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The Lewis chessmen (Scottish Gaelic: Fir-thàilisg Leòdhais [fiɾʲˈhaːlɪʃkʲ loː.ɪʃ]) or Uig chessmen, named after the island or the bay where they were found, [1] are a group of distinctive 12th century chess pieces, along with other game pieces, most of which are carved from walrus ivory.
For example, Cates owns Anri's "Far West" chess set, a beautiful set of intricately hand-carved pieces featuring the U.S. cavalry against Native Americans. He thinks the set dates to the early 1960s.
Of the chess pieces, 60 are major pieces and 19 are pawns. [n 3] In addition to the carved chess pieces, the hoard includes 14 plain ivory discs, [n 4] as well as a single ivory buckle, which might have been part of a bag holding the pieces. [1] Most pieces are carved from walrus tusk ivory, while at least three are made from whale tooth. [17]
Queen. The legend regarding the set states that these chessmen were given as a gift to Charlemagne by Caliph Harun al-Rashid, [3] who was an avid chess player. The fact that the set displays elephants instead of bishops and chariots instead of rooks denotes a form of the Perso-Arabic game known as Shatranj, itself coming from the original Indian Chaturanga (which compound word means the 'Four ...
A chess set. A chess set consists of a chessboard and white and black chess pieces for playing chess. [1] There are sixteen pieces of each color: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. Extra pieces may be provided for use in promotion, most commonly one extra queen per color.
The elephant of Yūsuf al-Bāhilī, known as the Chessman of Charlemagne [1] or Eléphant de Charlemagne, [2] is an ivory sculpture, possibly part of a chess set and probably carved in Sindh in the 9th century AD. It has been in Paris since at least the 16th century.
Walrus ivory, also known as morse, [1] comes from two modified upper canines of a walrus. The tusks grow throughout life and may, in the Pacific walrus, attain a length of one metre. [ 2 ] Walrus teeth are commercially carved and traded; the average walrus tooth has a rounded, irregular peg shape and is approximately 5 cm in length.
The pieces were designed to be easy to use and universally recognized by chess players of diverse backgrounds. It became known as the Staunton chess set after Howard Staunton (1810–1874), the chess player and writer who was generally considered the strongest player in the world from 1843 to 1851. Nathaniel Cooke has long been credited with ...