allanbeardsworth

This is an occasional series of postings inspired by a brief discussion on the flight home from Turkey this summer. The flight attendant saw I was reading a chess book (quelle surprise) and, just making polite small talk, said she also liked playing chess, saying that depending on whether other crew members played, she would play on stopovers. Later in the flight she asked me if I had a chess set at home…and that set me thinking. How many chess sets do I have? And since then number is, well, shall we say, quite high, I thought I would blog about them especially those which ‘mean something to me’.

This set was bought from M&S, I think in the January sales.

It is more design than chess: whoever designed it, isn’t a chess player. The pieces are tall, heavy oblongs, not easy to move at speed.

Rating

2/10: the design is quite different.

This is an occasional series of postings inspired by a brief discussion on the flight home from Turkey this summer. The flight attendant saw I was reading a chess book (quelle surprise) and, just making polite small talk, said she also liked playing chess, saying that depending on whether other crew members played, she would play on stopovers. Later in the flight she asked me if I had a chess set at home…and that set me thinking. How many chess sets do I have? And since then number is, well, shall we say, quite high, I thought I would blog about them especially those which ‘mean something to me’.

As with another set, I am not sure how I came to have this set. I certainly didn’t buy it for myself, and suspect it was either bought before a children’s school trip, or, and this is my best recollection, I think it was in a party goody-bag.

Rating

0/10: not easy to use, fiddly, and to top it all, a white bishop is missing.

This is an occasional series of postings inspired by a brief discussion on the flight home from Turkey this summer. The flight attendant saw I was reading a chess book (quelle surprise) and, just making polite small talk, said she also liked playing chess, saying that depending on whether other crew members played, she would play on stopovers. Later in the flight she asked me if I had a chess set at home…and that set me thinking. How many chess sets do I have? And since then number is, well, shall we say, quite high, I thought I would blog about them especially those which ‘mean something to me’.

A very cheap set; I can’t remember how it was acquired. My recollection is that my son Tom bought it before a school trip. Plastic pieces, with a cloth board, which doesn’t easily fold flat.

Rating

0/10: nice to have as a design, but not one I would ever want to use.

This is an occasional series of postings inspired by a brief discussion on the flight home from Turkey this summer. The flight attendant saw I was reading a chess book (quelle surprise) and, just making polite small talk, said she also liked playing chess, saying that depending on whether other crew members played, she would play on stopovers. Later in the flight she asked me if I had a chess set at home…and that set me thinking. How many chess sets do I have? And since then number is, well, shall we say, quite high, I thought I would blog about them especially those which ‘mean something to me’.

A set I’ve had for a while; I think bought at my favourite shop in London, the Chess & Bridge store, in Baker Street. Since retiring from Deloitte last Xmas, so far this year I haven’t been to London, not having sufficient work reason to do so; I wish a client would have the need to consult Counsel in conference or give me some other reason to travel: my bag on the return to Euston would be heavier than on the way down.

This is a nice set, well made, a good heavy feel to the set, pieces the right size: small enough for travelling purposes, large enough not to be fiddly.

Rating

6/10: I am not strongly attached to this set, it doesn’t bring back memories, but it is a very nice portable set.

This is an occasional series of postings inspired by a brief discussion on the flight home from Turkey this summer. The flight attendant saw I was reading a chess book (quelle surprise) and, just making polite small talk, said she also liked playing chess, saying that depending on whether other crew members played, she would play on stopovers. Later in the flight she asked me if I had a chess set at home…and that set me thinking. How many chess sets do I have? And since then number is, well, shall we say, quite high, I thought I would blog about them especially those which ‘mean something to me’.

My elder daughter, Alice, volunteered in Malawi in 2014.

Family tradition requires the bringing back of gifts. Jane is easy: clothes, a scarf, alcohol, perfume. I am easier still: a chess set. Alice kindly brought this unusual set back, with its elephants, lions, hyenas and other animals.

Rating

9/10: a keeper, to remind me of the great time Alice had in Malawi.