Lovely dynamic piece, can fork your king and queen at the same time... Pan destructive piece
In praise of one piece knights…
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I love my one-piece GM Blitz Knights from Chessbazaar....
May 16, 2023
0
#4
Beautiful MC and Russ. Thanks for coming to the party. Russ, I cannot remember exactly but I have a feeling you influenced (via a historical post) the purchase of my CB GM Blitz and I agree, it’s a gem. So, thank you. Here’s another one piece diamond from Sandor Biro.
Unknown set, circa 1900? Hungarian? Who knows.
May 16, 2023
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#6
@beachero - fantastic, I’ve never seen such knights! Thanks for posting.👍
Powderdigit wrote:
Beautiful MC and Russ. Thanks for coming to the party. Russ, I cannot remember exactly but I have a feeling you influenced (via a historical post) the purchase of my CB GM Blitz and I agree, it’s a gem. So, thank you. Here’s another one piece diamond from Sandor Biro.
@Powderdigit -
Yes. You had asked me about my set which I posted in the forums, before purchasing yours. The bases are also broad for improved stability during speed games. Bottom line - It's a very nice set. I highly recommend it.
Photos of my GM Blitz set by ChessBazaar and on my solid wood board by ColoradoWoodWorker (ETSY) - Brad Borkowski...
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/cb-gm-blitz-set?page=4
Closeups of my GM Blitz set and on my Drueke board...
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/cb-gm-blitz-set?page=2
And my knights of the two chavets I've made:
May 18, 2023
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#9
I’m envious @jacmater - made by your own hands! Having started woodturning, I aspire to one day achieve such feats - not for any commercial gain - rather to simply try to make something with my own hands and occupy my mind while doing so.
I'm sure you can mr. Powder, with just a little passion and patience it can be achieved easily, but you must persevere and not despair. try it and show us your work!
One piece knights of an old Vienna chess set.
May 19, 2023
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#12
@gekko69 - they go to the top of the pile for me. Very elegant! Thanks for the post.
May 19, 2023
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#13
HI guys! I don't own this one yet, but it is definitely on my radar for future purchase. This is a reproduction that was designed for the Piatigorsky tournaments held in Los Angeles back in the 60's. I have the tournament books from both the First and Second Piatigorsky tournaments, and I think it would be great to play through the games using this set (available from SC). Here is a photo of the one piece knight from that set.
Not only elegant, but just a pretty spectacular example of the carvers art. I was thinking how hard it would be to carve just one, then the difficulty in carving 4 of them without variation for use in a set. It sort of boggles my mind.
A small Escardibul set from ~ the '70ies with famous horses. I believe they are one-piece, because all 4 white knights on my two sets here have the wood grain running from stem to body.
May 20, 2023
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#15
It never occurred to me that the knights wouldn't be all one piece so I checked my set and even though there is a groove it does appear that they are one piece.
May 20, 2023
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#17
@fogtowngirl and everyone else…. thanks for the continued posting.👍
I think one of the joys of collecting is to see the subtle variations in pieces and the way they are made. I imagine, that economically, it’s cheaper to make two piece knights … a wood turner using a mechanical lathe make many ‘basic’ bases and the more detailed knights head can be added later … either by the same hand or by outsourcing to a more skilled craftsman who doesn’t need to spend time on a simple base. That said, maybe it’s not just about economics … albeit size and scale are important - it provides more flexibility to the manufacturer to be able to be place many different styles on knight on a similar base.
Laying my ignorance bare (again!) - until MCH’s post above, I didn’t actually realise that Chavet knights were one piece … how cool!
I might also note that in starting this thread / I am not saying two piece knights are inferior … just different - for example, I enjoy my Dogface, Lardy and French Regence knights and many other more intricate knights made in two pieces too. It’s just that this thread celebrates the pieces finished as one piece.
I agree that one piece knights feel great. I love mine.
MCH818 wrote:
@Powderdigit I’m pretty sure most if not all Chavet knights are one piece.
Here’s an 80s/90s B210 knight.
Here is an unweighted size 5 knight from the 2000s (left).
Those knights don't appear to be one-piece to me. That is, there appears to be a top carved section (horses head, etc.) and a bottom, lathe-turned pedestal section, which are glued together. The same appears to be true for several of the other knights posted in this thread. But since I don't own any of them I can't say for certain.
I have always liked one piece knights. I am not sure why … perhaps it’s because there’s something inherently clever or skilled in their carving; perhaps it’s because they feel solid. Perhaps there’s no need for a reason.😊
Please feel free to add yours to this thread and let’s celebrate these solid little knights.
Here’s my start - the GM Blitz in Ebony and Boxwood and the Philippines in Kamagong and Narra.
