King’s Corner Part IV: A collector’s growing stockpile and the column’s first battle of wits

Published 7:58 am Saturday, October 22, 2022

There is something to be said about playing over-the-board and in-person instead of on a cell phone.

For those of you wondering my age after making this statement, I am 27 years old and thoroughly appreciate the value of physically playing in-person versus your counterpart, rather than connecting via technology.

Chess is as much of a game of strategy as it is a work of art, as the designs for boards and pieces are as varied as the moves made in a game.

This allows for beautiful, hand-crafted, hand-painted chess sets that are as appealing to the artistic mind as they are the strategic mind.

It also allows for beautiful collections from chess enthusiasts the world over – including in Limestone County, where resident Steven Bates collects a variety of chess sets.

Steven is a resident of the East Limestone area and a veteran of service to this county, whose wife also serves by working on the Redstone Arsenal.

He is a chess enthusiast and aficionado, with approximately a dozen sets of various sizes, colors, boards, pieces, and aesthetic attractiveness.

The sets include beautiful illustrations, hand-crafted designs, and eye-popping colors.

Some are also simple, such as his travel set that has the numbers and letters down the ranks and files, his glass sets of different sizes, and his classic chess set, complete with extra queens.

However, describing the sets does nothing compared to showing them.

Here are a few of my favorites.

All sets are named by me (sorry, Steven).

The Salvador Dali Set

Much like Guy Fawkes, Salvador Dali’s mask has become famous with American/European pop culture. While I do not believe this set was specifically designed to mirror Salvador Dali, the appearances on the king and queen are striking when compared to the Dali masks.

My personal favorites, however, are not the masked pieces, but the rooks and the knights, which both have beautiful design ideas. The tiles are also visually pleasing, seeming to be motivated by Japanese culture.

According to Steven, this set’s pieces are made out of bone.

The Zen Set

This is another set that seems to have inspirations from Sino-Japanese culture.

My favorite aspect of this set is the duality of the two colors chosen: the darkish red-brown for the dark player and the catching shade of green chosen for the light player.

Favorite pieces: the rooks and the pawns.

The Roman Set

Easily named due to the Roman-inspired chess pieces, complete with Roman deities and plenty of horses.

Going with the traditional white and black pieces, the set is also played on a unique style of board, with wooden and grey squares.

Favorite pieces: the rooks and the kings.

Steven’s Favorite

Steven’s Favorite set is also the heaviest of all the sets. A medieval-themed set of kings, queens and castles (all very appropriate for chess) complete with a silver tone for the light player and a gold tone for the dark player.

Favorite pieces: rooks (favorite of all) and kings.

First battle of wits

This is also the first time I have played a match for this column.

Steven and I went head-to-head on the Zen set to see who comes out No. 1 in the first meeting.

After some good moves both ways, Steven and I quickly found ourselves in a situation where we were both two moves away from checkmate.

Then, as happens with many chess players of all skills levels, a costly mistake was made by Steven – accidentally putting his queen in line with my bishop.

It was tough to come back from that, as anyone who knows chess understands how hard it is to recover from losing a queen.

That is, however, what I love about chess. One wrong move can cost you everything.

Next week

In battle of wits part II, I take on the person who taught me chess and has mentored me along the way, while also causing me great stress when I make a wrong move playing someone else – my good friend, Kohl.