Kenosha News Kenosha, Wisconsin Tuesday, July 11, 1972 - Page 8
Spools, Knobs and Spoons Accorded Royal Stature by Margo Hammond
While Bobby Fischer was deliberating about chairs, chess boards and chess sets before his $250,000 match today, he might have looked to Kenosha for one of the more colorful chess sets around.
Carol Karps, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Karps, 3127 60th St., has made one out of wooden spools, door knobs and spoons.
The black, white and red 32-piece set and board were recently completed by Carol after almost five years of gathering the needed materials. “I saw a magazine article which described how to make the chess set and so I began to look around for wooden spools,” said Carol, “I asked my mother who sews to start saving them for me.”
Wooden spools are hard to come by these days, Carol pointed out. Only plastic ones are plentiful. Also there were 16 pawns to make which meant looking for spools of the same size. Different sized door knobs are used for the heads of figures and wooden spoons for the knights' shields.
Carols chess set has an estimate value of $500, according to Carol. Someone has even made an “unofficial” offer of $1,000.
“I think I'll keep it for myself,” Carol admitted pointing out the “incredible amount of hours” she had put into it. “I would like to make one more, though.”
Her next projects are to design a table for the set and a carrying case for the chess pieces. She will spent this summer doing graduate work at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro where she has received a teaching assistantship for the fall. She is on a leave of absence from the Wauwatosa school system where she had been employed as a physical education teacher for the past four years.
Carol's own interest in chess has picked up since making the attractive chess set. She hopes to follow the Boris Spassky-Bobby Fischer chess match which was to open in Iceland today.
“Chess isn't a game to play to relax,” said Carol, “but it's great on a rainy day for something to stimulate your mind.”
Carol has been reading up on “The royal game,” which is said to have begun in India before or during the 7th century. It's name and the term “checkmate” may have come from the Persian “shah” (king) and “Shah mat” (the king is dead).
“The queen is said to represent the power behind the throne,” Carol said. “She is the most powerful player on the board.”
Has Carol tried out her chess set?
“Twice,” she said, “I won both times.”
Spools, Knobs and Spoons Accorded Royal Stature 11 Jul 1972, Tue Kenosha News (Kenosha, Wisconsin) Newspapers.com
