THE CCI-USA NEWS 1

THE CCI – U A S NEWSChess Collectors International Volume 2014 Issue 1

IN THIS ISSUE

The Drueke Company – Chess Designed in America The Mysterious Knight Move Bonhams Los Angeles, November 17-18, 2013 Auction Results

THE CCI-USA NEWS 2

ANNOUNCEMENTS

15TH BIENNIAL INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION OF CCI The 15th Biennial International Convention of CCI will be held in New York (actually Jersey City, New Jersey) May 21 to May 26, 2014. The Hyatt Regency Jersey City Hotel will be the Headquarters for the Convention. The Hotel is a five-minute ride from downtown New York, on the waterfront in the Jersey City Financial District with every room having an excellent view of the Hudson River and the New York City Skyline.

The Convention will open with registration on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 and a welcome dinner for those in attendance on Wednesday night. On Thursday morning (May 22nd) members will take a bus ride to Princeton New Jersey to view the fabulous antique collection of CCI member Jon Crumiller and the fascinating collection of CCI member Israel Raphalelli. Lunch will be at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Princeton, New Jersey. Friday and Saturday have been set aside for chess seminars and a "show and tell" where members will display and discuss their favorite chess set from their personal collection. This event was started at the 2013 Baltimore CCI meeting and was unanimously requested by those who participated to "do it again". In addition, there will be the traditional chess fair, a simultaneous chess match with a highly regarded chess master and a possible chess auction. On Sunday, plans are for a trip to the World Trade Center in New York City, along with a visit to the New York 9/11 memorial.

The Convention will conclude with a Sunday night Dinner on the waterfront with a view of New York's great Memorial Day weekend Fireworks. More details will be in the mail to all CCI members before the end of January 2014. For questions contact Floyd Sarisohn at Lichess@aol.com.

Also at the New York CCI Meeting In May 21 to 26 2014, at our meeting in New York, we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of Chess Collectors International. We would like to celebrate this anniversary with a picture album of the events that have occurred at our previous meetings that will be distributed to the membership. If you have any photos of our members or events that have occurred please send them to georgedeanmd@aol.com ROBERT BLOCK In December of 2013 Robert Block of San Francisco California passed away. He was 89 years old. Bob and his wife Eva were part of the intrepid chess set collectors who traveled to Pompano Florida in 1984 to the first meeting of Chess Collectors International. This gave him the distinction of being a charter member of CCI. He faithfully supported and attended all the activities and meeting of our organization up to our meeting in St Louis in 2011.

He began collecting chess sets in 1958, purchasing a set from Alex Hammond. He then met Mackett-Beeson and assembled a magnificent collection of chess sets, which he displayed in his home. At a USA meeting in San Francisco in 2007 the attendees visited his and Eva’s home to view his impressive collection.

Robert Block was a charming, modest, elegant and self-effacing gentleman. He was beloved by all who met him and had the pleasure of his company. Those who knew him will remember him for his kind and winning demeanor. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him. We extend our condolences to his wife Eva and his family. – George Dean M.D.

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JOHN ROGERS “CHESS” ORIGINAL CASTING FOR SALE – 1889

John Rogers (1829 – 1904) was the best-known and most popular American sculptor during the second half of the 19th century. During his sculpting career, from 1859-1893, he produced plaster castings of approximately 80 of his works, depicting themes from the Civil War, history, and the theater. However, most of his subjects were vignettes of everyday Americans just enjoying life. In 1889, Rogers executed “CHESS”, one of his finest works. In the sculptor’s catalogs, he informed prospective purchasers “The position of the pieces on the board is taken from a problem given in the frontispiece of Staunton’s ‘Chess Player’s Companion’ entitled ‘Enigma.’ The Bishop, King, Pawn and Queen in the second row, and starting from the left hand, are white, and black is to be checkmated in seven moves”. The sculptor was an avid chess player.

Rogers sculpted CHESS near the end of his career. Consequently, he made only a limited number of castings and examples of CHESS are quite rare today.

