Fine Points

Digging through my stats I found to my surprise that many visitors are looking for answers to specific question like chess terms, history of chess or the like. I cannot answer all the questions, but I can sometimes help, or at least suggest a better informed person or site.  Send Your question, and I'll try to find an answer. Or if You prefer, go to the "Links" section and check in one of the online Chess Encyclopedias listed there. But in the meantime, here goes:

Q: What is the "Camaratta" classification ?

A:  Years ago, Frank Camaratta started out to classify the diverse changes of Jacques Staunton chess men throughout the 19th century - and decided to pick the typical ones and name them after famous chess masters. Therefore, we have the "Morphy" style  from 1849 to a bit after 1850, the Harrwitz sets around 1850, the Paulsen sets from 1855 on, the Anderssen sets till about 1862,  the chunky Steinitz   style till 1867 and so on.  This classification today is generally accepted by the many Jacques aficionados and collectors. It can be found in a booklet published by Frank's House of Staunton, and also in the two monographies published by Alan Fersht, as well as on Alan's website.  Check the Camaratta Classification Yourself in detail, via Guy Lyons´Picasa site!!

Q. What is the Staunton scale?

A: The Staunton scale serves to classify chess sets according to king size, and dates back to the habit of the house of John Jaques (and Son) to provide their sets with a number according to size. These numbers referred to base diametre - the custom was rapidly copied by followers and competitors, and soon became common usage in the commerce of chess pieces -   the older British habit of designating pieces as "Club size" for large playing sets with 4 172 " king height, or "Library size" for smaller sets soon disappeared. When the present scale first appeared, remains unclear - but it seems reasonable that it happened early in the 20th century, for practical reasons of grading pieces in chess manufacturies. In any case, today this scale is used and accepted worldwide to grade chess sets by king size, in industry, commerce and competition. The standard size in chess competitions nowadays - following a suggestion by the International Chess Federation FIDE - is 87 to 95 mm king height, which amounts to St.5 or St. 6.


The Staunton scale : ( slight variations up and down are normal and accepted)
                         size in mm            in inches
St. 00              55 mm                       2 "
St. 0               60 mm                       2 1/4 "
St. 1               66 mm                       2 1/2 "
St. 2              70 mm                        2 3/4 "
St. 3              76 mm                        3 "
St. 4               82 mm                         3 1/4 "                   
St. 5              87 mm                        3 1/2 "                    FIDE size 1
St. 6              94 mm                         3 3/4 "                   FIDE size 2
St. 7             100 mm                      4 "
St. 8             106 mm                      4 1/3 "
St 9              112 mm                     4 1 /2 "                ( = "Club size")
St. 10           118 mm                     4 3/4 "      
St. 11           124 mm                     5 "
St. 12           130 mm                     5 1/4 "             
St. 13           136 mm                      5 1/2 "
St. 14           142 mm                     5 3/4 "
St. 15           150 mm                     6 "
St. 16           160 mm                     6 1/2 "


Smaller or larger chess pieces simply have to be indicated by their metric size!