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Greatest Chess Players November 25, 2019

Viswanathan “Vishy” Anand

We at chessbazaar.com admire chess and chess players around the world, and we love to write about them so that one day one might seek motivation and follow them if one wants to pursue a career in chess. Indeed, the life of this player revolves around chess from a very young age.

Born on 11th December 1969, in Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu, India. Mr. Vishwanathan “Vishy” Anand is an Indian chess Grandmaster and former World Chess Champion. He became India’s first grandmaster in 1988.

He first won the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2000 and held it till 2002, thus becoming the first Asian to do so. After that, he won the FIDE Championship in the years 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2012.

(Vishy with his mother)

His first chess mentor was his own mother who also played very good chess & Vishy followed and the interest was created at an early age of 6.

Vishwanathan is also known as “Tiger of Madras” because of his sheer domination in chess over the years. He is a bachelor of commerce which he completed from Loyola College, Chennai, India.

He became the youngest international master at age of 14 by winning the National Sub-Junior Chess Championship in 1983. In 1987, Mr. Anand became the first Indian to win the World Junior Chess Championship.

In 2000, Anand won the FIDE World Chess Championship defeating Alexei Shirov (a Latvian and Spanish) player which also made him the first Indian to do so.

Did you know

Anand wrote a book titled ‘My Best Games of Chess,’ in which he shared his journey of chess (if you want to know more about him, a must-read). In 1998, the British Chess Federation gave the ‘Book of the Year’ award for his book.

Awards are bound to come when one is such a splendid player.

At the age of 18, Anand was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri (the fourth highest civilian award in India). Viswanathan was the first Indian sports player in history to get the Padma Vibhushan award in 2007. He also received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 1991-92(India’s highest sporting honor).

Young Anand playing with Chavet Championship Tournament Chess Pieces

Not only he won the Indian awards but he also got rewarded with many International awards all over the world.

In April 2006, he passed the 2800 Elo mark on the FIDE rating list and became the fourth player to do so; after Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov.

On November 7, 2010, when the then US President Barack Obama was on a visit to India, Anand was the only sportsperson to be invited for the dinner hosted by the then Indian PM Manmohan Singh.

In the words of Lubomir Kavalek, a Czech-American chess player, Anand is the only player to have won the world chess championship in the tournament, match, and knockout format, as well as rapid time controls.

Anand has endorsed brands such as NIIT and has a net worth of around $3 million.

For his swift and fast way of playing his moves in the game of Chess, he got the nickname “Lightning Kid”.

Anand has a large assortment of hobbies and interests apart from Chess. Apart from Tamil, Hindi and English, he is also fluent in French, German, and Spanish languages. He also has a keen interest in Astronomy and a book on astronomy written by Carl Sagan from the United States is his all-time favorite.

*Playing with white pieces, Viswanathan Anand drew the first game of the 2014 World Chess Championship against 23-year-old defending champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway.

Did you know?

Anand has a minor planet named after him named “(4538) Vishyanand” which was discovered in 1988.

He is a huge history buff too. Nowadays, he is also fascinated by statistics.

Call it intuition, a hunch, or a gut feeling- if we followed it, we just might be happier or a champion in Anand’s case. Vishwanathan Anand has admitted that intuition is his best trait.

In the latest events, Vishy is seen with Carlsen at Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Blitz, the final leg of the Grand Chess Tour 2019.

We at chessbazaar.com wish Vishy a fruitful career ahead and we wish him more success. He is a living legend in the game of chess.

Also Read: Benefits of Chess!!!

More to Read: HOW TO CASTLE IN CHESS

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 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/

More Posts to Read:

Chess Blogs July 3, 2019

Monthly Round-Up – June 2019

June of 2019 is now behind us and tradition dictates that once again we take a look at the new arrivals section and round up the most interesting announcements of the last month. Our new range of roll-up chessboards was certainly the hottest in our new arrival section over the past month. A few other notable announcements last month include the BCC bone chess set & the Great Analysis Staunton Camel Bone Chess Set. For the full scoop on all of the above, plus some other launches from the past month, just scroll down and hit ‘em up.