This grouping is being offered by the co-author of a book on John Rogers. The statue is guaranteed to be an original Rogers Group, cast circa 1889-1904. It is in wonderful condition with no damage. The sculpture can be safely packed and shipped anywhere in the world. Price: $1,900 plus actual shipping charges. Alternatively, the group may be viewed and picked up at my home on Long Island, New York. I also invite you to visit my website, johnrogers.info.

Bruce Bleier brucebleier@aol.com

516-792-4363

BOOK REVIEW MY WORLD OF CHESS

Adventures in Collecting Chess Sets With a Discussion of the Origin and Moves of the Game

– by Robert Fulton Currently available electronically through Kindle

I received a copy of this book by Robert Fulton with a request I review it for the newsletter. I don’t know that I’m in a position, or comfortable, with doing a ‘real’ book review, but here goes: The book is comprised of a number of stories behind chess sets the author has collected over the years as well as a few ambitious essays on the origins and moves of the game. The stories take you to various places in the United States, Canada, England, India, Stockholm, and Amsterdam; the sets are from such places as England, India, China and Israel. The essays cover topics like the Four Theories of Chess, chess in politics, human existence, religion, sumo wrestling and bullfighting – you’ll have to read the book for yourself in order to make all the chess ‘connections’! I enjoyed reading the stories behind how the author came to collect the sets he has – the stories may be as interesting, if not more so, than the sets themselves (more pictures of the sets would have been nice). The essays can be rather a stretch sometimes, in my opinion, but do make for some interesting reading; especially considering they come from the perspective of a Sociology Professor viewing the game of chess as it relates to society. All in all, I found the book a pleasurable read

(although the essays do tend to be on the heavy side) and gives one an interesting insight into the thinking of a fellow chess collector.

THE DRUEKE COMPANY – CHESS DESIGNED IN AMERICA By Duncan Pohl

The author would like to express their heartfelt thanks to Peter Biggens, and his fantastic website – peterspioneers.com. Mr. Biggens was very generous in granting unlimited access to all information and/or pictures we felt would be useful for this

article. The website is well worth a visit – it contains fascinating family histories and elevates family genealogy to a true art form.

So how does a person go from selling stationary goods to toy and game making? Does it take an enterprising buyer to make a suggestion in the first place, an enterprising supplier who received the request, or – most likely – both? All those aspects apparently came together when William F. Drueke, working as a salesman for a stationary company in 1914, had a department store buyer suggest the idea of producing chess sets, as World War I had disrupted their supply source. Drueke was given some sample pieces, and he came up with the chess sets.1

At least, that’s one of the stories. According to his daughter, Marian, “he and Mr. Quinn bought out a stationary story that had been in business for many years – it was on Monroe Avenue ‘downtown’ – they had a big inventory to dispose of, dolls that were slightly imperfect and rum boxes.” “So,” Marion went on to say, “Dad went on the road to sell rum boxes in 1914. At the time, Germany and France and England were at war. . . . the buyers of Marshall Fields told Dad that they could not get chess sets and she gave him sample pieces of different sized sets. Dad came back to Grand Rapids and talked to Mr. Waddell about making these sets –he took his sample pieces, made in Grand Rapids – and went to New York to sell . . . business was so good he had Mother join him in New York. When he returned home he had to set up a factory to manufacture what he had sold.”2

1 Opening illustration is of the printing block of the Drueke logo, shown in reverse for readability 2 William and Rose Smith Drueke Family http://www.peterspioneers.com/WRSD.htm

The biography of William F. Drueke, Jr3 tells it a little differently. He states his father was indeed a salesman for a stationary company, but that a Drueke customer saw a rum box (used for holding playing cards) and suggested Drueke begin producing chess sets, as World War I had disrupted their importation. Since Grand Rapids had plenty of skilled woodworkers, the work could be jobbed out.

And yet a third account, the official history of the Drueke Company according to its current owner, The Carrom Company, states:

“In the early 20th century all chess sets sold in the United States were manufactured in Europe. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the supply of chess sets to the U.S. ceased. Drueke is now known as the quality game manufacturer in the United States using nothing but the finest walnut, maple and aspen for its products. Our chessboard is our oldest product now being manufactured with the cribbage board a close second. In addition, we are the only manufacturer today of a complete line of round wooden poker chips racks ranging from the 200- 500 chip capacity. We have the most complete line of cribbage boards in the United States and possibly the world. Our line also includes action games, backgammon, dominos, checkers, game boxes, chess tables and wooden accessories.

