Chess Masterpieces: One Thousand Years of Extraordinary Chess Sets

I bought this book as a Christmas gift for my husband, J. Richard Gott, who is an astrophysicist, author, and lifelong fan of chess. I knew he would appreciate the amazing range and beauty of chess sets exhibited in this sumptuous book. Here is what he says about it. J. Richard Gott says: "The book 'Chess Masterpieces' is a wonderful book about extraordinary chess sets. I highly recommend it. My wife got it for me as a Christmas present and I read it right away. The author George Dean is a practicing physician who collects chess sets--he has over 600. The best ones are on display in this wonderfully photographed book by Abrams Publishing. Here are some of my favorites! First there is the 1905 Faberge set. Faberge, remember, made all those jeweled Easter eggs for the Tsar. The set, made of tawny aventurine and grey Kalgan jasper with silver crowns on each piece, had not been seen in years, rather like the Maltese Falcon, till a dealer in London showed it to the author. "I would like to buy it," Dean said. The dealer wouldn't sell it. "I will pay any price you ask," Dean said. After some negotiation it was sold. Pretty heady stuff! The author did not reveal how much any of the sets cost--that would have been crass. But I was curious enough to look it up on the internet and found a price for the 1905 Faberge set. I'll tell the answer at the end. Then there is the ivory Indian set that looked like the beginning of the battle scene from the Bhagavad Gita. The king and queen rode on top of elephants, and there were two elaborate juggernaut cart pieces that could replace the bishops. I want those juggernaut cart pieces! They should have extra powers--able to move like a queen and knight perhaps. The Queen Elizabeth I set that was shown at the Crystal Palace in 1851 was particularly nice in white and red-stained ivory. He even has a set once owned by Napoleon. The ivory Chinese Ball-on-Ball set had 7 nested free-turning concentric balls (carved from one solid piece) at the base of each pawn and piece. The wooden World War II set had a clever choice of pieces: Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt were the Queen and King, Churchill and Stalin were the Bishops, Eisenhower and Montgomery were the Rooks on the Allied side. The uranium glass chess set you might be slow to play with! You could pick the beautiful amber one instead. There are also some 21st-Century sets. In one, the pieces look like individual teeth! An adult has 32 teeth--there are 32 pieces on the chess board--it's irresistible. As an astronomer, it made me think that now that we have 8 planets they could make a chess set: Earth (King--which you protect); Venus (Queen, of course); Jupiter and Saturn --Rooks; Uranus and Neptune--Bishops; and Mars and Mercury--Knights. The pawns would be asteroids. The other side could be stars--illuminated from within: white dwarfs as pawns, the Sun and Alpha Centauri as king and queen, blue Sirius and Vega as bishops, red dwarfs Proxima Centauri and Gliese 581 as Knights, and the supergiants Betelgeuse and Rigel as rooks. It could work. Gary Kasparov wrote an introduction. This is an outstanding, absolutely beautiful book that anyone interested in chess would love. And that 1905 Faberge set--12.5 million dollars! If you have to ask, you can't afford it. But you can afford to get this wonderful collection of photographs of all these chess sets! It's the next best thing."

I purchased this book for my boyfriend who is a chess master and has collected some unusual and fine chess sets. He was intrigued by the historical information for these rare chess sets and the photographs were exquisite. Great value for the $$$.

This book makes a gorgeous coffee table book. High quality images and a nice layout. That said, the book is written by a collector and not a historian and the book is definitely written from a collectors perspective. In that respect I'm a bit disappointed but overall pleased with the purchase. I do have to mention that this book arrived in less than ideal condition. The binding was torn out almost completely upon arrival. Definitely an unpleasant surprise as this was meant to be a gift. Buyer beware! You may want to be ready for a return or exchange upon receiving this book from Amazon.

This book has what any chess nut would die for. The sets themselves are just outstanding. What really sets this book apart is not only a great description but there is much told about the country of origion and lots of history.

The images of chess sets across the ages are stunning + the history is fascinating = perfect for the chess lover in your life

Awesome

As described. Thank you.

Just as expected, book shipped very quickly too!

This is a book that can be appreciated by not only those who love chess, but anyone who reads history or anyone with an eye for design ... In researching new ideas for chess sets for my site The Regency Chess Company Canada I have spent quite a lot of time enjoying the stories behind the creation of these sets. In fact I also downloaded the Chess Masterpieces app from iTunes - it really brings the pieces to life. Highly recommended!