patient enough to create a trap for the opponent and cherish him being caught.

To stay calm under pressure is very difficult, but as you practice and practice you enjoy the competition and feel home. And, when you feel home, you are the king.

Creative Thinking

As discussed above, creating traps for your competitor you need creativity and improvisation. Each move catalyzes your creative thinking. In chess, you are forced to find out each & every possible move, you can take to evade capture or kill of your pieces.

“Mystery is at the heart of creativity.”
― Julia Cameron

Increases concentration.

Chess offers immediate penalties and rewards for problem-solving which forces the player to bring his/her full attention to the problem at hand. One tries hard to counter the opponent’s move in a manner that saves our piece under attack. Focus and discipline can be other outcomes of chess.

Chess creates such an observing system in mind, when used faithfully, can bring out success.

Play Chess with More Confident — It’s all about keeping the calm in the chaos.

Chess Blogs January 1, 2020

What Are Triple Weighted/ Double/Non-Weighted Chess Pieces?

Most of the time people buy chess pieces and chess boards just for fun and later they realize ( after playing) that they don’t like the weight, the stability of the pieces and sometimes the size of the king. Believe it or not these things matter in the experience and flow of the game-play. That’s why there’s a standard chess set for World chess Championships and tournaments. The Staunton chess pieces.

Now, let’s discuss what differentiates chess pieces. Chess pieces come in different sizes, shapes, colors, and weights. And, one can choose chessmen according to their own needs and specifications.

There are two types:

1) Weighted Pieces

As the name suggests these pieces are left hollow from the bottom and later the weights are added into them.

FYI: there is no industry standard for set “weighting”. It depends on the vendor to differentiate weight categories and also keeping in mind the convenience of the end-user.

To have an approx idea :

Double weighted King Weighs between 2 – 3 oz.

Triple weighted King Weighs between 3 -4 oz.

What’s in weighted chess pieces that make them heavy?

-Usually Iron studs

-Lead is also used in some cases which makes the chess pieces a little more expensive, it is mostly seen in exotic & non-rust wood, it’s also heavier than studs.

Types of Weighted chess pieces.

Double weighted

Two Iron studs are added with keeping in mind the height of each chessman. Chess sets weighing between 1000-2000gms are usually called Double weighted.

We at chessbazaar , deal in all types of chess sets but our best-sellers are weighted chess sets. You can check out the double-weighted chess set below.

Double weighted chess pieces — Double Weighted Chess Pieces

Triple weighted

Chess sets weighing more than 2000gms are usually called Triple weighted. Three Iron studs or lead are added with keeping in mind the height of each chessmen.

Check out chessbazaar’s triple weighted chess sets:

Weight also depends on the type of wood, Boxwood is lighter than Ebony, Padauk, etc.

2) Non- Weighted Pieces

Chess pieces with no weights inside them (mostly pre-staunton, bone, plastic chess sets).

The thing to note while buying chess pieces is the size of the king will increase with weight. In order to maintain the center of gravity and equilibrium, it is mandatory that the size, weight, and height are in proportion.

Weighted v/s non-weighted

Weighted	Non-weighted
Comfortable to move and place.	Comfortable to move
Sturdy	Light weighted
Don’t tip over easily	Tips over easily

We recommend you to kindly subscribe to our newsletter for upcoming deals and new launches.

Bottomline

The chess pieces with the bigger bases and heavier weight give a very pleasant feel to hold and give a nice thud sound when released on the board. Of Course, Such chess sets command better prices and in my opinion the naming of the chess pieces as weighted, double weighted and triple weighted has been done just to simplify the process of selection of the chess set. Even a layman can make out that the Triple Weighted Chess Set is heavier than the Double Weighted Chess Set and the Double Weighted Chess Set is heavier than the Weighted Chess Set. The weighted chess pieces are fixed with a stud of iron in the base while double and triple weighted chess pieces are fixed with lead studs at the base. Lead being more dense, is used for double and triple weighted chess sets. Generally, double weighted chess sets are mostly preferred as they are reasonably heavy and economically priced.

Also Read: Chess Board and Pieces Dimensions

Benefits of Chess December 13, 2019

Want to relax? Try Chess

According to Gallup Global Emotions Report people around the world are becoming angrier, anxious and stressed. According to the report, some 150,000 people were interviewed in 140 countries, one-third said they feel stressed, one-fifth said they experienced anger and sadness.

