This chess set is a thing of beauty. It was originally designed in 1972 by Cy Endfield, a jack-of-all-trades film director who was also trained in theatre, mechanical drawing, silversmithing, and mathematics. (Magic, too.) But what about chess? ”His early friendship with Man Ray linked him to both chess and Modernist aesthetics.President of the International Chess Federation and former world chess champion Max Euwe chose the Endfield chess design as the Federation‘s sole commemorative chess set for the legendary World Chess Championship Match between American Bobby Fischer and Russian Boris Spassky.” This edition commemorates the 50th anniversary of that match. The set is remarkably lightweight and elegant, with pieces made of fine sheets of gold and silver that fit together in elegant rolls when not in play, plus a foldable, stainless steel board. (Another source of inspiration, Marcel Duchamp, emphasized portability and efficiency in design.) Truly a piece for the person who has everything, chess fan or not.