Mouse Pad Chess Boards

Silicone Chess Boards

Vinyl Roll-up Chess Boards

PVC Plastic Chess Boards

The British Chess Company (BCC) Bone Chess Set

The Great Analysis Staunton Camel Bone Chess Set

Last month the spotlights were primarily on our recently introduced new chess boards. Starting from the mouse pad chessboards these boards are made with finest soft rubber mouse pad type material. These boards are lightweight, wipes clean, & fully washable. The underneath surface of the board has been designed cleverly and so that it won’t budge or fly away in the wind while having blitz game or outdoor play. Know More>>

Next on the list is silicone chess boards. These chess boards are made with a stretchy silicone material, these algebraic notation roll-up boards are lightweight, wipes clean, wrinkle-free, fully washable & odorless. Know More>>

Being official for a few weeks now, Vinyl roll-up chess boards have held a tight grip in the chess world. Made with finest vinyl material this algebraic notation folding chess boards is super lightweight. This roll-up board will lay flat yet easily rolled up for storage in the bag. We are offering these chess boards at a very low price with free shipping. Know More>>

Moving on to folding tournament PVC chess boards, these chess boards are easy to transport compared to the flat chess boards, therefore you can carry this folding chess board easily to your tournaments, clubs, or next door. Made with finest PVC plastic material this algebraic notation folding chess board is super lightweight, & wipes clean. Know more>>

The British Chess Company (BCC) reproduced Staunton double collared bone chess set had also made its debut and gathered a lot of fan attention. Featuring the finest aspects of Staunton pattern set ever seen on a bone chess set. The dark chess pieces are made of stained dyed jet black camel bone & bleached white camel bone(Also available in ebony wood). The set features a Tournament standard 3.75″ King with a base diameter of 1.53 inches. These hand carved chess pieces are the perfect gift for any chess or art collector. Know More>>

Another noteworthy announcement was the great analysis Staunton camel bone chess set. This beauty is hand carved with a high level of precision by our master craftsman, all the pieces are naturally weighted and felted with thick green cloth.

That’s all for now. Follow us on Twitter & Facebook to stay up-to-date with the latest releases, offers & promotions. We’d glad to know your views and experiences of the chess sets which you have purchased from us. You can also get the updates direct to your email by sign-up to our newsletter.

More to Read:

Chess Blogs June 5, 2019

Monthly Round-Up – May 2019

May of 2019 was kicked off with one of the most exciting releases so far this year – Plastic chess pieces. Our plastic series chess pieces category immediately sparked a lot of interest among chess fans due to its low price & high value. And while we’re on the subject of chess pieces, few other announcements also took place last month – 1851 V2.0, Marshal, Pre-Hartson, The Ancient Indian Warrior. We have also launched some new Spanish chess boards along the way. For those of you who didn’t have enough time – you can get more details on each launch below.

Plastic Chess Pieces

Reproduced 1851 Morphy Chess Set V2.0

The Ancient Indian Warrior

Reproduced Antique 1900 Marshal Staunton Pattern Chess Set

1885 Pre-Hartston Staunton Pattern Chess Set

Antique Series French Regency Chess Pieces

The Traditional Indian Hand Carving Chess Pieces

Wooden Deluxe Santos Palisander pr & Sycamore

Wooden Deluxe Black Dyed Poplar & Sycamore

Wooden Deluxe Black Dyed Poplar & Olive

Last month the spotlights were primarily on the plastic series chess pieces. This category is for buyers with a tight budget. These beautiful high-quality plastic chess sets are cheap yet sturdy as they are waterproof and sun resistant up to some extent. So you can enjoy your game wherever you want without the fear of damaging the chess set, unlike the wooden chess pieces. The plastic pieces that we offer come with both non-weighted and Quadruple weighted with the size ranging from 3” to 4.1” king size. Know more>>

Chess Carnival 2018 was jam-packed with the reproductions but none shines brighter than the sequel of 1849 Staunton Chess Set, the reproduction of 1851 Staunton Pattern Chess Set V2.0 with “Morphy” knights. The Morphy knights have pronounced jowls as compared to other designs of knights. The king in the set is 4.4″ high and the set comes with 34 pieces including 2 extra queens. A rook and a knight in each side come with kingside stamping which was a norm with Staunton chess sets at that time. Know More>>

Next on the list is the Ancient Indian warrior Staunton luxury series chess set. This artistic chess set is handcrafted with precision and care in genuine ebony wood and antiqued boxwood. The King proudly stands at 4″ tall with a base diameter of 1.8 inches. The set comes with free extra queens for effortless pawn promotion. Pieces have unique rings and thick green felts, which precisely envelops the base of each chessmen for smooth movement on the chess board. Know More>>

