The Modern Materialist : chess

These Aren't Chess Pieces

Alex Zalben — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:08:00 GMT

These aren't chess pieces... Can you guess what they are?

Answer: They're bar stools! Inspired by chess pieces! Good thing the designers weren't inspired by a Bishop, because, well, you know...

Bishop up the butt.

[$1450, Twentieth]

[Via BLTD]

Let's Make Chess Harder

Alex Zalben — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:31:00 GMT

Once you know the rules, Chess can be as difficult, or as easy as your opponent would like it to be. Unless you really want to amp up the difficulty:

Wobble Chess Set! Cute, and annoying to play!

[$250, SFMoma]

[Via OutBlush]

Sexy Chess, Part 2 [NSFW]

Alex Zalben — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:31:00 GMT

To be fair, the picture above is probably NSFW, if you figure out what's going on with the pawns. But, following up on our hard driving report about the Russian Nesting Chess Set (and by nesting, I mean man-thing in va-jay-jay), comes this Kama Sutra Chess Set from Etsy:

[$200, Etsy]

[Via Boinkology]

How Do You Say 'Erotic Chess' In Russian? [NSFW]

Alex Zalben — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:29:00 GMT

...Because that's where this handmade erotic chess set comes from. You can't really see the naughty pieces in the picture above, but you can below:

Pricing available on request.

[Russian Mammoth]

[Via Nerd Approved]

A Worthy Opponent

Alex Zalben — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:30:00 GMT

If you're going to play chess, you can boost your ego playing against a group of kids (although, let's be fair... The kids pictured there are probably chess masters), or you can go up against this guy:

It's not available until September, but you'll probably need that long to practice, right?

[£120, Hamleys]

[Via Ubergizmo]

I Am Alice's Chess Set

Alex Zalben — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:30:00 GMT

Just a regular looking chess set, right? WRONG. This set was inspired by Lewis Caroll's "Through The Looking Glass," and so, naturally, hides a big secret:

The pieces are translucent tubes, until they touch the board, and then turn transparent, revealing the piece inside. The sets are available by request from the creator, but I have to imagine some entrepreneurial sort will snatch it up post haste and start mass producing 'em.

[Yasmin Sethi]

[Via Dvice]