Conversion of a Dubrovnik Chess Set for the Millennium T55/ Mephisto Phoenix

Hi,

In 2017, I purchased these pieces featuring drilled holes and finished in the timeless 'Mordovian Red' color from Chessbazaar—a hue especially favored for hobbyist pieces in the Grandmaster style during the 1960s and 1970s in the USSR.

Initially, I experimented with the adaptation for DGT eboards, which was relatively easy since the coils for piece recognition are separately available.

Later, due to the absence of LEDs and insufficient online support, I parted ways with my DGT equipment.

In my opinion, the pieces aesthetically complemented the Wenge board the best. When Millennium introduced the Phoenix with the dark T55, the decision was clear.

Concerning the RFID chips, I reached out to Thomas Karkosch from Millennium, but unfortunately, they were unwilling to sell me chips. So my only option was to acquire replacement pieces for the Millennium Exclusive and extract the chips :-)

I'm thrilled with the results after the modification. Feel free to give me feedback.

Best regards
Harry

https://youtu.be/hdnEdXBPK18?si=aizRZa1inBnutc0a

Nice work! It's really disapointing that Millennium refuses to sell their chips separately. I've been happy with the Millennium ecosystem so it would be great to be able use pieces of my choice.

@synthesechess Very nice work on your pieces. Having done 2 sets of my own (non RFID), I can really appreciate the effort that goes into these modifications....and how rewarding and satisfying to play with pieces that you really like. If you don't mind too much, I would like to provide some feedback.

When inserting the lead pellets, also add some kind of putty adhesive (like Bostik Blu-tack) to prevent rattles from developing. The blu-tack is a rubbery putty that doesn't harden and stays tacky, but I'm sure other brands make a very similar product.

Instead of foam rubber, maybe nylon washers will provide better support. In being better around the edges for stability, instead of towards the middle on the RFID plastic holder. Also, better compression support to take away impact stress on the RFID chip holder itself. In looking at the original piece, the wood rim would have taken most of the impact load, but now it seems that the RFID plastic holder takes all of the impact stress. And nylon has better resistance to deterioration from fatigue (my 90's Advent Heritage speakers failed due to the foam surrounds falling apart, and that was 20 years ago).

BTW, that red is really growing on me. Enjoy your new setup.

I contacted Chess Bazar and asked them if they could drill 20mm x 2.5mm holes centered in the bottom of each pice. They said they would do that at no cost. Once the pices are delivered to me, ill transfer the RFID chips one at a time from the original chess pices to the new set.

@dribron: That sounds really interesting! Do you already have an idea of how you want to weight the pieces? What kind of material are you thinking of using?

Thanks for this link. The Millennium Supreme Tournament 55 board deserves the St. Louis Club commemorative chess pieces, particularly their blood rosewood and natural boxwood set.