Since many people are getting more stressed due to busy schedule or home/office chores, we recommend deviating your mind from the problem you are facing for a little while and get yourself busy in any activity which relieves stress.

Recreational activities such as trekking, indoor/ outdoor games help relieve stress. For a problem to be solved a mind should be relaxed, focused & creative.

Knight - Luxurious Chess Pieces — Beautiful Pieces of Chess surely create a beautiful view

Stress doesn’t solve the problem but adds to the problem. The vision becomes blurry and the thinking starts to be negative. This might be due to excessive use of Audio/Video devices such as mobiles, TV or Play stations.

Guess what! We have a game that is scientifically proven to be helpful in developing analytical skills and developing the brain to be more focused, creative and also help you in reducing anxiety levels.

The game is Chess, which is known for the many beneficial effects it has on a human brain. Chess is actually considered a total brain workout. May it be reading, listening or concentration skills, chess definitely improves them when one plays it regularly.

Chess has many positive effects when played regularly. Some of them are mentioned below:

Anxiety management.
Chess improves decision-making skills.
Chess improves memory.
Chess enhances IQ.
Chess helps you socialize and make new friends.

We at chessbazaar offer wooden handcrafted chess sets suiting to amateurs and professionals. From plastic chess sets and tournament chess pieces, people who are new to this game or people who are just trying this game for leisure purposes or some serious club chess players. We also offer some amazing chess boards to choose from. We have luxury chess sets and antique chess sets for chess collectors and enthusiasts.

Collection of handcrafted chess pieces — Our in-Trending Products

We are in love with chess and after reading this blog we are waiting for you to join us :).

Not just chess but other strategy wooden games such as Backgammon and Checkers are also in the same league, though not as popular as chess, but is as addictive as chess.

Another scientific fact is that there is no radiation emission from pieces of wood (chess pieces & chess boards) unlike modern devices such as mobiles, Tabs, Laptops which only increase the stress and put a strain on your eyes.

Many students & teachers use chess as an extra-curricular activity for the development of the brain.

Benefits of Playing Chess to Kids/Students

If young kids are introduced to chess in early age they can be future leaders one day as persistence, faith, patience, foresight, analyzing and decision-making skills can easily be grasped by them which they will experience in the game-play and will definitely help them have a clear focused mind to choose what they want to be in life.

Benefits of Playing Chess to Senior citizens

A Story: An old man decides to learn chess at the age of 76 after his wife’s death. He was very lonely and depressed and was having no purpose in life. So, after he learned chess he became an active member of the local chess club. He felt the change, he became positive by looking at this new phase of life with just adapting to an activity, in this case, its chess. He became friends with many through chess and is no longer feeling low. So, it is obvious that playing chess is a great activity for retired people.

Chess is an exciting, challenging, and thrilling game for people of all ages to play with one another.

Chess player participating in Chessbazaar Chess Challenge — *1849 Original Staunton Chess Pieces* in action

New scientific research came out which shows that chess is so much more than just a game and states that it even changes the basic structure of our brains!

Related: Video Games Addict? Here’s How to Quit

Readers must know that when a person is confused and having trouble finding a solution to their problem he or she becomes stressed. Here comes cognitive behavior theory which states that playing a strategy game actually develops a brain to solve problems with focus and precision.

We recommend you should give chess and other wooden strategy games a try and see the change yourself.

Chess Blogs December 9, 2019

Best Designer & Unique Chess Sets for Décor, Study, Home Office or Library

If you think that chess sets are made to be played only between two players, then think again. Though recently, with the introduction of 3 players and 4 players chess set, chess is not a 2 player game anymore. Chess has grown many-folds as a game. The vast variety of chessmen (in design and structure) still amazes many.

Chess as a game has the respect and love of many around the world. The beauty of a chess set is not only a delight for players but also for the ones who actually don’t play.

Now you may wonder, How?

Actually, due to chess pieces being made in many beautiful and attractive designs and patterns, chess sets are also used as decor by many, may it be an office, home or library. Your eyes will definitely enjoy the beauty of an artistically made chess sets including chessboard and chessmen.