Surely you have seen this chess set before but not in a wooden avatar. chessbazaar® proudly presents the reproduction of the 1900 Marshal Staunton pattern chess set. Reproduced Antique 1900 Marshal Staunton Pattern chess set is handcrafted in genuine ebony wood and antiqued boxwood. The King is 3.75″ high(Tournament Size) with a base diameter of 1.69 inches. Handcrafted in India, by the passionate designers of chessbazaar whose wish is to present you with the most wonderful reproduction of Antique 1900 Marshal Staunton Pattern Chess Set Know More>>

Moving on to the antique 1885 Pre-Hartston Staunton Pattern Chess Set. This chess set is handcrafted in genuine ebony wood and antiqued boxwood. The King proudly stands at 4.5″ tall with a base diameter of 1.92 inches. Our team of expert carvers put their hearts into the smallest little details of this chess set and have closely worked to bring out this revised reproduction as perfect as it can be. The result of this hard work of these master craftsmen is a truly wonderful design and a masterpiece which any connoisseur will admire. Know more>>

Reproduced Antique Series French Regency Chess Pieces also made its debut and gathered a lot of fan attention. The hand carving on each chess piece around the shank is noteworthy, especially the unique collar rings on the king, queen, bishop and marvelous vertical lines on the rooks. The design of the knight is also highly outstanding. They are meticulously handcrafted from the finest grade bud rosewood and polished by hand to give it a rich and long-lasting shine Know More>>

The Traditional Indian Hand Carving Chess Set is an excellent non-Staunton set, mainly for its excellent value and exquisite design. Featuring the finest aspects of Indian hand-carving on each chess piece is noteworthy, especially the unique king & queen and marvelous miter cut on the bishops. ll chess pieces have a taller height which adds another interesting dimension to the set. Pieces are natural weighted and have thick green felts, which precisely envelops the base of each chessmen for smooth movement on the chess board. The carving and turning the quality of the knight are quite spectacular, look closely at the ball, eyes, and craftsmanship below the ball. Know More>>

Last but not the least, our new Spanish chess boards have also been soaking up the spotlight. Veneer chessboards use much less of the deluxe hardwood in their construction and this reliable construction method is much more consistent, so wastage and defects tend to be a lot less making the chessboards less expensive. These chessboards have sharp corners from all edges with a matte finish on the top surface of it, hence matte surface will protect the chessboard from finger smudges & scratches. Know More>>

That’s all for now. Follow us on Twitter & Facebook to stay up-to-date with the latest releases, offers & promotions. We’d glad to know your views and experiences of the chess sets which you have purchased from us. You can also get the updates direct on your email by sign-up to our newsletter.

2. The Staunton Design – Its evolution and a bit of history.

Chess Blogs May 15, 2019

In conversation with the world’s renowned collector, Mike J Ladzinski

Thanks to Mike John Ladzinski for accepting our request. Being an avid chess collector, we have asked him a certain set of questions to whom he replied candidly.

1. When and from where did you get the inspiration for your chess-collecting journey?
When I started tournament and club play in the 70’s I played on and noticed many nice wood and plastic sets. These included the gorgeous lacquered wood French Lardy sets and the wonderful Windsor Castle and Drueke Player’s Choice plastic sets.

2. Are you a chess player?
I play chess mainly on the internet but play speed/blitz chess with friends.

3. Which was the first set collected by you?

A black/natural 3.75″ Lardy set

4. How many sets you have in total in your collection? What have you decided to do with your collection in the future?

I’ve lost count but probably around 150 sets.

5. Which is your favorite vintage set and why?

Tough question as I have so many vintage favorites. I have 3 sets that I would place at the top of my collection, a 1862 Jaques of London 4.4″ Club Set with original labeled box, an Ayres 4.4 Club Set and a 1890’s Russian Tournament Set.

6. Which is your favorite chessbazaar set?

Now that’s a really tough question as I have so many wonderful ChessBazaar sets and it’s impossible for me to pick one. So here are my favorites: The 1973-1979 Petropolis Interzonal set, The Richard Whitty set, The 1895 Ayres Club set, The 1950’s Bohemia set and the 1950’s Soviet Russian Tal Latvian set.

