Wooden Chess, From the Classic Box to Bauhaus

Choosing a chess set looks simple until the options are laid side by side. There is the question of style, classical or modern, and then of size, of wood, and of whether the board and pieces should live together in one case or stay out on the table. Manopoulos makes four wooden chess sets that answer those questions in different ways, and between them they suit almost everyone who plays.

Two ideas of what a chessman looks like

Almost every chess set in the world descends from one of two designs. The first is the Staunton pattern of 1849: designed by Nathaniel Cooke, sold by Jaques of London and endorsed by the leading English player of the day, Howard Staunton. It gave chess a standard set of forms — the crowned king, the mitred bishop, the carved horse’s head of the knight — clear enough to read at a glance and sturdy enough for club play. It is still the pattern used in tournaments today.

The second is younger and more radical. In 1924, at the Bauhaus in Germany, Josef Hartwig designed a chess set in which every piece is built from simple geometric forms, and each shape shows how the piece moves. The rook is a cube, because it travels straight along ranks and files. The bishop is an X, for its diagonals. The knight is built from blocks that suggest its L-shaped step. The queen combines a sphere with a cube; the king is two cubes, one set diagonally on the other. It was chess reduced to its logic, and a century later it still looks modern.

The classic sets: board and pieces in wood

Manopoulos makes its Staunton sets in two forms, and the difference is mainly about how they are kept.

The Wooden Chess Set in Chessboard Case lays an inlaid chessboard into the lid of a wooden case, with the chessmen stored inside. Close it and the whole game is in one piece. The light and dark squares are individual pieces of wood rather than print, veneered and inlaid by hand in Thebes and then lacquered, and the chessmen are turned wood, weighted and felted. It comes in walnut, olive burl or walnut burl veneer and in three sizes: a 27 cm travel set with 3 cm squares, a 35 cm board with 4 cm squares, and a 43 cm board with 5 cm squares and a king of 8.9 cm.

The Wooden Chess Set in Luxury Wooden Box separates the two. The inlaid board stands on its own, and the chessmen have their own wooden box. It is the set for a table where the game stays out between sessions, and it comes in the larger sizes, a 40 cm board with 4 cm squares or a 50 cm board with 5 cm squares, in the same three veneers.

The modern sets: cork and Bauhaus

The Modern Chess Set with Cork Chessboard sets a natural cork board into the lid of a 34 × 34 cm wooden case, with 4 cm squares and sculptural modern-style wooden chessmen, natural and ebonised or natural and brown. Cork is warm to the touch and quiet under a piece, and it gives the board a soft, matte texture that sits well in a contemporary room.

The Bauhaus Chess Set with Vegan Leather Chessboard goes furthest from tradition. Geometric Bauhaus-style chessmen in wood are matched to a vegan-leather board on the lid of a 40 × 40 cm wooden case, with 5 cm squares. The board is white with black, turquoise, terracotta or olive green, and the pieces are lacquered to match. It is the one set in the range that can be chosen as much for a room’s colours as for the game.

How to choose

• Where it will live. A set that is put away after every game suits a chessboard case. A set that stays out suits a separate board, or a modern set that doubles as an object.
• Size. Larger squares and taller pieces make for a more comfortable game across a table; smaller boards travel and fit on a shelf. Pieces should fill their squares without crowding them, which is why Manopoulos sizes each set’s chessmen to its board.
• Wood. Walnut is calm and even. Olive burl and walnut burl are livelier, with swirling figure that is different on every board. Natural wood always varies in grain and shade, and that variation is part of its character.
• Style. Staunton is the choice for players who want the pieces they know from tournaments and books. Cork and Bauhaus suit players who want the set to say something about the room it is in.

For travel, there is also the suede roll-up chess set, which the story on games that travel in this journal covers in detail. And for those drawn to metal rather than wood, the Byzantine and Spartan sets have a story of their own.

A first set, or a last one

A good chess set tends to stay in a family. The pieces are handled by children learning the moves, the board takes on the soft sheen of use, and one day it is simply part of the house. That is worth keeping in mind when choosing. The travel-size chessboard case makes an excellent first set; the full-size board and box, or the Bauhaus set in a colour that suits the room, can be the one that stays out for good.

El Laguito Cigars carries all four Manopoulos wooden chess sets and delivers anywhere in Canada. Each is handcrafted in Greece, leaves the Manopoulos workshop in its original packaging and carries the Manopoulos mark. Classic or modern, the only question is how you like to play.