A chess set will surely give a grandeur look and feel to wherever you put it. It will definitely create an ambiance that defines elegance and intelligence at the same time.

Chess pieces came in many patterns and designs. While the majority of the chess sets come in traditional Staunton style, where knights resemble a horse, there are many pre-Staunton chess sets, which will be a perfect fit for your décor. In fact, some of the chess sets are so differently carved, it is hard to recognize them as a chess set.

Here are our recommendations for the chess set you should have as a décor for your home office, library or study.

Let’s start from the Staunton Style chess sets.

The Best Chess Sets for Home Décor

The Excalibur Chess Set

One of the most luxurious chess set in our inventory, Excalibur makes the perfect chess set for the home décor. You can keep it on a central table or in a lobby, depends on your liking. This 34 pieces chess set came in two different exotic kinds of wood, i.e Padauk a.k.a Bud Rosewood or the Ebony wood. Depending on the color theme of your indoor, you can pick any of your choices. These chess pieces are available in a set of 34 chess pieces with 2 extra queens and in a perfect combo if you want both board and pieces together.

The Excalibur Chess Set from Chessbazaar — **The Excalibur Chess Set**

2. The St. Petersburg Chess Set

This set gets its name from St Petersberg city as the final of the king is inspired by the golden dome of Saint Isaac’s Cathedral which dominates Russia’s rebel city St Petersburg skyline. The knight is the special attraction in this set with a tilted neck as if the horse is following his masters’ direction. To carve this knight, a carver needs at least 3 days to complete with the highest precision as a single mistake can ruin the whole of the knight. The chess set comes in both genuine ebony wood and padauk wood to choose from.

Artisan Series Chess Pieces from chessbazaar

3. The CB Mustang Chess Set

As always, the CB Mustang gets its inspiration from the Mustang horse. Mustang horses are known for their Strong and Sturdy legs, great intelligence and some of them have very great feathering or hair growth. The knights are precision crafted. The wavy & flowing mane of the knight represents the Mustang in full gallop. Another feature that sets this set apart is the rook. The rook or towers comes with a doubleheader that is well crafted and the inspiration comes from the Gothic castles mainly found in Europe. The set comes in both ebony and padauk wood with combinations of chess board to choose from.

You can also explore our other wide range of luxury chess pieces that come in a variety of exotic woods.

Some other pre-Staunton chess sets also look good and give an antique look to the corner of the house. Some of the antique sets are discussed below:

1. The Calvert Chess Set

Developed in the 17^th century in Ivory, this chess set is the most favorite and mostly collected by the collectors’ community throughout the world. We used to offer this set in camel bone, however, due to the high cost of camel bone due to the rarity we only make through special requests only. Though, we offer this set in bud rosewood aka padauk wood.

Chessbazaar Calvert Chess Set — **The Calvert Chess Set**

2. The Regency Chess Set

The French Regency chess set was also developed in the 18^th century in ivory, somewhere in France. This set is associated with a French regency period(the days of Richelieu and Mazarin). There are various variations of this chess set and the one we sell is known as German Cassette where the knight head and the base are two-piece. The regency set is available in Ebony Wood, Bud Rosewood and Ebonized Wood.

Famous Regency Chess Set — *The Regency Chess Set*

3. The Biedermeier Chess Set

The “Biedermeier” period is the period of the French Revolution in 1830 in France. The typical figure fo these times in Germany and Austria were “proper Mr. meier” (= der biedere Herr Meier), an archetype of the politically passive, worksome and philistrian petit bourgeois. These chessmen were made in the 19^th century mainly in Germany and Austria. There are different variations of Biedermeier chessmen and the one with slope bishops are the most remarkable chessmen ever produced. This beautiful chess set is reproduced in Bud Rosewood and boxwood.

4. The Calvert Type II Chess Set

The very fine and famous Calvert type II English Chessmen were produced in the 1800s. There were also known as the Barleycorn-style chess set. The fine carving and lathe work is a looker and they were initially produced in the ivory. This set also comes in different variations and styles. You can see the range of Calvert chess set in different woods and bone.

We recommend you to kindly subscribe to our newsletter for upcoming deals and new launches.

