"The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" German Knight set

In this strange and sad world, chess could not escape this plague of playing with the same chess pieces everywhere? The "German Knight" set floods the market and trays from all over the world. Even now, in Novi Sad, in a country with a great tradition of chess pieces with character and of its own making, the European Club Cup is played with  this ugly, fat chess pieces made in India by millions, and called (Why?) “German Knight”!
What will be behind this suspicion: fabulous profits of some, and some marks (DGT) and connivance of the own FIDE, or of someone for her ... a shame!

The "national" sets tend to disappear, and if there is a tournament in Croacia ', Duvrovnik? No…chuby and ugly German Knight! If a Tournament in Servia, what Subozan-Subotica? Fat and Ugly "German Knight" to power! If in Spain, which Indajesa? German Knight, Olé! If a tournament in Prague, not Czech set, but "German Knight!
This is sad, stupid, and only hidden concerns explain this!

But even with these chess pieces, I would like to offer you a game of the "discover the differences" style, to see how the quality, the category and the aesthetic of "German Knight" have degrade, rounded up, making it a commercial set, without beauty, without character, almost to brush against the rhyming parable of himself! Compare with a set "German Knigt" I HATE THIS STUPID NAME!, but a true 80's German from a German manufacturer! (I do not know if it was made in India, but compare the beauty, the aesthetic side, the elegance of one set and another, and draw conclusions.

Everything goes in the trade of chess pieces, to an aggressive marketing and ridicule to make us believe that certain sets are almost official, "FIDESCOS", necessary because they are used everywhere!
However, any lover of chess pieces, any amateur collector realizes that these pieces are vulgar, inert beauty, and above all a product of a massification, of a dictatorship of doubtful taste that wants to impose the "rule", the aesthetics massification regard to chess sets!
I refuse! Believe me I caught the "fat" German Knight just for the picture. This set rests in peace-amen in my pantry, away from the beauty of my other sets.
Okay! It will be my opinion. Whatever! In the midst of the hundreds of sets I have this is one of the worst sets I have.
Of course my RCR Terry is from another category!

I agree. These knights have gotten more snub nosed over the decades. Cheaper to make no doubt. I have an earlier example with more prominent proboscis also made in Germany  

Matter of taste ... I do like to play with "German Knight" sets but to be honest once the game has started the look of the set (as long as it fits regulations) is not important to me.

It's like they fed the nnew sets steroid to fatten their proportions in every way possible. I respect differences in taste, but there are aesthetics here that are not simply in the eye of the beholder, IMHO. Thanks for the great thread.

I, too, hate the name "German Knight". I grew up playing chess in Germany, and it's a complete misnomer. The typical authentic "german" knight looks nothing like this abomination...

That being said - we're talking minor design differences, and at the end of the day, it's the games that matter more than the pieces. I just wish the combination of DGT monopoly and Indian sets flooding the market hadn't wiped out local design traditions in sets they way they have...

how much does it cost

between 50 and 70$

http://www.houseofstaunton.com/chess-pieces/wood-chess-pieces/the-championship-series-chess-pieces-3-75-king.html

http://www.chessbazaar.com/tournament-series-staunton-chess-pieces-with-german-knight-in-sheesham-box-wood-3-7-king.html 

I can understand that people don't like the design of this set but they do the job and are affordable. I also like the simplicity of the design and the fact that these sets are easily replaceable because of their availability.

Notice that I didn't read any positive comment about sets with a recent design on this forum.

I'm still in shock over getting a German Knight set from Chess Cafe for $12.  I absolutely love playing with this set.  I take it with me to club and tournaments.  Opponents are always delighted.  Works well with any standard sized board, vinyl, silicone, mousepad, or wood.

Not anymore.  A few years ago they used to sell sets and other equipment, however. I can confirm they sold the above set for that price (I bought one as well). 

I bought a couple of them, too. It was a great price for some sturdy wood pieces.

It was a great deal on Chess Cafe's store a few years ago.  There was a time when all their stuff was on sale because they were reducing inventory, probably in preparation for closing down completely.  They've pretty much disappeared.

where can i buy one

New PC term:  "Equinely challenged" = A chess set with knights you dislike.

Clever.

The muzzle of the German knight looks like chopped, but the form is thought out for manufacturability. It was achieved the maximum resemblance to the horse, with the minimum application of tools.

Even different issues, at a single factory, can have a difference in the length of the trunk. There is always an opportunity to fix it for the better and compare it with original from the collector's store

It's popular for a reason.  It's cheap, but good!!

Agree with ChessReview on the neutrality/playabilty of these pieces.  I have HOS "Championship Series" version and it is great set to play chess with.  Also find the set aesthetically pleasing, the ebony n boxwood configuration is beautiful.  Would I prefer a 1980's Chavet set?  Sure.  But this is still a very nice set for playing chess.  Considering pro tourneys are teeming with these sets was funny to learn (through the CR video) that the pieces don't actually meet either USCF or FIDE regulations.  It could be worse, at least we don't have to look at these with every tournament report photograph that we see:  

I find this piece set beautiful.

What is set name and manufacturer? 

All i know that the company that supplied this particular set stopped making them in the early 90s

looks like a Didatto set - Italian manufacturer, and to my knowledge the first to produce a set w/ this type of knight, before the Indians started mass-producing this design and it became ubiqitous in FIDE torunaments due to the DGT Timeless set.

Arlindo owns a copy of this set, and he may be able to confirm, if he's still visiting this forum.