Of design and chess

I have seen, in my many years on this planet, a great many chess board designs. Some are silly, some are fun, some are downright stupid. Others are elegant, and still others are just plain beautiful.

None of them has the stunning qualities of this design from Yasmin Sethi. It's a fantastic concept that seems well implemented and, best of all, the wow factor has a purpose.

I'll quote the site:

A Chess Set inspired by the novel 'Alice through the Looking Glass' where the pieces magically turn transparent when they touch the board.

In ‘Alice through the Looking Glass’ by Lewis Carroll, Alice falls through a mirror and on the other side of the mirror, she becomes a piece in a game of chess. Inspired by this, the chess pieces have an opaque mirror finish, when they touch the surface of the board they magically turn transparent and reveal the identity of the piece contained inside them. When removed from the board they revert to being opaque, hiding the identity of the piece.

This is a comment on how a chess piece has no value unless it is in play on the board. If removed from the board, a pawn and a queen are equal, in that neither have any value.

Chess Sets are one of the many things I wish I had the money (and space) to collect, and this would definitely be on my want list. Actually, it is on my want list anyway...