Benefits of Chess November 30, 2019

Why do you play chess? By Conrad Conero

I’d like to take a few minutes to talk about motivation. Why do you play chess? That will most likely be based upon how you view the game – as a sport, a science, an art, or just a game. If you see it as a sport, naturally you’ll put your focus on winning and on improvement as a concomitant part of that.

Probably a majority of players view it that way. But for that to be fulfilling, you have to have the skill and knowledge to keep progressing. Otherwise, you will probably ultimately plateau, become discouraged by your losses and inability to go beyond that level, and lose interest in the game, as has happened to a number of players that I know of from club players to Experts.

From my viewpoint that would be disappointing since you’d then lose out on the pleasure, intellectual satisfaction and other benefits that the game provides.

I personally have evolved through that particular motivation to view the game as more of a science or an art. Then I’m not disappointed if I don’t reach a higher skill level and can focus on the benefits that my viewpoint provides, e.g. the joy that comes from solving a problem on the board, since a game is basically a series of those.

Working on independent chess problems brings the same pleasure as well. I won’t solve them all, but there’ll be intellectual satisfaction from any that I do solve and a continuing challenge to work on more.

I also see the game as an art, and from that viewpoint can view a relatively error-free game or one with a clever tactical coup as aesthetically pleasing. And it doesn’t even have to be in a winning effort. Both players can find satisfaction in contributing to the creation of a work of art. It’s a joint effort.

Conrad Conero with chessbazaar’s 1849 Reproduction

The loser Kieseritzky shares the glory equally with the victor Anderssen in the creation of the “Immortal Game”.

And if one is playing just for fun, since it is a game after all, why that’s perfectly fine as well and can provide more than enough pleasure.

So I see all of this in its totality as another of the joys of chess, that you can choose whatever aspect brings you the most pleasure and focus on that, including collecting its accouterments, such as various chess sets, thereby ensuring that you don’t lose the opportunity to continue participating in this wonderful game.”

More to Read: Play Chess with a Touch of Royalty and Luxury

Chess Blogs November 16, 2019

The Deadly Sins of Chess, By Connor Eickelman

There’s only one reason why you’re not a master, or a grandmaster, or even a world champion: Maybe it’s a lack of chess knowledge, in the opening, or the endgame. Maybe it’s a lack of energy at the board. Or, maybe it’s a psychological flaw. I can’t suddenly teach you all the opening knowledge you need, or give you an energy boost at the board, but I might be able to help your chess psychology. I think that the best way to organize chess psychology mistakes is with some of the deadly sins of antiquity.

Pride

You’ve checked the pairing sheets for this round. You’ve got an easy opponent this round. Look at his rating! You’ll get an easy win this round, and have time for a leisurely lunch. After every move, you get up and stretch. You chat with a buddy at the water cooler. When you get back to your board, around move 15, you start frowning. This position is a little uncomfortable. By move 25, you start sweating. Wasn’t this supposed to be easy? At move 30, you check your clock. Did you really use all that time? At move 37, in a vicious time scramble, you hang a piece. Whoops.

Greed and Gluttony

If the only way to refute a sacrifice is to accept it, you’ve refuted every sacrifice in the book. If you see a hanging queen’s knight pawn, you take it without thinking. If you’re a little bit better, and your opponent sacrifices a pawn, you gobble it up. But, those queen knight pawns have a habit of being poisoned. Accepting those pawn sacrifices gives your opponent just a bit too much counterplay. And all those extra pawns on the queenside? They don’t help you when your opponent mates you on the other side of the board.

Sloth

It’s been a long game. Three hours, at least. You have the great good fortune of being in a winning position. Even a beginner could win this, you say. There’s no harm in relaxing a bit. There’s no need to calculate so hard on each move. You don’t notice your opponent squirming out of his losing position until it’s too late.

Lust and Envy

What’s the best opening in the world? You might be thinking of the Slav, or the French, or maybe the Sicilian Najdorf. All of these answers wrong. Actually, it’s the opening that you’re not currently playing. Maybe you lose a couple of games in a row with your favorite opening. You decide to “move to greener pastures” and find a new favorite opening. You buy a couple of books, study for a few months, and whip it out at a big tournament, and are duly crushed. Find another opening, buy new books, wash, rinse, repeat.

