THE PAST YEAR IN REVIEW

Thought it would be a good idea to document the last year (since 5 May 2017) in my life as I've started my 55th year today.

In a word - EBAY.

Ebay has brought me in touch with several of the chess-sets I've hoped to collect, especially the ones that stood out for their use in World Championships and Olympiads. Then there were those that were representative of the countries they were used in. So no ornamental sets. Yes it did cost a small fortune but then it's 1 item off my bucket list so...

Hunting them down is perhaps the real joy..like finding a pearl on the beachfront. Then there is the bidding process which of course is nerve-wracking as the time ticks down to the final second. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose by a mere $1! But then over the past year I've learnt to live and let live..there are always other bargains if you search hard enough.

 

The Drueke Player's Choice..a rare gem that is being reproduced by its owner this year as more collectors and players are seeking it. Used in the Fischer - Larsen match 1971

This is a Czech set which is rather interestingly housed in a suitcase with a not-so-large roll up board, but the pieces are nice. A new set would be about 60 Euros.

 

This is the Bohemia (German) dragon-shaped Knight version. I had the chicken-faced Knight version for USD26 from Ebay which is a bargain, but this one cost a bit. Came with a nice wooden folding board.

I was intrigued by the Zagreb-like knights coupled with the Bulgarian-shaped Bishops in this set.

This was a rare Art set where the features from different designs were adopted. The Knights were Lardy inspired, the Rooks were Bohemia inspired and the King -Queen -pawn adapted from the Brazilian Dagobert. 

This Botvinnik-Flohr Version 2 (Russian sets have no set names, this name was coined by the famous collectors of sets Mr Chuck Grau) specially custom-made in Ukraine. This was mainly used in the 30s - 50s Soviet tournaments. Has a nice feel and proportionately weighted.   

In my earlier post I had the Indajesa, this one was apparently the Escardibul which was prevalently found in Southern Spain near Portugal. The felts were bad so I refelted them to get a smoother touch when playing over the wooden Drueke board.

The Olive-Rosewood Lardy here displayed on a Drueke board. This set fetched over USD100 each time it was on Ebay but I managed to get it for much less..

A Wooden Drueke Player's Choice reproduction from House of Staunton but the connoisseurs felt it was not accurate enough. Nevertheless a nice set to play.

Ah, the GM4 (as designated by Arlindo Viera the other big-time chess set collector.) which is used in mainly the 1994 Chess Olympiad.

A Bulgarian Chess set

I lost out in the bid for a 1491 Cavalier set which has the same reputation as the Drueke in terms of tournament use. Had to settle for this 1498 Alabaster and Brown 1967 version which is still relatively nice to play with.

Having seen so many World Championships in Moscow from 1950-1969, this set was the premier Soviet model used. Hence it is named the GM1 set mainly due to the Staunton shaped Knight. Here displayed is a decent repro for a reasonable price.

A Zagreb 59 which was bought in the Malaysian Open 2 years ago. It is a unique one in that most Zagreb sets have the finials of the King Queen and Bishop on opposite colours but here there is none.

 

The Lardy with the 1974 Nice Olympiad emblem. This is a rare find indeed. I had 2 sets, one used in playing and the other for display.

My collection craze is coming to an end with my 54th year, indeed it was a rewarding and joyous occasion each time as I unwrap the sets and stage them in Facebook. 

Moving on, the 55th should return to Jazz and learning the bass which I had neglected for so long.