The Drueke Company is America’s oldest manufacturer of traditional board games. The chessboards and chess accessories we offer are second-to-none. Our reputation for quality chess sets inspired us to produce a variety of classic games for our customers to enjoy.

3 By Cathie Bloom, The Grand Rapids Press, September 7, 1995, pF5

5 THE DRUEKE COMPANY

The heritage of three generations of wood craftsmen still influences Drueke games today. We pledge quality game products, excellent value, and responsive customer service.”4

By 1916, Mr. Quinn had been bought out by an Albert G. Dickenson. Mr. Dickenson was probably more of a financier than an active participant as his name was never included as part of the Drueke company name. The company name was changed, however, to Wm. F. Drueke & Co. and described in the Grand Rapids directory as a novelty manufacturer. The business grew to include backgammon, cribbage and many other games.

Demand was great enough by 1917 that William F. Drueke decided the company could afford to start making its own products rather than continuing to depend on other suppliers. The company moved downtown to a small rented building at 122 Scribner Avenue NW. The company bought the equipment it needed to make chess sets and hired its own workforce from the large pool of skilled woodworkers available in Grand Rapids.

The war in Europe was still going on and the company got a big contract from the U.S. Army to make breech sticks for cleaning guns. According to William F. Drueke, Jr., when the war ended, Will Sr. was left with a large supply of these breech sticks, so he decided to make toy rakes, hoes and shovels, using the sticks as handles, and sold them to toy departments.

Also in 1917, A Beginner’s Book of Chess was written to instruct beginning players.

By 1919 the business had outgrown the building at 122 Scribner so William F. Drueke bought a larger building at the southeast corner of Marshall Avenue and the Pere Marquette Railroad (Pere Marquette is now CSX). Soon after the move to Marshall Avenue, William added a furniture line and other household items. The product line included spinet desks, secretary desks, bookshelves and tables. Drueke was one

4 Carrom.com

of the first companies to put an electric light in a desk. DRUEKE AND SAMUEL RESHEVSKY In November of 1920, when he was eight years old, Samuel Reshevsky moved with his parents from Poland to the United States, where his parents made their living from their child’s talent at playing chess. Of the future grandmaster, eight-time US champion and world champion contender, William Drueke wrote that, “I, being the only manufacturer of a line of chessmen in this country at that time, became interested in him, not only as a business promotion of the game, but his ability to interest people that had never played the game.”

Reshevsky’s playing was limited to clubs only, until Will suggested trying department stores. The idea was tested at Strawbridge and Clothier in Philadelphia, and it was a ‘tremendous success’. William Drueke took on the role of being Sammy’s advance agent and had Sammy “playing two games in every city west of Chicago, one in a store and one in a club. Starting in Chicago, and playing at the Fair Store, it took 44 police to take care of the crowd.”

But Drueke’s experience with Sammy became just a blip in the history of the Drueke game company due to the fact that in 1926 William F. Drueke phased out the business when a friend of his, Albert Stickley, offered him a job as sales manager for the much larger Stickley Brothers Furniture Company in Grand Rapids. He didn’t stay with the company long, however, as they had a disagreement over the purchase of some Stickley company stock. William Drueke was now out of a job. As his son tells it, Will then started selling hospital furniture, steel cabinets and whatever, to keep his daughter Irene in college at the University of Michigan, and his daughter Marian at the University of Illinois, as well as providing for the rest of the family.

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A NEW COMPANY About six years later, in 1932, William F. Drueke reestablished the Drueke game business in the Drueke home and resumed making cribbage boards and chess sets. For the cribbage boards, Drueke had The Grand Rapids Chair Company cut, shape and sand the cribbage boards. The Sterling Brush Company drilled the peg holes, put a peg pocket in the bottom of the board and buffed on a wax finish. The John Stevens Company supplied the shellac, Imperial Metals made the pegs and The Grand Rapids Box Company made the boxes.

