Spanish Chess Sets 5-Rarity, and...

perhaps never seen in this forum...

This my humble task of trying to bring to light a bit of Spanish chess pieces,( and others national sets,stupidly replaced by the "German Khigts", and bad indian sets for all)  based on the sets I own, a set of spanish chess pieces set rare, very rare.

In 1976 a director of my chess club (Grupo de Xadrez do Porto-Portugal) tired of the Spanish chess pieces “Indajesa style”, already widely discussed in this Forum, decided to go to Vigo (Galiza-Spain) buy different chess pieces.  He bought these pieces that you can see here and on the  chessboards in the second picture.
“Love first sight” for most players of my club, including me. Since then, years and years searching for these pieces, to me, strange but beautiful with a gorgeous and strange Knight (Chigorin tribute? An yes gcrau, theyoffend your sense of proportion) and a beautiful carving and proportion of the remaining pieces.

I know that this set was used in some Spanish Open Tournaments (perhaps Manresa  or Benidorm) in the 70's, early 80's, as I was told by some Portuguese players who played there.
Strange, is that I can’t  find on magazine Spanish Chess covers (Jaque, OchoxOcho, Peon  de Rey) photo players with these chess pieces.
The only image I have is of my good friend recently deceased and Portuguese IM Joaquim Durão in one open tournament in Spain playing with these set.
So,  I conclude  that this set was little appreciated and loved by the Spanish players, so maybe its rarity.
In my club it is still very much appreciated and some years ago my chess students love it.

Imagine my joy, euphoria, when in  a Web auction I got this pieces for 20 Euros!

I shall be recognized who can provide more information about these pieces: manufacturer, year of manufacture, tournaments were used, photographs of players playing with them.

 thanks

Very nice set, Arlindo, and magnificent photos. You're absolutely right, the knight offends my sense of proportion. It reminds me of a giant kangaroo.

Yes, cgrau, The Knigth is a "kangarooKnight". Ah! That "zoo eye" cgrau

But, one thing that distinguishes the spanish chess pieces from others is the Knight. The Indajesa Knights, the Ecardibul ones, and others that put other posts,are unique! Believe it or not, I can distinguish a spanish chess set by the Khight. All Knight spanish chess  pieces are unique and with Style. I dream one day a chess set with an Andalusian horse  Knight head!

Be sure...nd i will post my Chess Spanish chess set 6-7 and 8 ! And with Spanish chess Khight heads to the world!

Till there...

Regards!

I like for the knight to be very slightly taller than the rook but not taller than the bishops and queen !  

I second that Reb.! Nice set overall though. Thanks for the nice pics.

Zoo-eye! LOL. Thank you for the kangaroo pictures, Arlindo. Here I am at the Madison, Wisconsin Zoo a few weeks ago looking for models for an ideal knight.

Damn, my wife caught me on Facebook. Well, anyway, here is what I found to model for the ideal knight--a couple of Wild Asses.

An old Arkansas friend/antagonist of mine always refers to his knights as mules .   The asses you pictured reminded me ... 

At least they look like horses.

Yes, that is a more reasonable proportion. If you looked at this set and knew nothing of the relative average value of the pieces, you'd conclude that the kangaroo knights were more powerful than queens and more important than kings. Come to think of it, I've known people who played that way--cavalierly.

Thats a nice looking club pictured in post #1 Mr Burn ! I was a member of Sporting Clube for my first 3 years living in Lisboa and we even won the Cup of Portugal one year , defeating Boa Vista in the final ! It was a victory of the under dogs for sure !  

Do you know any of these players ? : 

My God!

Nostalgia!  ; You and the moustache! Front of You , FM  José Pereira dos Santos ( what a player!) brother of FM António and IM Carlos Pereira dos Santos!

In is right, FM José Pinheiro, strong player indeed! , and at your side my good friend, and a gentleman Rui Silva Pereira!

Reb, I'm almost 60 years old!| I play with some of this guys ( exc Pinheiro) im blitz, semi-blitz (30m)  and Nacional Junior Tournaments, and a National permier one in Portugal! Well, with Rui Silva Pereira the Drawn is the most common result. With others, no chance!

