“Help your pieces so they can help you.”
— Paul Morphy

Looking at the exquisite beauty, elegance, harmony and functionality of the original Staunton chess pieces, one musk ask: “How can this almost perfect design be made even better?” And indeed, when you review the anatomy of the Staunton pieces, you can’t help but conclude that this timeless work of art is very difficult to improve. But it is possible to give different interpretations and adapt the form to different purposes. Let’s first look at the basic characteristics of individual pieces:

In Europe, chess is presented as a game of conflict between two feudal states with a monarch and his queen at the head (King and Queen), who are accompanied by priests (Bishops), and for whom cavalry chevaliers (Knights) and infantry (Pawns) fight in front of castle towers (Rooks). So, in the game we have six different figures, and each has its own character:

• Pawn
• Rook
• Knight
• Bishop
• Queen
• King

The least variation in all Staunton shapes is in the design of Pawns, Rooks and Queens. The Bishops mostly varied in its interpretation of the hat called Mitre, which is worn by Roman Catholic bishops in Europe.

By far the largest number of variations refers to the design of the Knight, a cavalry chevalier stylized as a piece of a horse’s head. The inspiration for this design was most likely a sculpture from the British Museum, taken from the eastern façade of the ancient Greek temple of the Parthenon:

The Knight shape provides the greatest freedom of creative expression, but at the same time the piece must be adapted to the game, ie. it has to be easy for manipulateion in a fast game during time troubles. Due to that, the players were especially sensitive to its form, and the search for a shape that is both elegant and functional continues to this day. In the meantime, we have seen many more or less successful attempts:

The differences can sometimes be very subtle, as in the example of these two great sets. On the bottom one we see that the ears of a horse are raised vertically:

According to the position of the head and expression, Knights can be roughly divided into:

In modern times, there are versions of Knight with a swan-like neck, most likely inspired by the set that played the match between Mikhail Botvinnik and Salomon Flohr, in 1935 in Moscow:

Contemporary interpretations look like this:

I could not find a source for this elegant modern set. It is possible that this is only a computer design and that the pieces do not exist yet. If any of the readers know anything more about it, please leave a link in the comments.

The last, smallest but the most important change on the most important piece – the King – will be discussed in one of the following sequels.