How To Win In The Chess Openings

All across the world, you will find a wide variety of chess sets, from simple sets to highly decorative ones. The chess sets vary in the material they are made of, their look and feel, their size, and also their price. Chess sets range from cheap plastic chess sets to beautiful hand made or machine made works of art worth hundreds of dollars. Most chess sets are made of either plastic or wood. This is because these materials are commonly available and cheap. However, there are chess sets available in marble, glass and even leather. For the elite and the rich, who can indulge themselves, there are also chess sets that are extremely high-end - sets that are made of precious metals and stones like jade, gold, silver, brass and ivory. In the previous century, hand-carved ivory sets were widely used by the rich. However, with the source of ivory facing the treat of extinction, chess set manufacturers have moved on to glass and marble as alternatives. Till the middle of the 19th century, there were two basic types of chess sets available. For the rich, there were decorative chess sets, sets with extravagant art work and decorations. These sets were, however, inconvenient for practical use. The other pieces were mere wooden lumps, the different chess pieces distinguishable only by the heights. In 1847, a new design was made in London. Here the king had a crown and the bishop had a miter. Pedestals of different heights were also used to distinguish the pieces. The Staunton style is the most common style of chess set and is still used widely. There are nowadays different motifs and themes for decorative chess sets. Some decorative chess sets have depictions of ancient armies as their themes, while there are decorative chess sets that have the characters of popular movies and TV shows as their theme. As you may expect decorative chess sets are not very commonly used. Chess clubs, for instance, usually opt for cheap plastic chess sets. Such sets are easy to move, and can be used in large numbers, as they are priced cheaply. The durability of plastic sets also makes it a great choice for children to use. Decorative chess sets are nowadays rare, and are mostly seen as collectibles. These are more collectors' items today than usable chess sets. Decorative chess sets can also be customized according to the whim of the buyer. Since one is spending a lot on these sets anyway, he can choose what type of decorations he wants. These sets can vary in size; some of the sets are really huge, depending on the whim of the person owning it. Decorative sets that are collectors' items cost thousands of dollars, depending on the pedigree of the set. If the set was owned by someone well-known, it could cost thousands of dollars on the international market. Finally, one should note that with the advent of the Internet, chess makers in general have been hit quite hard. Both the common chess sets and also the rarer decorative chess sets have lost out to digital chess. Digital chess, also called online chess, is popular because it provides users with a wide range of choices, regarding the kind of game they want to play as well the type of chess set they want to use, for free. So one could opt for a highly decorative chess set for a game, and being virtual, it wouldn't cost the user a penny! There are free chess downloads on the interent.