Description
Cy Endfield Commemorative Chess Set.
Offered here is a rare, limited Edition, Cy Endfield Commemorative chess set commemorating the 1972 World Championship match between World Champion and Soviet Grandmaster Boris Spassky, and the often-recalcitrant American challenger, Robert J. Fischer. The pieces are silver and gilded silver, and are housed in a white, silk lined. black leather, clam shell case which also houses the silver and black folding chessboard. These sets were designed and commissioned by Cyril Endfield to commemorate the historic Spassky – Fischer World Championship Match in November of 1972. The set comprises a silver mounted black leather folding board and two Perspex cylinders with silver and silver gilt stylized tubular chess pieces. This is set No.98 of a limited edition of 650, with its certificate of authenticity and instructions, and is in Excellent condition. The Cy Endfield Commemorative chess set consists of approximately 9 ounces of weighable silver. Initially, six sets were produced to be signed by both players, but only Spassky signed. Fischer, characteristically, refused, not wanting anyone to profit off his genius.
About the Artist.
Cyril “Cy” Endfield was a film director, magician and inventor. Among his many achievements is this unique chess set which he patented in 1974 in the US (3,806,128). This chess set, which allows one to interlock all the chess pieces into a tube for easy storage, was the official FIDE commemorative chess set for the legendary 1972 chess battle between the American chess genius Bobby Fischer and the Russian World Champion Boris Spassky. The set was originally made in a limited edition of six, followed by a number of 650 numbered and unsigned sets. The front page of the patent shows the basic design of the tubular stack.
The illustrations show the Cy Endfield set assembled. The inner stack was formed by a Plexiglas rod onto which the pawns were stacked. A plastic cover is slipped over the pawns to prevent them from being scratched by the other pieces, which are stacked over the pawns to form the outer cylinder. The silver and black chessboard folds to form a neat small package.
