Chess is an indoor game that involves a lot of skill and concentration. It is a game played by two players, each one using certain tactics and strategies that are based on the opponent’s moves. A chess game is played on a chess board using chess pieces. The board is a square with 64 equal-sized squares drawn across. The squares are of alternate colors- generally black and white or any other contrasting colors. The chess pieces are totally 32 in number- 16 for each player, comprising of eight pawns, two knights, two bishops, two rooks, one queen and one king. Each player has one set of these sixteen pieces, which are all of the same color – either black or white.

Chess requires a lot of scheming. The main objective is to eliminate as many of the opponent’s pieces as possible. The game ends when the king is eliminated. However, the game can also end in a draw. The pieces are eliminated when they come in the way of the opponent’s piece. Each kind of piece has a unique movement: the rooks can move any number of spaces vertically or horizontally; bishops can move any number of spaces in any direction diagonally; the queen can move any number of spaces diagonally, horizontally, or vertically; the king can move only one square horizontally, vertically, or diagonally; Knight can move in L shape, i.e. two spaces horizontally and one space vertically – they can jump over occupied squares and moves. When one piece comes in the way of another, it is removed from the board. Each player has to protect his/her pieces and also aim to eliminate the king of the opponent.

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If you have an eye for beauty, élan, style and elegance, you will automatically do everything differently. Like your neighbors and friends, you too will have a cane wood table on the balcony. But your table will be covered with a tablecloth that others will wonder at. Your crockery will remind others of the nobility and of the days that have gone by. Your letter opener will bring the fire-spewing dragon in green and gold back to everyday life.

So, if a person of your taste and style wants a chess set, you deserve to get an Emperor chess set. What is it about the Emperor chess set? Is it a new game? Or are the rules different? No. Everything remains the same. Chess remains chess. The characters involved remain the same. Only the aristocracy and finesse of the characters change.

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Crystal chess is classic yet original and for the intellectual competition it creates a tempting invitation. Figures are prepared from the Strass crystal of high quality. All the parts are joined together and the sets figures out into a wonderful image of light and reflection in total. As a touch of innovative artistry is brought in the game so the effect becomes fascinating.

Quadrant Crystal Chess Set – This is a unique set made out of rectangular hand cut full-lead crystals. Marvelous visual effects are made with the combination of shiny and matt surfaces.

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It’s no secret that most fine chess sets are made in a small region of India in The Punjab state. Well, if it was a secret, there we are, the genie is out of the box – no secret anymore. Other areas make sets too – Poland, Pakistan and of course China – but objectively, everyone recognizes the superiority of Indian made chess sets – often described with a touch of melodrama as chess sets with soul. As the largest chess retailer in Europe and growing quickly in North America, we at ChessBaron haven’t yet seen chess designs made outside of the Punjab that have the presence and chess quality of a set originating in India. Not that they don’t have quality issues – they certainly do and need to overcome them to integrate fully with the richer ‘West’. But they are the best available chess sets in the world.

All of them? But what about Jaques? Surely this is a fine English design. They’d like you to think so. It really could have a ‘Made in The Punjab’ label – because it is. The same sets that are sold in many chess outlets are the same as Jaques and are sold for a fraction of the price. They just can’t call it Jaques – but it’s the same model. Jaques has become kinda passe. The design of so many other staunton sets are beter quality, better design and much more beautiful to the eye. Small tweaks to the pawns, a little ingenuity to the queen, a splash of artistic licence to the knight with a glorious mane and facial expression brings a chess set that is majestic and wonderful, excellent quality and fit for a family heirloom. Hence the saying – ‘You never really own a ChessBaron, you merely look after it for the next generation’. These are the new style of chess sets that will be coming up in antique roadshows of the future as the style of sets that supplanted Jaques as the predominant chess style.

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