 I laugh! A restaurant! The Portuguese Players does not promote the pawn TO A QUEEN, MOSTLY TO A RESTAURANT, often no to a drink! A pity!
Stupid, that mentality of some Strong portuguese chessplayers ! The more alcohol better performance!  They imagine themselves   Alekhine's sons!

No, no, the guys in this Photo are "watermaniac"!

Well, a good theme to this forum!Chess and alcohol.

Warning: Max EUWE, was World  champion for its quality and preparation of the game and not forAlekhine's drunkenness !
No to the myths and read Alexander Mûnninghoff.

Reb, thanks for thius pics!With old age I am become sentimental, and some furtive tear may fall!

In Portugal, apart from the 40's never had a national set .We caught in international mold and manufacture plastic sets of the most horrible, ugly, ordinary imaginable !!! Some people in Portugal earned good money with with this "shit"

I fight years against this type of set, because are against FIDE rules! Yes! 6,5,7cm King height!

I  swear, in my house these pieces were kept, because I’m afraid  that my children swallowing the  small of this pieces!

My friend Reb play in Portuguese Tournaments with this set, and I think that he lost some games ( some…because he was a very strong player!)  by blindness. The chess pieces are so small, so Lilliputian that …

Look at the Khights!!

One is a gay one , and I swear, I’m not homophobic, but the Knight is so ridiculous! Another is inspired in “My Little Pony”, and other is inspired in “Stupid laughing pony”

I am 62 myself and also suffer bouts of nostalgia often ! I played for several different teams during my 14 years in Portugal but must say that my first , SCP , was also my favorite ! I was with them for 3 years only and dont recall which team I went to from there but over the years also played for Cenecas , AA Amadora , Odivelas , Alverca , Luis Camoes  and maybe 1 or 2 I am not remembering . On the team pictured I normally played board 4 with Jose P dos Santos #1 , Jose Pinheiro #2 and Rui Silva Pereira #3 and as a team we did quite well .  I learned quickly that the Portuguese chess players like to eat even more than they like to play chess ! We often had wonderful meals together at good restaurants and while there I learned also to like wine !  I was only a beer drinker when I first moved to Portugal but now also enjoy wine with some of my meals . 

Awesome thread!

Two more Portuguese Masters : 

Reb:

Rui Dâmaso on left! IM and for me one of the best, if not the best portuguese player. Olympic player,wonderful tactical player. Today Damaso clashed with Portuguese Federation, and can not show its real value. No doubts, in another country Dâmaso  would be clearly GM because your power play shows that strength.

On the right, António Fróis, another strong IM . Very studious and hardworking, he lives from   chess. It's a great class chess coach.

Stand, Carlos Carneiro, Chess Player, teacher, coach and chess tournaments organizer.

Front: Armanda Plácido, yes, a strong player indeed, and for a while portuguese President of the Lisbon Chess Association and Vice-President of the Portuguese Chess Federation. I can say hard work for Armanda Plácido becausae of some retrograde mentality of Portuguese chess players.  Some of the Portuguse chess players think they are the greatest, but they study and work little. They are not geniuses, but think so! More... this mentality is already inculcated in young players! A shame!

The Portuguese Chess Championship ended recently and the National Champion is my friend António Fernandes 53 years old! So goes the Portuguese chess scene. " Third World chess".

Well I think that the photographer is that guy and yes, one of the best chess cofee in the world "a bica"

I just acquired a Spanish set with the Kangaroo Knights. It was practically being given away on ebay, I could not turn it down. It's actually kind of charming.

Here are some close-ups. (Sorry, only the whites.)

And just the knight:

This set is not exactly like BurnAmos', but is definitely of the lineage.

Thanks, informaticacobach29.

Shoot, my set is at school. But they aren't very big, I'd say they're shy of 3.5" probably closer to 3 1/3". That pic at the top is of the set on my 1.75" Drueke board. But it is not a tiny set either. In fact, I should take pics of the pieces in comparison to a Lardy-type set with kings of equal size. This Spanish set is has a lot more heft to it. Not to mention the knight; it's quite a beast. 

I remember back in the late 1960s or early 1970s, my grandfather liked to drink a Portuguese sparkling wine call Lancers.  It was in a red and/or a green ceramic bottle.  I have not seen it in years.  I kept a couple of empty bottles in college to use for flowers.

Lancers was my mother's daily glass of wine when I was a kid. I, too, haven't seen it in years.