On Designing Chessmen
The standard chess sets now in use, the FRENCH Set and the STAUNTON, are both
somewhat confusing in the similarity and intricacy of their forms. In the French
Set for example, the Bishop is a little Queen and the pawn a little Bishop.
Cannot a new set be designed, that is, without too radical a departure from the
traditional figures, at once more harmonious and more agreeable to the touch and
to the sight, and above all, more adequate to the role the figure has to play in
the struggle? Thus, at any moment of the drama its optical aspect would
represent (by the shape of the actors) a clear incisive image of its inner
conflicts. In the complicated modern game the figures should inspire the player
instead of confusing him. They should whisper to him at the right moment: "Move
now to QB4....Break through the center....Pin the Knight....Let me win a
piece....We can exchange Queens, the pawn will be metamorphosed into a new
Queen....to mate the King."
and
they should never make a
MISTAKE