7. Who is your favorite chess player?

Paul Morphy and Paul Keres

8. How many chess clocks you have in your possession?

About 15 clocks

9. Your advice to the new collectors?

Buy vintage and premium quality reproduction set that fit your budget

10. Your comments regarding chessbazaar

ChessBazaar has become without question the leader in producing premium quality reproduction and collectible Staunton sets at the most affordable prices for collectors and tournament players. They listen to what collectors like myself want. At my suggestion, they have made so many superb historic reproductions in the past. I would be remiss if I did mention and give thanks to Gurpreet Singh Khokhar for his efforts on behalf of ChessBazaar in getting these many historic reproductions made for avid collectors like myself. And many thanks to the ChessBazaar team.

2. All About Woods used in Chessmen and Boards

3. 10 Useful Tips to Take Care of your Chess Board

Chess Blogs May 9, 2019

Monthly Round-Up – April 2019

There’s no doubt that the chess reproductions are always a hot topic in the chess community, regardless of what time of the year it is. To fulfill the aspirations of the chess collector community, we at chessbazaar, introduced several reproductions & some luxury chess sets in our biggest chess carnival 2019. For the full scoop on the launches from the past month, just scroll down and hit ‘em up.

Reproduced 1849 Original Staunton Pattern Chess Set in Ebony / Boxwood with King Side Stamping – 3.75″ King

The Candidates Series Staunton Chess Set in 3.75″ King

Reproduced Antique Circa 1895 Ayres English Made Club Chess Set in Ebony / Antiqued Box Wood – 4.3″ King

Limited Edition Indian-American Luxury Series Chess Set in Bud Rose / Box Wood – 4.3″ King

The Excalibur Luxury Artisan Series Chess Set in Ebony / Box Wood – 4.6″ King

The Shera Series Staunton Chess Set V2.0 in Bud Rose / Box Wood – 4.1″ King

First on the list is the chess set that needs no introduction. Reproduced 1849 original Staunton pattern chess set in ebony/boxwood with king side stamping is now available in standard tournament size. This chess set has been specifically designed for chess tournament/club players. This chess set is expertly weighted from our master artisans and it’s superb size proportioning from a king to pawn make this chess set an excellent choice for fast chess games in tournaments/clubs or regular home and school play. Know More>

“Did you ever starve for a chess design you always wanted? Chessbazaar® is there to help you make your dream chess set a reality. Know More>>

Second, on the list is the candidates series Staunton chess set in tournament standard 3.75″ King. We’ve launched candidates series in tournament size because many of our buyers were asking for it. This is a captivated design featuring the magnificently robust and remarkable knight.

Moving on to the reproduced antique circa 1895 ayres English made club chess set. Legend is handcrafted with precision and care in genuine ebony wood and antiqued boxwood. The original spectacular set was made by the game company F.H Ayres. The turnings and carvings of this chess set were first quality and equal to those of the vintage Jaques sets. Our team of expert carvers put their hearts into the smallest little details of this chess set and have closely worked to bring out this reproduction as perfect as it can be.

The Indian-American luxury series chess set is one of our most popular luxury chess sets, and all the versions of it have been hugely successful, though it was not the first one that made the greatest splash in our best seller category. Following the success of our original Indian-American luxury series chess set, we have introduced the limited Edition Indian-American Luxury Series Chess Set in Bud Rose / Box Wood – 4.3″ King. Borrowed its ferocious look and aggression from its elder sibling Indian-American series, the Limited Edition version doesn’t fail to impress any décor lover. This marvelous beauty is made up of bud rosewood and boxwood. The King proudly stands at 4.3 inches and its base is robust 1.8 inches.

Things have really been getting heated during the last month when we introduced the Excalibur luxury artisan series chess set in ebony & boxwood – 4.6″ king. The knight of this chess set is inspired by the sword of the legendary King Arthur. The sweeping mane and distinctive head shape give the knight aggressive and ready-to-attack look. The King proudly stands at 4.6 inches and its base is robust 1.9 inches. This is a luxury design featuring the magnificently robust and solitary knight. Know More>>

At first look most likely you will think that Shera V2.0 is nothing more than the expensive version of the previous generation Shera series, but 2.0 has gone way beyond that and offers heirloom quality and quite impressive design in a budget-friendly package of only $359.99 for bud rosewood version. King height has been reduced to 4.1″ with a wider base diameter of 1.88″ for better stability. 1st generation Shera series chess pieces were the archetype of perfection in our luxury series. So making it more perfect was really difficult for us, that is why we have borrowed its elegant look and most of the design elements from its previous generation.

