Message board topic:

Tim and Peggy, I assume you're not much interested in chess, (although I could be wrong) and David, with all you've had to worry about lately, I presume you've temporarily let chess fall by the wayside.  I still wrestle with it every day, because it forces me to take my mind off some of the stuff I'm worried about for an hour or so.

I collected chess sets for years, and may still pick one up on rare occasion, if it's unique enough.  Some of my sets are really nice but most of them are fairly cheap "Dollar Store" sets.  I've set aside some of the cheaper sets, and some of the sets that are so weird they're virtually unplayable, like my "Pirates Of The Caribbean" and my "Lord Of The Rings" set.  You can hardly tell what some of the pieces are supposed to be.  I plan to try to sell those.  Years ago, I lost track of how many sets I'd collected when I went over 100, and I never buy a set if it's too much like one I've already got.  I've got several of those glass sets that sold for about $5 each, that people gave me.

I've also got a couple of stone sets.  Even the boards are stone and unexpectedly heavy.  The pieces in both sets are almost identical, except that the stones used are different colors.  All of them are nicely marbled.  Both sets have almost white stones for the white pieces, but one set has mostly black stone for the black pieces, and the other has sort of pink and white marbled stone for the black pieces.  On both sets, the little stone crosses on top of the Kings have broken off.  (They're just glued to the top and never last long.)

Sometimes I play online but I mostly play against the computer.  Either way, I always go over my games and replay them with real pieces, just to be used to playing a live opponent.  I switch sets every month just for fun, using some of my favorites.  This month I started playing with one of my stone sets Cheri found me at a yard sale.  It's the pink and white stone.  It's not too hard to tell the pieces apart although the Bishops are a little too much like the Pawns.  Haven't made up my mind yet whether I like using the stone sets.

Just wondered if you had a favored set, or what it might be like.  John

Hi John I went to high school with a guy that was really into playing chess bu I never really got it and it took to much patience and concentration not virtues that I possess I am glad it takes your mind off other thoughts temporarily but I do like chess pieces I don't have any though. Tim

I do have a lot of sets just for fun that aren't really very playable, like a "Simpsons" set, a "Scooby Doo" set, "Coca Cola, one where the pieces are printed on shot glasses, a "Chicago" set where the Pawns are all taxi cabs, a Civil War set, a really nice Egyptian set, and even a "giant" set where the King is well over a foot tall.  Chess drives me crazy though.  As much time as I've put into it, I'm still terrible at it!  John

I just have 3 electronic sets (2 use lights and one moves it own pieces) but have not touched them in a long time. Sadly had I known you collected sets a couple years ago I woul have sent you one. I had an old set that I got when my grandfather died. It was an ivory set with ornate pieces and the set did not close right any more from age (my grandfather had once told me he got it in the 40's or was it 30's?). Anyway, it ended up being tossed because it has just sat in the shop for so long in a box and it would not likely be worth anything to the 2nd hand store as it needed love and care.

 

No, I have not played for months online. Heart just not in it and I have been busy with more sales and trying to get the house done before it falls apart.

 

I have seen odd sets advertised sometimes. I think I remember a dog vs cat set once too. I wonder if there are hunter vs animal sets? For hunters, the pawns could be people with stones or small traps, knights woulf be people with throwing spears, the bishops people with composit bows, longbow for rook(?) the queen a person with a handgun and the king, someone fully armed with rifles, bows, handgun...

animal side could be mice or rats for the pawns, deer for knights, elk for bishops, moose for rooks, queen could be a black bear and perhaps a grizzley for the king?

Oh, I'd have loved to have seen your grandfather's old set!  Always with an eye out for sets I was in an enormous, well organized second-hand store in Kansas City and occasionally found sets there, but I overheard someone at the counter saying, there was a guy who came in regularly and snapped up every set he could find, so I never found very much there although I did find a few.

I do have 2 electronic sets but nothing that moves its own pieces.  I have seen them online.  I did find a third electronic set in a second-hand store but it was ruined when they left the batteries in it and they leaked.  (I was always careful never to do that.)  I do have a tri-level "Star Trek" set that I bought just to get the instructions on how to play it because I couldn't find anything online at that time.  I did learn how to play it but any strategies or tactics I knew just flew out the door and there's nobody to play it with anyway.

I don't have a "dogs vs. cats" set but I do have a "cats vs. mice" set.  (The mouse Rooks were a mouse sitting on a big piece of cheese.)  The tiniest set I have comes in a working ink pen.  The top end of the pen opens into a chess board about one inch square.  The pieces are waaay too tiny to play with.  You just about need tweezers to move them individually, but the pieces are very detailed for as tiny as they are.  By far though, most of my sets are the classic "Staunton" style, and a few of them are really nice.  John

Cat vs Mice? I have never seen that! Can you send a picture of the pieces?