Chess is fascinating game.  The pieces always look super neat, playing chess is difficult, and winning at chess is even more difficult than playing the game itself.

Perhaps I’m speaking for only myself concerning the difficulty of chess, but I’m certain many of you feel the same way and find checkers much easier to master.

Inspired by TeamTeamUSA’s replication of Josef Hartwig’s Model I chess set, created in 1924 at Bauhaus Weimar, Le Garage has created a version of the Bauhaus Model I 1922 Chess Set.  Moreover, they’ve also provided instructions so you too can create a similar set of your very own using a 3D printer.

How do you do it?  In short, once you’ve secured a 3D printer:

• Print all the pieces in white.
• When complete, do the same with black plastic or any other color of your choosing.
• After placing the pieces on a chess board in their proper place, you’re ready to begin playing!

Sounds quite simple, but there’s much more to the project than simply printing out the pieces.  The entire set of instructions can be found on the project’s page here once all of the piece’s files have been uploaded.

A pretty neat project and something I’m definitely going to try.

What about you?  Will you try to replicate the Bauhaus Model I 1922 Chess Set on your own?  Are you a chess player and if so, what tips can you offer those of us who struggle with the game’s complexity?

Boing Boing

Chess, in its present form, originates from the second half of the 15th century, and features two players huddled over a chessboard with sixty-four squares in an eight by eight grid.

At the outset of a chess match, each player has sixteen pieces at their disposal: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent’s king, meaning there is no way for the checkmated player to move or defend their king from an attack on the next move.

The game is, to say the least, difficult if you’re a dolt, or even remotely intelligent, given that theoreticians have developed extensive chess strategies and tactics, the vast majority of which I can neither name, nor implement, in a match.

To make chess more interesting, Jonathan W. Stokes, states the following:

“One can’t help but notice that algebraic chess notation maps almost perfectly to scientific pitch notation…”

Kudos to Stokes, because I’ve never noticed, nor given any thought to his idea.  That said, unlike chess, I do understand music.

Spurned by this notion, Stokes sets about proving his point that chess and music go together in perfect harmony (yes, I went there):

“The eight columns of a chess board correspond to the eight audible octaves.  E.g., C4 is a middle square on the chess board and C4 is “middle C” on the piano… We’ll simply use the Northern European system of musical notation, where an “H” indicates a B Natural, and a “B” indicates a B flat.  This is the notation that composers from Schumann to Lizst used to sign the name “B-A-C-H” into their music (see BACH motif).”

Now that we’ve established Stokes’s fascination with the relationship between chess and music, here are two MP3′s he created to prove his hypothesis:

1. In “The Immortal Game (June 21 1851)” Adolf Anderssen gave up both rooks, a bishop, and ultimately his queen, in order to checkmate Lionel Kieseritzky using only his three remaining minor pieces – a bishop and two knights. - LISTEN TO THE MP3: The Immortal Game
2. At the World Chess Championship 1972, Game 6, Bobby Fischer beats Boris Spassky using an agressive queenside attack. Spassky not only applauded Fischer, but called it the best game in the match. LISTEN TO THE MP3: Bobby Fischer 1972

The music and inspiration behind the MP3s are impressive.  Visually, the connection between chess and music is even more impressive, as evidenced by a video created by Stokes where he translates Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” into a chess game.

Are you a chess player?  How would you rank yourself (bad, average, great)?  Did the music-chess relationship ever occur to you?

WIN: Chess, Algebra and Music
It’s a triple threat this week! Jonathan W. Stokes, blogger and man clearly gifted with superior intelligence and entirely too much time on his hands, used algebra to turn famous chess games into piano music, which he then turned into mp3s. It’s not often boardgames, mathematics and tunes get to have a hot threesome, so for that I tip my hat to Mr. Stokes.

FAIL: Microsoft Update
Monday’s Windows Phone 7 update designed, according to the Windows Team Blog, to “improve the software update process itself “, seems to have broken the phone. At least for some users, whose complaints Microsoft’s been fielding on their WindowsPhoneSupport Twitter account. The only recourse Microsoft is offering? Take it to a store. Why? Could it be because the update designed to improve the update process has screwed up the update process? And now unfortunate Windows Phone 7 users wait with great anticipation for the next update which will undeniably be intended to fix the previous update, but will only further &@#$ things up. Because that is The Microsoft Way.

WIN: French Kissing
Ever wanted to control your video game with one of the least graceful and most accident-prone acts of intimacy in the arsenal of human contact? Probably not. But now you can, regardless. Developer Hye Yeon Nam has created a video game controller that’s powered by French kissing. I’d make a joke about no geek ever being able to take the the Kiss Controller for a test drive, but it’s already been done to death. Yawn. Next.

WIN: Amazon Prime
Amazon announced plans to stream videos free to its Amazon Prime users, a paid service that offers shoppers free 2-day shipping on all qualifying products and, now, movies and TV on demand. Of course, Amazon has been offering on demand video for a long time now, so it’s really not much of a revelation. It is, however, a volley at Netflix, since Amazon’s Prime pricing works out to less per month than Netflix charges for its streaming-only subscription plan. The selection may not compare as yet, with Netflix offering the larger of the two, but we’re talking about Amazon, here. How long can it take for them to fire off another shot?

FAIL: 911 Calls
Specifically, 911 calls via Verizon. It’s been revealed that a staggering 10,000 calls to 911 were dropped in the Washington suburbs during the massive blizzard late last month. As you’d expect, the Federal Communications Commission is pretty darn upset. The FCC is asking Verizon investigate the issue out of fear that the problem may be more widespread than just that one area, and could happen on a large scale again. It’s not the first time 911 calls have been fouled during a blizzard (filed under New York City). Will the Snowpocalypse force carriers and responding agencies alike to review how they handle things when that abhorrent white stuff starts to fall?

I wonder how many more kids would have come to chess club at school if they’d been able to eat the pieces at the end of the game?

Actually, scratch that — they’d probably just eat the pieces mid-game.

Here are some chocolate chess pieces which come in a tube that transforms into the board itself. Apparently inspired by folklore, when a Croatian and Italian king play chess with prizes of islands off the Croatian coast, this is a set you can only play one game with before having to buy another one. Best not to play it at the height of summer either.

Designed by Key Design, I’m not sure whether this is just a concept or whether you can get hold of sets. Might be too much of a temptation anyway.