Welcome to The Chess Collective! My name is Stephen, and I am an educator with a Ph.D. in Science Education, as well as a passionate chess enthusiast and collector.
I explore the fascinating world of chess collecting. Not only do I showcase intriguing chess-related items, but I also want to hear from you and present your voice in the chess collecting community through interviews and conversations. We delve into diverse types of chess sets, materials, designs, and other aspects of exploring their history and significance, all while having loads of fun! Additionally, I strongly believe that utilizing your own chess collection in your chess studies/games provides a hands-on and meaningful learning experience, forging a deep connection with the game.
So, grab a drink, sit back, and relax as we embark on a journey of discovering the wondrous world of chess collecting and learning.
For Chess Collector Hangout Notes visit: www.thechesscollective.us
Do you still read comments? I could use, I ask for, a little help. Chuck Grau might want to sit in.. Please? I need to sell my vintage Heuer-Looping, and I don't know how...
Just about every Lardy set I ever saw had bent pieces, usually the king but sometimes a bishop. Don't know what caused that, but I shied away from purchasing them.
Being a Staunton collector, I really appreciate seeing other people are very passionate about the design and history of the Staunton patterned pieces. Other type sets from Barley corn to the Simpsons are entertaining but, Chess it truly the experience in which "A gnat may drink or an elephant may bathe!" Thank you both very much for sharing!!
Good morning, may I email you a pictures of my 4.5 wood Soviet? It’s a bad replica, or maybe original, idk. +25 years old, very beat up, one replacement blk rook. I don’t know it’s origin
The Jacques set is the nicest one I've ever seen in terms of proportion. Especially the pawns; no other set has the big, wide bases that these ones have. From an aesthetic point of view this set is the ultimate. The bishop with the round miter and large cutout is also really nice. It seems like the perfect Staunton interpretation. Solid, chunky and stable.
I like Johnson's Paste Wax, which I believe was originally intended for wooden floors. Some car waxes are ok, but others contain cutting compunds (abrasives) which are intended to abrade the paint surface slightly to refresh the color. Unfortunately, it appears that Paste Wax has been discontinued, but an excellent substitute is clear shoe polish (the solid type that comes in a round tin). It is more expensive than Paste Wax was, but it's widely available, and in the tiny amounts needed for chessboard maintenance, a tin will last for a very long time.
Bought a Jaques set from a boot sale locally 20 year ago with a board but missing a couple of pieces, never had any luck finding the missing pieces and no replies to any emails sent. Watched this interview and was totally amazed the lengths this collector went to in his quest for information even down to the London directories, brilliant. Great knowledge and totally engrossing interview first class.
Have you considered having replacement pieces made? A decent wood turner or machinist should be able to make close copies of the existing pieces to replace the missing ones. I have done this in the past, and I was even thinking of offering it as a service for a while, but I didn't want to deal with the potential hassle of antique pieces getting lost in the mail etc. You probably wouldn't be able to achieve an exact match to the color of the originals, but I think that's ok. It's all part of the history of the set, and it shows that someone cared enough to go to the trouble of having replacement pieces made. I bet there are groups for wood turners, hobby machinists etc in your area, maybe ask around?
Hello, you mentioned making another video. Did that video ever get posted? I looked at your channel to find more info but wasn't sure which video to look at?
When Chuck describes his sets as he holds a piece as---ART that you can actually hold, the tactile feel starts to actually set off MORE deep thought at what you come to learn as craftsmanship, art and as Chuck said--- geometric and practical design! The understanding of how set design were ALL DONE -- with so much PURPOSE AND ARTISTIC THOUGHT! What I have learned in my limited collecting is a wonderful combination of History, design- practical and artistic, all wrapped up in Chess pieces! Its actually amazing, and the best part is the tactile and FULL PLAY that you can do every single time you play that set! Art as we typically know it, for the most part, is something we fully enjoy--looking at, that is good, BUT--- taking time to LOOK even just a LITTLE DEEPER and spend more time--- brings a WHOLE NEW perspective and respect-- IF and ONLY if ,you are willing to THINK and take the time to study it! One of the most pleasurable different aspects of chess sets is------------ your ability to HOLD THIS PIECE OF ART and craftsmanship design! As you LOOK at even the most magnificent art in galleries, your limitation is, you can only LOOK at it, its still a great experience-- but, again, when you have that TACTILE experience, you have NOW added another ---major dimension to your experience! In my opinion those who are SO much into to the "GAME" aspect and their ELO ranking, actually have LOST a very valuable opportunity to appreciate that deeper experience that Chuck CLARIFIED so well! We all have plastic tournament sets that is needed, as we fear our wooden sets getting some kind of damage to them. I have CONTINUALLY been surprised how MANY VERY good chess players, who have played FOR YEARS---they own just -1- or 2 wood sets, worse, they know LITTLE beyond the NAME of their set, and little to nothing about the purpose of its design! Chucks comment on how a SIMPLE, but beautiful design of a FRENCH LARDY set was SO TELLING--- he and his friends spent a LOT of TIME in recreating what he saw as an ACCURATE design in the LARDY set! Think of ALL the SETS that he has that are SO ORNATE or complex in design--- yet- he said this was probably his favorite set!! IT was because of the TIME and purposeful design WORK they put into this set! I really think it would be a great idea to have what I would call ---- "wood Chess set night" at clubs. You wouldn't need to bring your "best sets" ( even though I think that is a GREAT idea), just try to bring a wooden set that you own! At the historical Mechanics institute in SAN FRAN and so many other clubs that have been around for years--- all they EVER PLAYED was wooden sets! That was a great interview of Chuck, nicely done!