For a while, the company imported chess pieces from France, refinished and packaged them, and then sold them under the Drueke name. William Jr. rigged up a phone line from the basement to the attic. The basement was used for chess dipping, boxing, and other assembly work, which was done by 16-year-old Jane and 14-year-old Rosemary. Bill Jr’s job was to go to the dime store and buy used boxes to be used for shipping. The attic was used as an office, run by 24-year-old Marian.

It was also around 1932 that Drueke’s Chess Primer was introduced (right). It was designed for instructing beginning players and in this way was similar to A Beginner’s Book of Chess, prepared in 1917 for the original Drueke Company.

By 1935 the company was doing well enough that it moved out of the Drueke home and into rented space in the Shaw Building at 640 Front Avenue NW. The company now added poker chips and pipe racks, dice, dominoes, roulette racks, gavels and a variety of small hand games. The company was listed in the Grand Rapids Directory as Wm. F. Drueke, Inc.

In 1940 the company moved again, this time a few blocks west to a building purchased for $15000, located at 601 Third Street NW. The building had formerly been occupied by The Grand Rapids Casket Company. According to William F. Drueke Jr, “We returned the mortician’s equipment and sawed up the soft wood used in making caskets into swivel bases for chip racks . . . The addition of three plastic

machines allowed them to make chessmen, cribbage pegs and literally millions of interlocking poker chips.”

Between 1941 and 1946, Will and his sons Joe and Bill, applied for and received patents on the design of eight games. Patent Year Applicant Game D128794 1941 William F. Drueke Chessmen D134812 1943 William F. Drueke Chessmen Play-A-Way D135239 1943 William F. Drueke Jr Game Board Play-A-Way D135240 1943 William F. Drueke Jr Game Board Play-A-Way D135706 1943 Joseph W. Drueke Game Device Play-A-Way Roulette D135707 1943 William F. Drueke Jr Game Device Play-A-Way The first patent in the list above was for a unique, octagon-shaped variation of the classic Staunton design the company named The American Design, which will be discussed later.

7 THE DRUEKE COMPANY

Travel games, called Play A Way, were shipped overseas to servicemen in the armed forces during World War II. These included chess sets, cribbage boards, roulette, and other games. During World War II, the factory produced 5,000 small games a day for the military. The largest order was for a railroad car full of cribbage boards.

In 1954, the Drueke Company purchased the first of three plastic injection-molding machines to manufacture plastic game parts for interlocking poker chips, chess pieces and cribbage pegs (are these the same three machines William Jr referred to in the quote made earlier?). Prior to the purchase, the manufacturing of plastic game parts had been contracted out.

When William F. Drueke died in 1956 at age 72, his sons Bill (William F. Drueke Jr) and Joe (Joseph Drueke) continued to run the business. Bill did the manufacturing and Joe handled sales. They each equally owned a little over a third of the stock in the company with Rose, William F Drueke Sr’s widow, and Marion, his daughter, owning the rest.

However, in 1971, there was difference of opinion between Joe and Bill and Joe started another company, known as Drueke Blue Chip Game Company, even while he still owned his share of the original Drueke Company. The Drueke Blue Chip Company made pretty much the same games, but imported chess games rather than manufacturing them. Thus, between 1971 and 1987, there were two Drueke game companies.

In July and August of 1972, American Bobby Fischer beat the Russian chess champion Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland. Drueke games received a priceless promotion when photos showed Bobby Fischer practicing with Drueke chessmen. The match in Iceland between

Fischer and Spassky doubled orders for Drueke chess sets. An article in the Sunday New York Times mentioned increased demand for chess results as a result of the match.

In 1987, when Bill was age 75, the Drueke Company was sold to the Low Tech Company. Shortly afterward, Joe also sold his share of the Drueke Company to Low Tech as well as the Drueke Blue Chip Game Company. The Drueke name was retained. As part of the sales agreement, Joe Sr. continued on as a consultant and in sales for a couple of years, while Joe Jr. became a sales manager.

In 1990, the Low Tech Company sold Drueke to the Carrom Company, which moved manufacturing operations to its home in Ludington, Michigan. Joe Jr. continued to work for the Carrom Company as a manufacturer’s rep until 1994. The Carrom Company continues to produce games under the Drueke name to this day.

