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Why Kids Who Play Chess Outperform Their Classmates, Part I

A Brief History of Isle of Lewis Chess Pieces

The Isle of Lewis chess pieces offered here are replicas of the original Isle of Lewis chessmen, which were originally designed and made in Norway, most likely around 1175 AD. The original chess pieces were found on the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides in Scotland, and consisted of elaborately worked walrus ivory and whales' teeth in the forms of seated kings and queens, mitred bishops, knights on their mounts, standing warders and pawns in the shape of obelisks.

The Isle of Lewis chess set is one of the most famous of theme chess sets. There are various stories explaining how they were discovered. What is certain is that they were found sometime prior to April of 1831, and were subsequently exhibited at the Society of Antiquaries at Scotland. The place of discovery is said to have been a sand dune where they may have been hidden in a stone chamber. Conventional wisdom is that the pieces belonged to a merchant travelling from Norway to Ireland.

Although there are five distinct original sets, each set has elements missing. When found, some of the Lewis chessmen were stained red and it is believed that the chessboard may have been red and white, as opposed to the modern convention of black and white.

The existing 78 pieces are currently owned and exhibited by the British Museum in London, which has 67 of them and the Royal Museum in Edinburgh, which has the remainder.

The pieces consist of 8 Kings, 8 Queens, 16 Bishops, 15 Knights, 12 Rooks, and 19 Pawns. All of the pieces are sculptures of human figures, except the Pawns, which are smaller, geometric shapes. The Knights are shown holding spears and shields, mounted on rather diminutive horses. The Rooks depict standing soldiers or warders holding a shield and sword.

To the modern eye, the unique pieces, with their bulging eyes and stoic expressions, have a distinct cartoonish character. It is believed, however, that the comic expressions were not intended to be such by the original makers. Instead, these images likely displayed strength, ferocity or, in the case of the queens who hold their heads with a hand, contemplation, repose and possibly wisdom.