Why Are The Lewis Chessmen So Celebrated By Chess Players?

For chess enthusiasts, the appearance and painstaking workmanship involved in creating the Lewis chessmen are things of beauty. What strikes most chess players about the world-famous chessmen are how very tactile they are. They feel right.

Although it's not possible to handle them nowadays, the Lewis chessmen were obviously hand-crafted by a Viking chess fan, with close attention having been paid to their smoothness and weight. For the last thing any chess player wants is pieces that are awkward to handle.

What all chess players recognise in the Lewis chessmen is their sheer design quality ; the silky domed appearance of the pieces. While the squat figures of the medieval Viking chessmen may not appeal to everyone, what is plain to see is that even 800 years ago chess players valued well-crafted and pleasingly tactile pieces with which to join battle. And the same still holds true today.

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