The Howard's is probably best for wood for showcasing it's natural beauty. The Renaissance is great stuff as well, but it was originally designed to use on metal, though it is also used on wood to give it protection and a more subtle shine. I'm leery of any using car waxes on anything, (even cars) unless I know exactly what's in it. I don't know the formulation of Turtle Wax, but many of the automotive waxes contain silicon which gives a great shine, but can be a real problem to remove if you ever want to refinish the surface. (I know a couple of people who charge extra for repainting vehicles that have had a wax containing silicon used on them.) Again, I don't know if Turtle Wax does or not.
I have two Isle of Lewis chess boards one is larger than the other but the large size chess men both fit. It has the pattern on the squares to mach the kings throne
Any idea how best to find BCC size 3 black knights from the mega bishop set? I have the original white knights, but the black ebonized knights are not a good match.
"What's ( wrong ) with just using "Pledge Furniture Polish" on a wooden chessboard ?" Directions: "Lightly..., lightly spray a little bit of "Pledge with Extra Moisturizing with Lemon Oil ( No Wax ) and it will leave a deep, rich shine every time, you dust your wooden chessboard and pieces. There is ( NO RESIDUE BUILD-UP )... Use a soft clean cloth and your chessboard and pieces will look perfect, every time... "Semper Fi" Mike in Montana P.S.: I have been using "Pledge Furniture Polish" for over ten years with no problems... Excellent video and very informative and thank you for sharing the video... :)
Talk about going down the rabbit hole! This was a throughly engrossing interview. Chess Histtory is so interesting. I would love to see Jon's books and autographs sometime. Great Job on the edit, inserting pictured etc really enhanced the show. 🙋🏻♂️
The Fischer story was incredible!! Fancy getting that set for that cheap... Amazing. Bobby moved those pieces!! Gotta love Donaldson's books on Bobby. ⚘️
I have seen tournament sets and clocks provided at the Marshall Chess Club, New York and some Scholastic tournaments. Here in the U.S. one of the main companies that run weekend tournaments is the Continental Chess Association. They do not provide sets, you have to bering your own. Also the local club tournament I play at is bring your own. So I guess it varies. Thanks for watching!
My mom used to say “Collectors are people who are never satisfied.” Anyway I have a few modest ones. The one that makes my spine tingle is definitely my French Chavet pieces with a simple but elegant look. They walk on fine red carpet and by that I mean a 100% genuine British tan leather board. Kasparov seems to agree with me - he beat Karpov with a same style Chavet in 1990 WCC Lyon, FRA Toodle loo, CJ
Ok, I'm 11 minutes into this episode and an original Hastings Congress set has made an appearance, with worn out black pieces and all. My favorite set ever! I'm so happy 🎉❤ Amazing collection, and great episode as usual.
If anyone wants to also play along some of the historic games discussed in this interview feel free to check out: www.thechesscollective.us/2023/06/unveiling-treasures-super-grandmaster.html
Its so nice to be able to admire all these one of a kind sets and learn more about them. Thank you so much Fabiano for sharing your fantastic collection with us. I knew of the existence of some of these sets but never saw them in their full glory. Stephen, thank you so much for helping to document an important part of chess history!
Thank you Fabiano for sharing the most amazing unique sets mostly Russian with great historical knowledge. I like the other chess photos, unique 5 signatures of the original Grandmasters and final sealed move. Thank you Steve for organising another interview with one of the great chess collectors.
Hi Phil. My pleasure! I always learn a great deal when organizing interviews. Indeed, Fabiano was very gracious in sharing all of the photos that were used to augment the content.
Thank you so much Chess Collective. Your content is TOP NOTCH. I will be telling people about your channel. It would be my pleasure. This particular video has inspired me to buy and collect world championship chess sets from now on...
Much appreciated! I'm so glad you got inspired. It is not surprising given the enthusiasm of Fabiano. Thanks for spreading the word, it will help a lot for the channel to grow.