The vacant Drueke factory building was purchased by Robert Israels in 2008 and by 2010 had been totally renovated. The renovated building, called The Drueke Building, is now a 24,000 square foot office building. In an interview published in The Commercial Quarterly, February 1, 2010, David Israels explained why the Drueke name remained on the building, “The Drueke family and the Drueke game company are part of the history of Grand Rapids, and we still have Druekes living in the city. So it is important for us to maintain that and showcase that as we go forward. It’s amazing how many people we’ve talked to who have a story about a Drueke game. That’s why we want to keep that name as part of the community.” CHESS SETS OF WM. F. DRUEKE CO.

WOOD SETS

Because of the time that has gone by, plus the added confusion caused by the multiple starting, stopping, and restarting of the company, it is difficult to determine what the original wood sets may have looked like. Sets are often seen

Drueke Blue Chip Logo, Photo Courtesy of Paul Drueke

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being sold with the claim they are from Drueke, but often the only connection the seller has for making that claim is the presence of a manual or board from Drueke that came with the set, or the set came in a box with the Drueke label. Unfortunately, a claim based on such fluid evidence doesn’t mean much; it is quite easy for such things to get switched around over the years.

But there are a couple of clues that may be of help – The first clue is a flyer put out by the Drueke Company in 1920 (right). There are three different wood sets illustrated, made of two kinds of wood – maple, and boxwood. The illustrations are crude by today’s standards, but there are some definitive characteristics that may be of help when trying to identify whether a set actually was made and/or sold by Drueke. But the illustrations also create some problems with identification, which I will attempt to illustrate later.

The second clue is an ad (right) put out by the Drueke Company for the March 1946 In-ternational Toy Fair. Just below right center are seen three wood chess pieces from a Drueke chess set. [Interestingly, the pieces, especially the king and bishop, look like they could have the direct inspiration for pieces that appeared in the Players’ Choice set from Drueke nearly 20 years later.] Note how none of the pieces shown in the flyer come even close to matching the pieces in the ad.

This brings us to illustrating the problems with identification: At the top of the next page are pictures of two sets I own that came in boxes with Drueke labels. If one were to attempt to match the set in the first picture to the sets shown in the flyer, the knight would appear to

Photos Above Courtesy of Dan Navarro

9 THE DRUEKE COMPANY

match the set in the middle illustration. While one could argue the pawns, rooks, perhaps even the bishops and queens seem to be a match, the king – not likely – it looks more a match with the king in the third set.

And the set in the second picture doesn’t really seem to match any of the illustrations enough to make any kind of a positive identification.

One thing to consider is that it is doubtful either of these sets is nearly as old as the flyer, although that is not known for sure. Perhaps the sets are essentially the same with some changes made in the design of individual pieces over the years? Perhaps the style of some pieces was dropped in favor of another, or pieces interchanged to complete sets in assembly, etc.? Whatever the case, there are enough similar characteristics between the pieces in the illustrations and the pieces in the sets that they could be from Drueke, but not enough similarity to be able to say definitively, 100%, that they are Drueke, either. And that seems to be pretty much true for any wood set said to be from Drueke.

PLASTIC SETS

While the company originally started with making chess sets in wood, over the years, the company also developed three distinct designs in plastic chess sets. They were The American Design, The King Arthur and The Players’ Choice. There were also some design and size variations within the different sets themselves, which will be discussed with the appropriate set. AMERICAN DESIGN

Whatever was the idea, inspiration, or motivation behind the development of The American Design, I would love to know it. I, personally, find this design one of the most interesting of all chess designs. Perhaps it is my affinity for architecture and geometry that makes its geometric design particularly appealing to me.

The patent application for the design was filed on June 9, 1941 (below). It was a unique, octagon-shaped variation, of the classic Staunton design. It was the company’s first step in turning to plastic to produce chess sets rather

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than wood. Since the company did not obtain its own plastic injection equipment until 1954, it seems safe to assume the production of those first early sets had to have been contracted out.

The American Design only came in one size, but was available in a number of configurations. It could be had in either white and black or white and red. According to the numbering system used by Drueke there were the following ‘clas-sifications’

#20: unweighted, unfelted #22: weighted, unfelted #23: weighted, felted #24: weighted, felted, sold in a ‘leatherette- covered’ box, possibly only in White & Red.

