Midnight Underwater Speed Chess

first came this: http://blog.xkcd.com/2008/05/19/friday-night/

then came this: a board and set that will sit on the bottom of a pool.

anyone up to play a game?

via reddit/r/chess

Eagle Scout Project: Outdoor Chess Set

source: Super-sized outdoor chess set? Check

I hope this kid also earned his chess merit badge.

Need a Christmas Present Idea? - Try Ice Chess

came across this neat idea while reading a reddit post.

thinkgeek sells ice tray molds for chess pieces (link).  currently the item is out of stock and won't be back in stock until March!  Must be pretty popular!

Friday Chess Around the Net

GM Timur Gareev plays 10 inmates blindfolded.  I've seen this guy in person at a couple of tournaments.  He seems odder than your average odd GM.  If you look at the pictures of him playing the inmates, you'll see him wearing an outfit that is really odd.  Also, in one of the pictures, he's facing the players.  Why not just turn him around?

Negative Space Chess Set - even more unplayable than your normal artistic unplayable chess set.

Make Your Own Chess Board (the cheap way)

I ran accross this post today: Decorative Chess Sets.

She did a little dumster diving, some garage-sale hunting, cutting, glueing and painting.  Not sure I'd want to play with the set, but it would be a good conversation piece sitting in the guest room.

source & image source: Just Something I Made

A Chess Set for all the Knights Errant

Hurry and place your bids today!  There is a unique Don Quixote chess set on eBay right now.  At the time of this posting, the bidding ends in about 5 hours.

The world of creative chess sets and the old Knights Errant collide in spectacular fashion in this antique chess set.

A snippet from the auction details reads,

"What we do know:
The oral history of the set: This set was purchased 1988/1989 from a woman who told me her Grandfather brought it back from Spain. He was stationed in Spain both during and immediately after World War 2. She said the pieces were displayed in a curio cabinet for many years until the Grandfather died in the late 1960's. After his death, the set was put back into it's case and stored. We used it several times a year (total probably around 100 times), returning it to it's case after use. We have not used it since about 2002.

What we do not know:
The actual age of the set, the manufacturer or the type of wood used. The back of the board is stamped GENUINE LEATHER MADE IN SPAIN JEYPE. Since the stamp is in English, we feel that it was probably made for export, so there may be some doubt as to it being purchased in Spain. Our research indicates Jeype is a leather maker, which sheds no light on who made the set or who carved the pieces."

Happy bidding!

*UPDATE* The set sold for $104.50

4-Way Chess

I've posted a picture of a 3-way chess board.  Now behold the 4-way chess board and set.

I found the picture while browsing Flickr (here).

This set sports the fancy "star" design of the board.  It looks like you can get a more "normal" looking 4-way chess board here.

"Mental Block" by Marilyn Riseman

Here's a screen shot from a video (found here) about one of Marilyn Riseman's favorite pieces of art - a chess set entitled "Mental Block".

How cute.

Of course after finding this picture of her (she's the one on the left), I wondered if she had a mental block when she decided dress like that for her 80th birthday party.

(photo credit: http://www.boston.com/yourlife/fashion/gallery/0816_stylespy/)

Paper Chess

I vaguely remember, as a child, building Christmas villages out of paper.

Now comes Paper Chess ... same idea, but with chess pieces.

Now on sale at amazon.com for $13.57 ... a perfect gift for friends or relatives who travel to South America (these guys sure could have used the book too).

Biggest Chess Set in the World?

Check it out. Though, I'm not sure if the pieces can be moved.


Aug 31 UPDATE: Just found this link at Chessbase explaining what this is all about.

Chainmail Chess

Tired of cheap, flimsy chess pieces and boards?

Consider a chainmail chess set.

Source: Chainmail Chess Set Is Suited For Battle (GIZMODO)

EnglishRussia Features Ivory Chess Sets

The picture blog EnglishRussia had a post featuring several ivory chess sets. Some of the 'themes' of the chess sets were Greek, Persian, Men vs. Women and a very odd one ... fingers.

It looks like all the pieces are chopped-off fingers while the rook is something else. Perhaps it represents the mechanism that chops off the digits. Can anyone shed some light on what message this chess set is trying to convey?

Alice Chess Set

I found this via Neatorama. It is a chess set "inspired by the novel 'Alice through the Looking Glass' where the pieces magically turn transparent when they touch the board."

Neatorama Link.

Original Link.

3-Way Chess

Check out this version of chess . I've heard of this, but had not really seen it before. Click on the link here to see this blog post on it.

I searched 3-way chess at wikipedia and found a link to Three-handed Chess.

From the above wikipedia page, I found more information on Three Player Chess. It looks like sometime in the mid 1990's this chess variant was invented.

I can hardly manged the normal chess board and complexities. But adding a third player to the mix makes for a very interesting and complex game. As one of the posts pointed out, if two of the players don't like the 3rd, then the 3rd player is doomed.

Chess Around the Net

Intense Focus

When I'm in a chess game, I can usually block out everything else that is going on. My wife or kids might call me, but most of the time I don't hear them. My wife can carry on a whole conversation while I'm playing chess and then ask me a question ... the answer she will get is the deer-in-the-headlights-look on my face. But when I'm done with a game, my attention to family matters and otherwise returns.

Apparently this blogger forgot to return to reality after playing a blindfold game.

Years ago I played a relatively good blindfold game on the computer, then
got in my car to go somewhere and immediately ran a red light. Mentally I
was still busy analyzing the game instead of watching the road…

Most Expensive Chess Set

I'm sure many have seen this, but I thought I'd include it ... here's an article on a chess set worth $9.8 million.

The Blog Bet

I enjoyed the events of The Bet ... see here and here. Because of that bet, I found some new, interesting blogs! Thanks DG and Mark!

Pictures

I wonder if this man's heart is racing.

Here's a totally scripted chess-shot. Wrong set up. And there's NO WAY the bishop arrived at that position. Plus, it's NOT checkmate.

This shot could be the icon for the Knights Errant ... if these knights aren't errant, then I don't know what is.

Chess Around the Net

Funny story about Bob Baladan

Balaban says he was browsing through chess books at the tournament hotel
when he posed a question to a woman he didn’t recognize.“I said, ‘Do you read any of Susan Polgar’s books?’ ‘No,’ she said. ‘I write them.’ ”

"The ICL says it will increase fines and penalties against chess 'goons'" ... click to read entire article ... very funny!

It looks like this blogger is intent on explaining all the openings. It has potential.

You may have seen this before, but here is a cool site where you can play chess and watch the computer think ... you'll be amused.

Interesting read about chess. Has anyone seen this chess set before?

There once was a Soviet chess set manufactured in porcelain during the first half of the twentieth century. The theme was, of course, capitalists versus socialists. Socialists were red, capitalists were white (probably echoing the Russian Revolution). The communist side spoke in the language of Soviet propaganda and mythology, and featured a wholesome, corn-fed farmer king and his chaste queen. On the other side of the board/world, the capitalists took up arms with a whorish queen, pawns bound in chains, and a king with a skull for a head.

I Googled it (the above described chess set) and found this link.