I can still remember seeing my first chess set in a store window some 68 years ago. They were, as I later learned, Staunton design chess pieces. I asked my father to buy it for me — and I still own that set today.
A lifetime has passed since then, but my interest in chess has never waned. I read library books about early chess masters from the mid-19th century Romantic era — Morphy, Anderssen. I even played against Grandmasters Bent Larsen, Tigran Petrosian, and Maxim Dlugy in simultaneous exhibitions.
Learning that master restorer Alan Dewey had worked with Chessbazaar on a reproduction of the first 1849 Jaques set, I decided to buy it. Vik and Sapna were very cooperative and helpful. It really captures the look and feel of the initial 1849 Jaques set, and I'm proud to own this masterpiece. Chess has now come full circle — I've been the director of a chess club at the library in Durham, North Carolina for the past 7 years.
— Conrad Conero, USA