Also Read: Skills to Master Through Chess

So, what can you do if you’re consumed by Pride in your high rating, or by Greed when you see a “free” pawn, or Sloth when you have to win a “won game”, or Envy when your openings just don’t seem to work? It’s not something you can fix overnight, but I do have some advice.

If you’re guilty of Pride, don’t look at your opponent’s rating before the game. Assume that every opponent is stronger than you until you beat him. The solution to Sloth is similar. Don’t let your guard down until your opponent resigns. You’ll have plenty of time to relax after the game.

Greed is a tough sin to beat. I recommend walking away from the board if you think you see a bit of “free” material. Come back to the board with fresh eyes, and check for any silly tactics. You’ll be amazed at how effective this is at preventing those silly mistakes that always seem to come after taking that hanging pawn.

For Envy and Lust, remember that you play your openings for a reason. Why switch away from a perfectly good opening that you’ve played for countless games because of a couple of losses? Unless you’re playing something obviously unsound, consider putting the opening away for a little while, then coming back to it once the negative feelings have subsided.

More than enough books have been written about every phase of the game of chess, but there is a severe lack of books on the psychology of chess. All of the knowledge in the world won’t help you if you don’t apply it, and you have to be in the right frame of mind to apply that knowledge. I hope this article has given you some help identifying your “deadly sin” and given you some ideas on how to overcome them.

More to Read: 10 Best Chess Quotes

Chess Blogs November 11, 2019

Tips for Improving your Chess Training Session, By A. Claudio Marcolino

Every time I start a chess lecture and the subject is related to improving or training, I place the following question to the audience:

– Why don’t you improve in chess?

Answers always refer to lacks… Lack of time, lack of books, lack of money, lack of teachers, lack of computers and software… Of course to own the very best notebook with Chessbase and updated Megabase, to own Dvoretsky books collection, to have several free hours a day and the best instructor around will be great, but…

– But what, teacher?

Well, you need something that is inside yourself… Something that you can’t buy…

I mean METHOD and FOCUS. Even if you have time, money, a good teacher, the best hardware and software, if you don’t have a METHOD and a good FOCUS, your improvement will be severely harmed! Believe me! This happened to me, more than 20 years ago…

A couple of weeks ago, I got a book called “Deep Work”, written by Carl Newport. “Rules for focused success in a distracted world” is the cover quotation. It is not a chess book, but it points, in a clever and clear way, the problems we faced to work or study without METHOD and FOCUS. Newport says that we live in a “distracted world”.

Can you count how many things can interrupt or delay our chess training session? Cell phone, electronic messages, tv news, social media in general, noises, family issues…

Related: Chess Books

I got some ideas from Newport and tried to adapt them to our environment, a chess training session environment. And, stated them in topics. So, let’s go…

Every time you are going to train, with a teacher or alone:

– Define clearly the starting and ending times for your session. I strongly believe that, for chess, less than two hours won’t be that effective.

– Define your goal and schedule for the session. For instance: I’ll study tactics and solve problems for the first 30 minutes, then I’ll spend an hour checking an annotated game, after that, I’ll read an ending book and so on… A major plan can help with that.

– Ask your friends and family to not interrupt your session.

– Stay away from social media!

– Turn off cell phones, radio sets, TV sets…

– Only use your computer as a tool for your chess training session. Sorry, no on-line blitz!

– Always use your chessboard! Even if your material is a computer one. Don’t train or study on your computer screen. Never!

Also Read: History, Openings, and Strategy of Chess by Steven Connolly

– This is not mandatory: Boosters… You can use some boosters if you feel this will improve your focus. Whatever… A cup of coffee, a glass of your preferred juice, a big meal (lol), a prayer, a Day-dream, a couple of minutes of quietude… Up to you! Enjoy your session!

I hope these words will help you with your next chess training session. I’ll be more than happy if you write to me in the comment section below pointing something related to this method. Please, feel free to share the article… friends, blogs, teachers…

A bit about myself: I am a Brazilian player and teacher. 58 years old and an Electronical Engineer. My current FIDE ELO is 2077 and my peak was 2154, as far as I remember, 20 years ago.

Me with my Chessbazaar New Columbian knight! October, 20th, 2019.