While there were also a few sub-categories, for various reasons, the above classifications pretty much cover the sets as a whole. There was also at least one style variation in the American Design. The dif-ference(s) can be seen in the picture above – note the difference in the Queens between the two sets. One variation has a Queen with ‘taller’ more ‘scalloped’ coronets while the other variation has a queen with

‘flatter’ coronets. The reason for the differences is unknown at this time.

There may also have been a third color combination (bottom right). Nowhere have I ever seen this combination (white & chocolate?) mentioned in any Drueke ad or literature, but here it is, so what is the story behind it? I do not yet know.

Note the Instruction Sheet and ‘Notice’ (top, next page). According to it, it would appear Drueke used one single plastic for all the plastic chess sets they manufactured. Since Drueke often stated the plastic used in The American Design was Tenite, a staple of the plastics industry since 1929, this would seem, by extension, to indicate that both the King Arthur and the Players’ Choice designs were also made of Tenite.

Photo Courtesy of Dan Navarro

11 THE DRUEKE COMPANY

TRAVEL SETS Travel sets based on The American Design were sold in both pegged and magnetic versions.

To the left is an ad from the back of a Drueke Chess Manual, which shows an illustration of the pegged version of the American Design Travel Set, and above right is a picture of the magnetic version, referred to by Drueke as either “The Little Jewel” or the “Remotrol” set.

During WWll, Drueke, like other game makers, put much of their production effort into supporting the war – producing multitudes of small, very portable ‘pocket’ games to be sent to the soldiers fighting overseas. At one point, Drueke shipped out a railroad car that was full

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of nothing but pocket games – including chess, backgammon, cribbage boards, and other games in their product line.

At the bottom of the previous page is a sample of the chess version of the Pocket Games. To the left is the case and cover, which also shows some of the other games available at that time for the troops. And to the bottom right is a picture of the actual chess set inside the Pocket Game. The travel set appears to match the one illustrated in a patent received by William F. Drueke on January 19, 1943 (right).

Fans of Drueke chess sets may have difficulty believing the next set (below left) was really from the Drueke Company, if it wasn’t for the evidence given on the box lid itself (below right).

The lid lists two different chess styles available under the same model number, the distinction between the two sets made only by the stamp on the box lid (seen to the right in the photo, located next to the Model No.), identifying the particular set to be found in the box.

While unknown for sure, it is doubtful the K-Florentine chess pieces were actually produced by Drueke. It would seem more likely the Kingsway Company supplied them to Drueke, given that the Kingsway Company patented the Florentine design. But this surprising little ‘curve’ illustrates the difficult, but also interesting, twist so often seen when examining the histories of American chess companies – what appears to have been a generic sharing of styles and packaging between game manu-facturers. It would be interesting if agreements between the different companies could be found. It is definitely a subject deserving of more research.

KING ARTHUR

Drueke first began to sell its King Arthur chess sets around 1964 – about the same time the company launched its Players’ Choice (Luxury Line) chess sets. It may have been Drueke’s response to similar sets from their competitors, such as the Ganine Gothic set from Pleasantime Games and the Renaissance set from Lowe. A local wood carver from Grand Rapids by the name of Charles Bendekgey designed it. As inferred earlier, the set may also have been made

13 THE DRUEKE COMPANY

of Tenite, although the technique used for its manufacture was significantly different. To allow for the insertion of weights into the base of the pieces, the pieces were designed in two parts, which were then sealed together once the weight had been inserted. Unfortunately, this led to a couple of problems with the set – one, the weights tended to separate and two, the thickness of the plastic used in making the pieces was extremely thin, to the point where it was compared to the thickness of ping pong ball [More on this set and its manufacture is planned for a future issue of this newsletter.]

