My Chess Set Waits Patiently In A Cupboard For Me
Filed Under Hobbies
The item that I’ve held throughout my living and criss-crossed the country with, is a little electronic chess set. It runs on two AA electric batteries and has eight distinct accomplishment stages. Of course after many years the whites are a bit rusty and I’ve lost a pawn along the way, however for the most part and an exchange of electric batteries on occasion it has been with me since I was twelve years of age.
My chess set has lived in New York, Alaska, Ohio and Pennsylvania. It weathered wedlock and held up with kids. It stays patiently in a cupboard for me to find a moment for a game. Of course I’ve never done it justice, only ever playing to skill grade 5 and most of the time being sufficient at level 3 or four, but it has been a lasting friend. It’s hard to trust a chess set could be constructed in 1972 and carry on until today, but it has and it is still here waiting to play!
There are numerous unique and stunning chess sets on the earth, they can be a great item to collect or to give as gifts. I have seen stunning chessmen in the fairs of Isreal and Turkey and in the market places of Malaysia. They seem to be a world-wide happening. These fairly priced sets formed from wood, marble or other localized fabrics can be lovable conversation chessmen or cosmetic elements, even if one never does play chess.
To Boot, one can discover chess pieces that are fashioned after a smorgasbord of themes, from civil war chess sets comprising the North and South to those based on novels and motion pictures, such as Lord of the Rings.
An ancient, make that vintage, chess set on the bottom ledge of the wash room in my parents’ home in a well-worn black box is nothing value searchers would present to Antiques Roadshow for an estimate. Nevertheless, this set of black and red chessmen, with the satisfying feel of even the pawns, is invaluable.
In my history are memories of childhood, an uncle who passed on before I left grammar school, and hours discovering the game and competing with my younger brother. Rather of maturing into chess, I outgrew it, more things going on and little patience as I traveled toward adolescence. This chess set conjures precious memories beyond the well-worn board and well aged pawns.
I recall when I was a youth that my dad would only on special occasions pull out the household chess set. I was perpetually so charged to view the hinged wooden box with the black and bronze two inch checkers on it. This was not your garden variety chess set, this was a totally wooden hand crafted set.
I can recall each and every chess pieces with wonderful detail, the knights, so stern and forceful. The rooks painstakingly even cylinders with the minutest details rendering hours of work. I still own that chess set, it is lacking a couple of pieces today, but I still can’t wait to present it to my sons when they are experienced enough to treasure it.