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1910 LASKER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - maple & walnut - chess pieces


The second half of the 19th century in England is often termed as the "Victorian"age - but on the continent, specifically in Austria and Germany, this is known as "Gründerzeit" - the Founders Age.  The style in furniture. buildings, dresses was solid, massive and ornate,  with throwbacks to ancient styles - and new fashions were constantly arriving. In a time of fluid style changes, a quite unusual type of long stemmed and stately chessmen cropped up, well ahead of the succeeding Old Vienna form.
 
On January 7 of 1910, Emanuel Lasker set out to defend his title of World Champion in a match against the Austrian prodigy Carl Schlechter. The match was destined to run for 10 games, half of them to be played in Vienna, and the second half in Berlin. Club organizer, Georg Marco, ordered a special chess table with good chessmen from a reputable joinery Faludy or Kisfaludy - this is the famous Schlechter-Lasker chess set with table, which has survived two World Wars and provides the best known specimen of the Austrian Uprights.
 
 

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Herbert Huber, the founder of the Wiener Schachverlag, was the next in line to look after this table. For over 40 years he kept it in the back room of his little chess cave in Vienna. In the 1990ies Huber's successor Michael Ehn sold it to the Berlin collector and chess enthusiast Stefan Hansen, one of the initiators of the Berlin Lasker Society, dedicated to reviving and vindicating the memory of the great German chess gladiator. It is there the table now rests as a revered and much admired showpiece.


After being recommended to us by USA chess collector and friend G. Grimsley, we decided to recreate (or at least try to) this magnificent chess set. It was a big challenge, especially since not many photos existed. It took us a lot of time and a lot of ruined pieces before our journey came to an end. But all this was forgotten in a moment we put finished set on a chess board for the first time. 

Ellegance, power, confident ... Also all attributes of Emanuel Lasker, world chess champion for 27 years.
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- natural combination (maple & walnut) 
- king's height 128 mm, base diameter 40 mm
- hand turned and finished pieces 
- detailed hand carved knights
- possible purchase of extra queens (+50€)
- weighted pieces
- felt cushioned
- several layers of special coat and final polishing
- housed in a basic box 
- every set comes with certificate of authenticity, which is made to recipient



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