Despite the fact it was heavily promoted by Drueke – ads for the set appeared in many of the company brochures, instruction booklets, chess primers and other ads, perhaps as late as 1986 – the set seems to have never really caught on with the public, did not live up to the company’s hopes or sales expectation and did not prove to be a viable competitor to the Gothic or Renaissance designs. As a result, it is not often seen for sale on the secondary market and even today

remains rather rare and unknown to most. THE PLAYERS’ CHOICE (also known as THE LUXURY LINE)

This set came in three sizes: Small (directly below): 2½” King. It was also available as a magnetic ‘travel’ set. Standard (bottom): 3¾” King Imperial (not shown): 5” King

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Drueke advertisements of the time stated the Players Choice was introduced at the 1965 National Open Chess Tournament in Las Vegas (where it was so popular every set on hand sold out at the event). But evidence would seem to indicate Players’ Choice sets were available months earlier. The ad seen at top left appeared in the November 1963 Chess Life, page 288.

While the maker of the set isn’t named – a frequent practice it would seem at the time – a simple comparison between the pieces would seem to make identification possible. Note, in particular, the design of the

King, Queen, Pawns and, especially, the Knights, a Drueke Knight if ever there was one. The wording is also the same as the wording put out directly by the Drueke Company in later ads. This all seems to indicate the set was available at least as early as November of 1963.

Whatever the case, the design proved to be popular. It was the official set for several tournaments and appeared several times on the

covers of Chess Review and Chess Life (above).

The Players’ Choice set enjoyed another sudden boost in sales when a photo showed Bobby Fischer using the set in practice while preparing for his famous match against Boris Spassky in 1972.

It appears the pieces in the set were made in two parts; a top ‘finial/cap’, which was then secured to the stem/ base. I discovered this for myself quite by accident. While cleaning a small size set I had recently purchased, the bishop came apart in my hand (far left). Note also the glue residue that appears on the

15 THE DRUEKE COMPANY

‘insert’ at the top of the stem. I quickly examined all the other pieces in the set and while they appeared to have all been made the same, I wasn’t about to experiment any further by trying to take apart another piece. Curiosity, though, made me also examine my Standard-size set. At first, I thought it looked like the chessmen in the standard set had been made as one-piece units – until I noticed an anomaly. While the tops/crowns of the set all showed a seam line, the stems and bases did not show a like seam line, of any kind, at all. Note the seam line on the finial/crown in the sample picture of the king (bottom center, previous page) as compared to its base and stem, which shows no sign of a seam line whatsoever. Again, I wasn’t about to experiment by trying to take one of the pieces apart, but it would seem safe to conclude the chessmen in the standard Players’ Choice sets were made as two-piece units.

CONCLUSION The Drueke Company enjoyed a long history of game making in America and among their products were some outstanding examples of chess sets. They remain popular even until now on the secondary market. I have always wondered why Carrom never continued making these popular sets from Drueke. The most likely reason, I have been told, is that the molds were destroyed when the company was sold. I can’t help but think that was a great loss to all the chess players and collectors who have followed. REFERENCES Peter Biggins Paul Drueke Chess Life, 1946-1955 Chess Life and Review, 1956-1969, 1973-1975 Ebay.com Peterspioneers.com

THE MYSTERIOUS KNIGHT MOVE

By Frank Camaratta From Chess Life, October 2008

Chess is a logical game, or so most of us would like to think. But have you ever wondered why the knight moves as illogically as it does?

When I first learned to play chess as a teenager, I was captured by the pure simplicity of the moves of each piece. All, that is, but one. The knight move bothered me.

So I began to research the game for some clues. This led to an intriguing discovery: the moves of each piece have evolved over the years to their present form, except for the horse. I learned that there have been all sorts of theories to explain how the knight came to move in that funny L-shape. However, they all appear to lack two fundamental ingredients – simplicity and logic.

The world seems to place a high priority on simplicity. In nature, the minimum energy state is the most stable. In writing, the least complicated exposition is the best understood.

The optimal solution to a chess problem is the shortest. And on it goes.

To understand my hypothesis for the mysterious knight move, let’s suppose for a moment that there was a single individual responsible for inventing the game of chess. The game has clearly evolved over the centuries, but I believe it did have a precise beginning. Clues are found in the way the pieces moved before chess rules were streamlined in the 16th century.

Looking into the mind of our game inventor, we can surmise that he wanted to create a game of conflict involving pieces with different powers, unlike checkers which is most certainly an older game and one in which the original pieces look and move alike. He probably decided that this new creation would still retain the look and size of the 8x8 checkerboard.

