Until today the weather here has been very unusual for late October with temperatures up to 15 C. When I joined the army (obligatory) at the same time in 1968, there were minus degrees, snow and ice everywhere.

I saw in the news that 50 million Americans already had voted. The media here have been packed with the election the last 2-3 months and, admittedly, I have had enough of it. It is an immensely important election, I know, but now I just long for it to get over.

I have acquiered a new set of chess pieces.

Since I began playing serious chess on club basis at 16 - which is now 61 ago! - it has been one of my greatest pleasures in chess to sit at a table with my chess set and then analyse a variety of openings, middle game positions and endgames. Moreover, play though the games of masters printet in chess magazines and multiple chess books. All that gave me endless hours of highly rewarding contemplation.

The past six seven years, however, have been filled with much else. At some point I stored my chess board and the pieces, since they took too much space - and replaced them with a smaller board with pieces created by the great American artist Man Ray. A beautiful set of chess to look at, but completely unuseful to play with.

Then, a couple of months ago, I suddenly felt an urge to revisit my old lifelong occupation to play with real physical chess pieces instead of watching all chess on screens.

So I decided to buy new chess pieces. My old beautiful set of Staunton pieces was too big for the Man Ray board and that was a requierement.

Then, during research, my eye caught the chess pieces created for the world championship matches by request of FIDE. They were created by Daniel Weil, a London architect, who in the process consultat Carlsen and others. I was used for the first time in the Anand-Carlsen match 2013 and has been the authorized standard in all following WC matches. I expect they will also be in use by Ding Liren and Gukesh tomorrow.

So I ordered the pieces at Chess and Bridge, London, and they arrived in the beginning of this month. Since then I have spent many hours (easy to do when you are retired!) at the board. It should go without saying that I am absolute thrilled by the beauty and usefulness of these pieces, which fit my board perfectly.

Now old issues of New in Chess have got a renaissance, since I can have the full experience of playing through their countless annotated games. The same goes for some of my chess books. It has truly re-boosted my interest in chess, and I can only say that it is highly recommendable! The deep pleasures of the game, but also the tactility, the joy for the eyes, it's all more than worth it.

I could write a lot about the pieces themselves, but here is a link so you can see for yourself.

I chose to buy the set from the UK shop, because they'd ship it from Germany, which meant I shouldn't pay additional 25 % in import taxes (since it then was a trade inside the EU).

The authorized American dealer has a better display and explanation about the pieces:

https://shop.worldchess.com/product...

That site also shows a great video about how the pieces are manufactured in an Indian workshop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tg...

I had to make a bit research on "ebonized", and it turned out it was a very well-known old way to blacken/darken wood. All pieces in the set are made of boxwood - those that should be black will be ebonized, a chemical process which penetrates the surface without covering it like paint would do. Thus any scratches won't reveal a brighter wood underneath. Ebonizing also allows the natural grains of the wood to remain visible. Quite an interesting method, really. My other pieces have two different types of wood: olive/rosewood, boxwood/rosewood or boxwood/ebony.

I have an old wooden chess set where the Black pieces stain has lightened up to the point they can get confused with the White pieces.

I might have to research the "ebonized" technique myself. Though I originally, and likely, will have to do some research into staining techniques.

Do you have a link for "ebonized"?

One of my videos seemed to suggest it was equivalent to painting the pieces.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PKHF...

It looks like magic since it appears he does it entirely by eye (though I guarantee that's not the case!).

A more realistic video showing the duplication of a queen, as well as restoring the finish, of an old set is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_I...

Using venier calipers to make the queen is tedious and error prone (for amateurs at least). Here's a woodworker who developed what seems to be an excellent duplicating technique:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWE...

A special article (in Danish) discusses genuine ebony vs. enonized wood in chess pieces. Of course, the former is preferable but also significantly more expensive. And ebony, it says, has a tendency to crack when getting dry. For normal use of chess pieces the article says ebonized wood made well is more than sufficient since it'll take more than a lifetime to wear it off!

True, Valdemar Atterdag was certainly not a boy scout, and the massacre on peasants defending Visby is not a glorious moment in Danish history.

I found this article (in Danish) which IMO gives a fair and balanced summary of what happened and why. https://danmarkshistorien.dk/vis/ma...

The conquering of Visby was a part of the grande plan, Atterdag lay in order to restore the Danish kingdom, and he wasn't shy of using brutal methods to do it.

However, as the article says, warfare in the 14th century was generally not a noble affair. It was rough, brutal, merciless in all phases.The battle of Visby in 1361 had a particular, but I think important note to it that it wasn't the citizens in Visby who fought against Atterdag's army - it was, as you noted, the peasants from the countryside surrounding Visby. The citizens were primarily of German origin and were quite indifferent to it all. They were tradesmen, and after the defeat of the peasant army, they made an arrangement with Atterdag to pay penalty taxes in order to continue their lives.

I can't recommend visiting Visby highly enough. There is a reason Gotland is known as the Pearl of the Baltic and Visby is its largest and most significant city. It is the stuff of fairy tales. When you approach it during the short ride from the airport and the famous ring wall makes itself known it can bring a grown man to tears. When Stockholm was just an unnamed, small settlement of fishermen and subsistence farmers Visby was already a thriving and by medieval standards modern city with an incredible sewerage system - another of my pet interests. There is no city even remotely like it in Sweden, it's unique.

Once again, I hope you are still able and well enough to make it there, you won't regret it. Sadly, my own travelling days are over.

Gotland, Øland, Bornholm - islands amidst what we Danes call the Eastern Sea, other the Baltic Sea. These islands were always subjects of interest to nations surrounding that ocean. Which has been another reason for Finland and Sweden to join Nato - need I say more?

I am sorry to hear that your <travelling days are over>. I can relate to that. I am only 77 and in relatively good health (all is relative now :-)) but my knees suffer from osteoarthritis making walks less pleasant. That doesn't prevent me from travelling with my much younger wife to great cities in Europe, but I can't walk around for hours like I used to do. With precautions, though, we manage fairly well. So in short, a trip to Gotland would not be impossible, but also not a priority, since there is so much else, we'd both like to see.

I am fascinated that you were a major part in creating content for the celebrations surrounding the Kalmar Union, well done!

For myself, one of my (minor) regrets is that I wasn't able to make it back to Stockholm last year for the 500th anniversary of the end of the Union and the birth of modern Sweden, when Kristian was ousted and Gustav Vasa rode into (what is now) Gamla Stan with lots of pomp and circumstance. I know there were plently of celebrations and re-enactments, although nothing official afaik.

Never mind, although Sweden and Denmark hold the world record of wars fought between any 2 countries - some of them unbelievably brutal - we're the best of friends now.

Google has an article they entitled

<<Chess Sets of Champions>

From Alekhine's gift to Kosteniuk's childhood treasure, explore the unique chess sets of legendary players.>

https://artsandculture.google.com/s...

Many thanks for this great link - very nice of you. A real joy to watch these quite peculiar sets which demonstrate the huge diversity in the design of these objects. I think it is for very good reasons that FIDE (?) at some time decided to make the Staunton model obligatory.

I recall that my compatriot Bent Larsen played with a very common and cheap set of pieces until he - and other participants - were gifted with a beautiful Staunton set at the Olympiads in Havana 1966. Perhaps elite players don't care much about the design of the pieces they use? :-)