My Dubrovnik Set On My Drueke

Here's a pic of Gligoric Playing in Dubrovnik, 1950:

I would say the 'first image' from 5xadrezmemoria7's post is the 1950 original, the second is perhaps the early 1970's repro'?

I thought the first image was of the set used at the Spassky/Fisher rematch in the early nineties? The second image was taken from Izmet's site, where he presented it as a supposedly authentic but incomplete original 1950 set.

Well I'm pretty shure that the dubrovnik images is a really one. As a chess collector the "patina", the color of of the wood is 50! Not The Olimpic one? Why not? But a chess set of the same period. What I said is that the modern Dubrovnik is a "close" replica, and here and there  Ex:(the  Knights) we see the diference .

The Dubrovnik original is so, so rare, that perhaps Lothar Schmidt, De Lucia, and a litle few have this set! I repeat: with the Staunton Ol Havana 66, one of the most wanted chess sets in the World!

Do You Now that the Chess set and the folding table of the OL Havana 66 is given from free to all captains of chess teams? My old friend and great Portuguese chess player Joaquim Durao have this set and table! ( This set and Table, but of a Turkish collector) in

http://xadrezmemoria.blogspot.pt/search/label/Pe%C3%A7as%20de%20Xadrez%3BHavana66

My  croatian plastic set i bought in NOJ, but today they don't sell this set. But try:

http://www.drazic.co.rs/en/product/chess-figures-zagreb/

Jon Crumiller has one of the Havana table/set combos as well:

https://picasaweb.google.com/102930925707438682950/HavanaEnsemble

The Havana 1966 Castro set? There's one in Ljubljana, Slovenia too, here's a pic.

One of only five (5) made with the big folding box. Durao and Crumiller can only wish they had one of these:

King is 4 inches (100 mm), heavily weighted to 76 grams, 45 mm diameter. Tiny spike on the top of the cross. Big pawns (56 mm, 35 g), as tall as the rooks (56 mm, 66 g). Detailed knights.

There's a story too, waiting to be told. Not today.

-Izmet

Would love to read that story... :)

BTW, who manufactured these pieces? Is that known? They appear to be of high quality.

I have no idea. But the craftmanship is top notch. Top. Notch. Think Jaques in 1850's.

Here are the chessmen up close:

-Izmet

Could be Jaques...the style is wrong for 1850's though...1950's perhaps. If Jaques and pre ~1885 then the White King should be stamped "Jaques London." After 1885, both Kings were stamped. Beautiful work though, thanks for sharing. Hope this helps, cheers, John C.

I could be wrong but, I read somewhere Castro had the pieces made by craftsmen in Cuba?

Hm... i own a "zagreb" chess set (used in the '59 candidates tournament) wich its almost identical. The only difference i can see from the dubrovnik one its the face of the knight face looking down (in the zagreb). I have to say that personally i like much more the zabreb knight.

Heres where i got mine:

http://www.regencychess.co.uk/antipodean-deluxe-tournament-chess-set-p-297.html   ( Click on picture to see piece details. )

That is a very nice looking set as well. Thanks for posting the great looking pictures!

NM Crumiller says they are large club (4.4") and of boxwood and ebonized boxwood.

The pieces and table were used in the Fischer-Taimanov match as well as on the Fischer-Petrosian board at the World v. USSR match. Just on board #2 though. I assume that Fischer requested this or the organizers sought to please the often finicky Fischer.

There are many "so called"  Zagreb replicas floating around but I still have not seen an original 1959 Zagreb chess set anywhere. The House of Staunton popularized the set with its alledged replica, but failed to show any pictures of the origanl 1959 set. So there is no proof that this is an accurate replica of the 1959 set.  Authentic pictures with validation of the 1959 Zagreb set would be appreciated

zagreb chess set: http://chazzz.com/chess/sets/zagreb-59

the only picture i found its this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/02/KeresFischer1959BledCT.jpg

but the picture doesn't help much as the resolution its quite poor.

All i know its that my grandfather was living in zagreb (Croatia), and when i was passing  my childhood holidays there (back in the '70) all chess sets in yugoslavia was exactly like those in the pictures. They might not be 100% accurate ( it was 40 years ago), but using them it reminds me those moments. Thats enough for me.

Agreed. I have the greatest respect for Frank Camaratta as a Collector and for what he did with HoS in terms of rebuilding a market for quality chess pieces, but let's face it - a lot of the claims made by HOS regarding the design origins of many of their sets just have no factual basis whatsoever. They continuously rebrand sets and sell them under a new moniker (right now, they're reselling the "Lasker" set as the "Cambridge Springs" set), they took what was probably an Ayres set and sold a replica as the "New York Series", then they "antiqued" the boxwood pieces and sold it as the "BCC London Series", supposedly from the 1930s even though BCC stopped manufacturing sets decades before that. So I take any claims they make regarding the origins of any of their sets to be mostly marketing BS, unless they show an actual image of the original. 

The Zagreb 59 chess set story is bullshit. I have never seen this design (especially the knight) in former Yugoslavia.

-Izmet

FrankHelwig...in the point! Camaratta is a great chess collector, but as seller is a "chess marketing artist". I don't believe in most of he says about the pieces that he sell!  Fisher-Spassky replica? You dream! Approaches! And, yes, HOS are Indian made! Yes, here and there with best finishes, perhaps not made in Punjab, but the same material and the same country ! And Yes, I like the mammoth bone!

ifekali! Yes, yes, yes! By the hell,  THERE ARE NO ZAGREB 59 ! Another set,  beautiful yes, but but call it Zagreb is a scam ! Ah! In some amarican sites they call the fake set Zagreb 59 ....Russian chess pieces! Ah! Ah!

Look at the pictures of Fischer in Zagreb 59, or Keres- Fischer Zagreb 59... they are Dubrovnik perhaps with slight modifications, the same for Bled 61. Perhaps the set with diferences from Dubrovnik is the Portoroz set!

We can say that the matrix was 50 Dubrovnik, and then  "piano or viiolino variations" of the same theme.

I have a "piano variation" very beautiful:

Fischer in Zagreb:

Fischer in Bled

In a Worderful  Book Called "Yugoslav Chess Triumphs", rare photos of chess players with Dubrovnik and variations.

um... why are there so many words in this thread that I don't recognize?

Yes, I was thinking Portoroz set as well. In any case, you're right - the various sets used at these tournaments in the late 50s were all derived from the original Dubrovnik.

Here's a pic of a Portoroz replica (courtesy of NOJ):

I think the guy did pretty good with the english. Not everyone in the world speaks perfect english including me. Please give the guy a break will you please?