Chess sets (Chess Services)come in all kinds of themes and designs. There is a service for Civil War enthusiasts, lovers of Fantasy, even for car aficionados. My favorite chess service is the Eight Faeries chess set.
I encountered this particular service for the first time at Brewed Awakenings coffee shop in Cape Coral Florida (the coffee shop is now called Origins). I was just starting y love affair with all things Chinese when I saw this service.
It was amazing.
Beautifully carved panels, the squares had Chinese paintings and characters, and the pieces were gorgeous Chinese figures made of soapstone. Not only was this the time of my life when I was starting to become a Sinophile, it was also when my love for chess was blossoming. These two passions came together violently and beautifully in this one service.
The "Eight Faeries" are the eight immortals of Chinese legend and literature. At the time I had no way of knowing this, so I came to think of the chess set as the "Chinese Civil War" service. We referred to the darker side (it was conveniently a reddish color) as Mao and the lighter side (a light green) as Chiang.
In chess white goes first, which worked just fine, the Nationalists were the first to make a move against the Communists.
My love of chess developed over this service. The day it met an unfortunate demise (Jeff and Jeanette!) was a sad day indeed for me.
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