THE CCI-USA NEWS 16

Historical documents indicate that the original game of chess consisted of the same basic pieces we have today, but with somewhat different names and somewhat different moves. In fact, it may have resembled the way Chinese Chess is played today, using a General (king), two Elephants (bishops), two Knights, two Chariots (rooks) and two, not one, Advisors (queens). The Canons in Chinese Chess have no equivalent in the modern game, and were most likely a later enhancement.

It is generally believed that before the rules of chess were overhauled approximately 500 years ago, the pieces were essentially short-range fighters. It makes sense, then, that our theoretical chess creator concentrated on each piece’s effect within a small group of squares, say five-by-five.

Now the kernel of my theory is this: Whoever devised chess started with the premise that each piece would control a unique set of squares in this five-by-five grid. There would be no duplication of control. Let’s see how this might work. We start with the General, or king, placed in the center of the grid. The king is permitted to move one square horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally. Why not diagonally? Because this follows the pattern of other forms of the game, such as Chinese Chess. The span of control of the king is indicated by the shaded squares in Diagram 1.

Continuing with this line of thought, the next piece to be considered is the Advisor, or queen. It would have a field of action such that, when placed in the center of the grid, it would control the squares diagonally adjacent to the center square – squares the king is unable to travel to.

The queen’s potential moves are indicated by the shaded squares in Diagram 2, and these are identical to the abilities of the Advisor in both Chinese Chess and in an older version of the Western form of the game.

Since our original hypothesis was that no two pieces are allowed to control the same squares from the center of the five-by-five grid, each of the remaining pieces (bishop, rook, knight) will have their fields of control limited to some portion of the outer ring of 16 squares.

The most obvious piece to consider next is the primordial bishop. This piece has the ability to jump one square diagonally in any direction. It does not control the intervening square, nor can it be obstructed. The squares controlled by the bishop are indicated in Diagram 3.

This ancestor to our present-day bishop is similar to the Elephant in Chinese Chess, and can also be found in several other versions of the game.

17 MYSTERIOUS KNIGHT MOVES

The next piece of the puzzle involves a bit more of a stretch. It seemed logical to assume that there must have been, at least in the embryonic form of the game, a piece that moved like the bishop. This piece, however, would move horizontally and vertically rather than diagonally, and would also jump one square when moving. The field of control of this piece, the Chariot or rook, is demonstrated in Diagram 4 (bottom right, previous page).

I was convinced that the game’s inventor would have created a piece with this movement, but initially, I could find no mention of it in the literature. Then, while perusing my copy of Murray’s The History of Chess, I stumbled upon the mention of just such a game piece. Although Murray rejects this piece as the progenitor of our modern rook, I believe that in fact, it was its earliest ancestor, and the last important piece of the puzzle.

The unique double-move of castling that we have today may represent a link to this earlier rook move. We know that at some point, the king was permitted to move two squares on its first move. It would have been quite natural, then, for the king to make this two-square move toward the safer corner, followed on the next turn by the rook making it’s jump to the other side of the king.

Today’s kingside castling simply combines both of these movements in one move.

After assessing the moves of these early pieces, a look at the remaining uncontrolled squares should paint a familiar pattern for the one piece left, the knight.

I’m sure the first experiments with the game made it clear that some of the pieces would need a greater field of control in order to effect capture of the opposing monarch. The king, queen, rook and bishop all have seen their powers enhanced in our 21st version of chess, but the stately knight remains unchanged.

It’s interesting, though, to hypothesize what a similarly enhanced knight move might look like. If we were to expand our horizon to

a 7x7 board and consider all squares not already controlled by the current moves of the other pieces, we have the following – Diagram 6.

Quite a powerful piece this would be, rivaling the powers of the queen herself. In the words of the immortal Crocodile Dundee, “Now that’s a knight!”

CCI –USA NEWS

Duncan Pohl, Editor Floyd Sarisohn, Publisher 1391 Parkview Dr PO Box 166 Woodland CA 95776 Commack NY 11725 Phone: 530.383.5750 Phone: 631.543.1330 duncanpohl@gmail.com Fax: 631.543.7901 email: lichess@aol.com

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ON THE COVER: Collection of Kings

From the Drueke Company Line of Chessmen

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