Chess Design: The Amazing Ultimate Knight
Imagine you are a chess manufacturer. Constrained by the staunton genre, how do you come up with designs that are significantly different yet in the staunton camp? The designer of the Ultimate chess set (also known as the Napolean) came up with it - and many more designs besides - flair, art, maybe a touch of genius.
Well, ya either love it or hate it. I love it. But it’s no can of beans, designed to neither offend nor excite anyone. The bold lines are so striking, and, well, bold. The first time I held the Ultimate in my hand was the time I fell in love with it. Since then I’ve tried again and again to get photographs that reflect it’s majesty without success. It’s 6″ King will put many off, European homes aren’t as big on average as their North American counterparts, and an Ultimate chess set with a 6″ King takes up some significant room. But once holding it, feeling the weight and seeing in real life the rustic carvings making up it’s features, I just fell in love with the chess set. Difficult to really find a reason, difficult to quantify. Like falling in love with a person, you might find metrics of a kind, but there’s a bonding of souls and a feeling in the heart that is hard to express. The Ultimate had this very effect on me. The other pieces of the set are great too, but obviously in this chess set more than most, the knight is the flagship. If you love the knight the rest of the pieces won’t offend you, indeed they compliment the Knight.
Which wood? The Ultimate Chess Set comes in Ebony or Bud Rosewood, both are great woods for this set and both enhance the lines of the chess set perfectly. For me, although normally a Bud Rosewood afficiando, the Ebony really comes out better and really excels. The size of the piece is such that the black wood shows to effect the carving wonderfully. Various angles, shapes and depths result in shades of black I never would have thought of - but the bud is great too.
The Ultimate Knight chess set - well named, well designed with a touch of genius by the manufacturers, Ultimate in name, ultimate in nature.