Chess Blogs November 4, 2019

My best game of all time, by Maxime Morin

Hi everyone, for this blog, I would like to present to you my best game of all time. Of all the games I played during my life, I still consider this game to be the one where I played the most accurately. Of course, my opponent did help me a little bit during this game but my play was almost flawless.

It happened a little bit over 4 years ago in 2015 at the AIDEF Championships. I had been on a 14 years layoff and I had not played since 2001. There were two sections for this tournament which were the Open section and the U1600.

I was playing in the U1600. I had a good start and if I remember correctly this game was played in round 4 or 5 and before that game, I had a draw and I had won all my other games.

I had the White pieces and my opponent was Black. I opened the game with 1.e4 and my opponent replied with c5.

I decided to go into uncharted territory by playing a Closed Sicilian with 2.Nc3.

I also wanted to get my opponent out of the book as soon as possible. My opponent played Nc6 and then I played 3.Nge2. The next few moves were e6,

4.g3 d5

5.exd5 exd5

6. d4 Be6

7.Bg2 and now we see that d5 is gonna be White’s target. My opponent played c4 which I consider a waste of time.

I played 8.0-0 and my opponent replied g6 which is too slow.

White now stands better and has now the initiative. Also, the Black king was still in the center. Now I played 9.Nf4 threatening to win the pawn on d5 and Black played Nf6 to defend it.

I played 10.Re1 and then followed Ne7

11.Nxe6 fxe6

12.Rxe6 Kf7

13.Qe2.

Now I have control of the e-file. My opponent played Nf5 planning to pick the pawn on d4 and to fork my rook and my queen but the game is over. I played Bg5! and as planned my opponent played Nxd4

but I had the crushing move 15.Rxf6+!. Here Black played Kg7

and I replied with the strong 16.Qe5.

The last move of my opponent was Nc6 and here there is more than one winning move. I did not bother calculating that much. I played the move 17.Rxc6+ and here Black resigned.

I missed a mate in 4 moves. Can you find it? Comment Below.

More to Read: Why I collect chess sets, by John Lawson

– Maxime Morin from Canada

Chess Blogs October 25, 2019

Why I collect chess sets, by John Lawson

People typically collect chess sets for many reasons. Wooden chess sets are beautiful. They can be collected economically. There are many, many styles for every taste and décor, and they can be displayed attractively in one’s home or office. Best of all, you can play chess with them! These are all good reasons, but I started collecting chess sets for a different reason: I play chess variants.

Chess can be played by other rules than the FIDE rules we are familiar with. In fact, FIDE chess is actually a variant of the form of chess played in Europe in Medieval times. The moves of the Bishop and Queen were once much more limited. Thousands of chess variants have been invented by enthusiasts, many with pieces with novel moves on larger boards, and in order to play them, you have to assemble a larger and more varied set of pieces than normal chess set.

I have seven Chessbazaar sets I can use as a source of pieces to assemble sets for playing variants. They are all boxwood and ebonized boxwood so that all the colors match. The sets are:

M0040 The Classic Series Cone Shaped Chess Pieces

M0051 The Wooden Hour Glass Series Chess Pieces

R0340 The Championship Series Staunton Chess Set

R0342 The Australian War Memorial Reproduced Chess Set by ACF

S1273 Minimalist Hermann Ohme Chess Set

VJ082 Geometric Minimalist Pattern Seamless Design Chess Pieces

R0397B 1940s Art Deco Series Weighted Chess Pieces

To demonstrate how I would select the pieces to create a variant set, I’ll set up an array to play “Tamerlane Chess” as an example. Tamerlane Chess was played in the area that is now Iran and Central Asia and is called that because, according to legend, it was a favorite of Tamerlane (Timur), who carved out an empire in that area in the 14th Century. Tamerlane is played on a 10×11 square board. (An Internet search will easily find the complete rules if you interested.) Sadly, the paper-and-cardboard Tamerlane Chessboard I made for myself is not available, so I will lay out the pieces on my chess table with the same spacing and orientation as if they were on the 10×11 Tamerlane board.

Also Read: Why Handmade Wooden Chess Sets are expensive?

My typical process is to start with a Staunton set to represent the pieces in whatever variant I’m playing whose moves are identical to modern FIDE pieces. For this example, I am using R0340, The Championship Series Staunton Chess Set.

