A new chess set

I decided to acquire another chess set that's made in my country. I knew there were good makers here as I owned one particularly nice set that I bought in the mid 1990s during one of the trips that took us to Paete, Laguna. Paete is well-known for its wood carvers and once Japanese visiting professor was so impressed that he and his wife commissioned a 14 stations of the cross that they shipped to Japan and donated to their church!

Browsing the internet for a nice set, I came upon a marketplace post of a set with the black pieces made of kamagong wood. Kamagong is a rare hardwood native to the Philippines that is known for its weight or density and is highly regarded and prized for furniture and other woodcraft. It is also commonly called "iron wood" for its properties. "New" kamagong is hard to come by and is much regulated by government (although there are many instances of illegal logging) and so scraps from the more expensive furniture likely find their way to become chess pieces. Here are photos of my new chess set made of narra and kamagong. Note that only the black pieces are made of kamagong.

The set the first time I laid the board and arranged the pieces at the office. I had this delivered at my office where the address is easy for couriers. We also have a disinfection routine when packages are received by the guard-on-duty.

Finely crafted chess pieces made out of kamagong (iron wood).

I remember one article from a long time ago stating that knights (horses or kabayo as we commonly refer to them) made in the Philippines are among the best in craftsmanship. I agree and here is a close-up of the white and black knights from this set.

My first set was a hand-me-down kleine from my father. That perished in the floods back in the 1980s. My next set was a cheap set. These are the ones you can buy at the local bookstore or sporting goods shop. I bought a tournament size set from my high school allowance. I think it's still at my parents' home though there's some water damage from the perennial floods we experienced in Cainta. I already wrote about my 3rd and 4th sets in a previous article. The 3rd one is similar to the new set I purchased. I also got it from Paete but the entire set is made of narra.

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