Soapstone set

African 'tribal' sets made from soapstone are listed on eBay regularly. I really love the feel of soapstone, it's very tactile, so of course I had to get myself a set. Actually, I got a bit more than one set, as shortly after I acquired a full set, an incomplete set in the same style was listed for almost nothing. I did get that one as well, as it would allow me to create set-ups for FIDE chess as well as a few other variants (more on that later).












Pieces acquired, what about a board? I wanted to make a board for this set myself, but really struggled to come up with something. Ideas aplenty, but they all were dismissed again, either because it wasn't doable, or because it just didn't fit with the pieces. So my expanded soapstone set was left on a shelf, board-less, for a long time ...

Until I created a bit of a story for myself. In that story, a very talented sculptress in a small village in, say, Kenya, had been making a good living creating soapstone chess pieces for the tourist market. One day, she was asked if she could also create a board for the pieces, at very short notice. Not having much time, or the necessary material to create a soapstone board, she thought about what she would have to hand that could quickly be made into a chess board. And the answer came to her quite quickly: tin cans from the local rubbish dump! The ends of the cans could very well serve as 'squares' for the board!

So with that idea in mind, I started collecting can ends from whatever we ate over a period of time. Two sizes: larger silvery can ends and small gold-coloured can ends. Piece of plywood and a can of wood stain, plus 66 can ends later, I could put the board together.

I think it works pretty well with the two different can ends!

I'm sure you notice the two extra 'squares'; I'll come to those later. But first let's put the pieces on the board, ready for a game of FIDE chess.

The extra pieces allow me to set up the game for Aviation chess, where two of the pawns are replaced by 'aviators'.

And, finally, making use of the extra 'squares' I can set up the set for Falcon-Hunter chess, where the king starts on a square behind the main row, and a falcon and hunter take the place of the king and queen in that line-up (the variant does not include a queen at all).

It's probably not very obvious from the pictures, but this is a big set. The king measures just over 21cm high and weighs close to half a kilo!

I do feel that the 'tin can end' board adds a rustic feel to the set. Even though pieces and board are completely different in style, for me they sort of complement each other.