Tamerlane Chess – Step 1

In the Tamerlane variant: there are three different pieces with diagonal moves reminiscent of the Bishop; Rooks and two pieces whose orthogonal moves resemble the Rook; Knights and two pieces whose moves resemble Knights. There are no Queens, and eleven Pawns are needed.

The diagonal-moving pieces have moved of three different ranges, but none move exactly like a Bishop. I will select Bishops of three different designs that suggest, to me, their different ranges.

Available Bishops

I am choosing the R0342 (Australian War Memorial Reproduced Chess Set), S1273 (Minimalist Hermann Ohme Chess Set), and R0397B (1940s Art Deco Series) Bishops.

Tamerlane Chess – Step 2

The orthogonal-moving pieces include a Rook and two pieces of shorter range.

Available Rooks

I have selected the R0340 (The Championship Series Staunton Chess Set) Rook, and the M0051(Wooden Hour Glass Series) and R0342 (Australian War Memorial Reproduced Chess Set) Rooks.

Tamerlane Chess – Step 3

The leaping pieces include a Knight and two leaping pieces of longer range.

Available Knights

I have selected the R0340 (The Championship Series Staunton Chess Set) Knight and the R0342 ( The Australian War Memorial Reproduced Chess Set ) and S1273 ( Hermann Ohme Chess ) Knights.

Tamerlane Chess – Step 4

I need eleven Pawns, so I will have to use Pawns from two different sets. The Pawns need to be visually similar, since having two very different designs would be confusing.

Available Pawns

I will use the R0340 pawns (The Championship Series ), plus three similar pawns from the S1273 (Hermann Ohme Chess Set) set. As R0340 pawns are captured, I will use them to replace the S1273 Pawns on the board.

Tamerlane Chess – Step 5

And now we have the Tamerlane Chess game set up and ready to play, and because we used sets with similar finishes, and gave some thought to how we selected the other pieces, we should be able to play with little risk of spoiling the game by misidentifying a piece.

Tamerlane Chess – Ready to play!

More to Read: Chess Board and Pieces Dimensions

Also Read: 6 Tips to Choose the Best Chess Board for Your Need

Chess Blogs October 22, 2019

Yet another custom chess set Delivered!

One of our esteemed customers requested to make a custom chess set for us. Though the requirement was quite simple, however, meeting and overcoming the customers’ expectations was a big challenge for us. We deliver in the given time-frame and the customer gets this amazing collection in his arsenal.

The Requirement: The Reproduced 1849 Original Staunton Pattern Chess Set on chessbazaar.com was available in two variants. The customer wants to make 17 pieces in painted green color.

Cost and Delivery Time: Due to the Non-disclosure agreement as per our privacy policy, we won’t be able to share the cost. However, we estimate the time to be in between 6-8 weeks, though we complete the task in 5 weeks straight.

This set brings a vintage experience with King proudly standing at 4.5″ tall with a base diameter of 1.8″. While this set is a complete gold in the industry we paid special attention to its making and our Artisans made it with love and utmost care.

The set as you know came in Ebony & Crimson. Shown below in the picture:

When the customer came up with an idea and contacted us, his idea excited us. The customer wanted to have a different variety of color in his collection. For the reader’s knowledge and information, we at chessbazaar have a persistent long history of making custom chess sets according to the wants & desires of our customers.

Any person who desires to make custom chess sets can contact us anytime with specifications and details. We provide on-call/email services where we understand each and every detail our customer gives us to make his/her fantasy into reality.

A person can just think freely of anything related to chess may it be pieces, boards, paperweights and we try our best to create it and give him the end fruit of his thoughts.

When the final outcome came out of production, we were amazed to see the look of the rich military green color, it looked classy and elegant in gloss finish. We loved it and our customer was delighted & proud to have it. We and our customer is proud of this customized creation.

Check out this amazing outcome:

The reason for writing this blog is to encourage and thank our customers for believing in our products and our creations and we look forward to more challenges and happy customers.

In case your creative side is turned on reading this, and you also want to design with us make sure to share your imagination with us which we are eagerly waiting to turn it into reality.

For more information visit https://www.chessbazaar.com/custom-design/

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