That’s all for now. Follow us on Twitter & Facebook to stay up-to-date with the latest releases, offers & promotions. We’d glad to know your views and experiences of the chess sets which you have purchased from us. You can also get the updates direct to your email by sign-up to our newsletter.

Chess Blogs May 6, 2019

Start your chess collection now – Be a chess collector

Chess collection for some is a passion to preserve the history for the generations to come. Chess as we all know, dated back to 6th century BC, mostly played among the Kings and the idea behind the game was to make a war strategy. It is a 2-player strategy game and since then many modifications and new rules have been added and modified in the game.

Chess collecting like coin collecting has become an interesting hobby. Chess comes in many materials, size, color, and variety. Depending on your budget and your passion, you can choose any of these to start your collection. Most popular among the collectors are the wood chess sets and bone chess sets as these are handcrafted and their value increases by the course of time.

The other popular chess sets among the collectors are the Vintage chess sets, which are very rare and been exorbitantly priced, they are simply out of the reach among many chess enthusiasts. Here comes the concept of Antique reproductions where we create the exact replica of the vintage chess and sell it at the most reasonable prices. The best thing is that these sets do come with rarely used woods like ebony wood and some reproductions do come in bone sets, like 1849 reproduction.

Relate: Reasons Why Collecting Chess Sets is a Good Idea?

To start making the collection, according to famous chess collectors I interviewed, you must start with the reproductions of basic Staunton chess sets like 1849. We offer 1849 reproduction in 4.4” king size(antique) and 3.75” king size(non-antique). You can get a lot of information about the early Staunton chess and its design by a book written by Mr. Alan Fersht https://www.fersht.com/chess/ (highly recommended)

The most popular among the early Staunton chess sets are the J.Jaques 1849 Cook Type2, 1851 Morphy knight, 1852-55 Harrwitz, 1855-60 Anderssen Drop-jaw and later knights are 1875-80 Zukertort, 1880-85 Lasker and 1900-1915 Marshall. As you have started making your collection in Staunton range, then come to the basic French chess sets. We recommend the basic French Lardy and 1990’s Chavet chess sets.

The most popular and loved collection among chess collectors is Russian/Soviet collection. These sets are so rare that we have made a reproduction of almost all the sets, which were used during 19th century Russian and 20th-century Soviet era. You can start with the basic design and as per your choice, you can start collecting them. Here are our top 5 recommendations for Russian/Soviet chess sets.

1. 1966 Lanier Graham Reproduced Minimalist Chess Pieces

2. Reproduced 1924 Bauhaus Geometrical Abstract Chessmen

3. 90s French Chavet Championship Tournament Chess Pieces

The timeless European collection is the one not to be missed. The Dubrovnik and Austrian coffee house are among the most collected chess sets among the top chess collectors. The Hungarian and Romanian sets have also seen a huge demand not only with the collectors but among the players as well. The 1929 historic Barcelona chess set by “Joc Catalan” is also worth collecting.

Chess collectors very rarely collect the Luxury chess pieces, which are actually an art piece, mostly used for the display. They are worth collecting because mostly all luxury chess sets are crafted by very rare ebony wood and padauk wood. Before Padauk a.k.a Bud rosewood, Red sandalwood was used extensively. After it was banned, the Padauk came into existence. The person who possesses any chess set of Red Sandalwood can treasure it throughout his life and can proudly pass to the generations to come. Same for Ivory bone chess sets. With rosewood already getting partially banned and ebony being an expensive and rare wood, it’s worth collecting chess sets made of these two woods. We have some very fine collectible luxury chess sets to choose from. Our 5 picks are:

1. St. Petersburg Chess Set

2. The Indian Chetak II Chess Set

3. The Mustang Series Chess Set

To sum up, though knowledge is very important to start collecting the chess sets, you can start by reading some history about these sets from the Internet and collecting some reproductions, which gradually enhances your interest in this hobby.

More to Read: Why Luxury Chess Sets are Expensive and Why do you Own One?

chess

Vishwanathan is also known as “Tiger of Madras” because of his sheer domination in chess over the years. He is a bachelor of commerce which he completed from Loyola College, Chennai, India.

Awards are bound to come when one is such a splendid player.

Pride

Greed and Gluttony

Sloth

Lust and Envy