Talk:Lewis chessmen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Chess, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of chess. For more information, visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
Chess Portal
B This article has been rated as B-Class on the quality scale.
High This article has been rated as High-Importance on the importance scale.
This article is within the scope of the Scottish Islands WikiProject, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of islands in Scotland. If you would like to participate, you can visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks.
Start This page has been rated as start-Class on the quality scale.
Mid This article has been rated as mid-importance on the importance scale.

Article Grading:
The article has been rated for quality and/or importance but has no comments yet. If appropriate, please review the article and then leave comments here to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article and what work it will need.

Contents

[edit] The berzerk rook

As the photo I added doesn't show a berzerk rook (just the usual anxious-looking ones) here's a link to a photo in the British Museum's collection, showing him (he's the toothy guy on the right) [1]. Hmm, we curously don't seem to have an article either on berzerk (not the video game) or berzerker. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 16:15, 26 Jun 2004 (UTC)

We have an article on berserker (Viking), though. Marnanel 14:19, 30 Jul 2004 (UTC)

[edit] "So-called ..."

Reverted to original version. Anyone who reads the article past the first sentence will see why they received the designation "Lewis Chessmen'. The article goes on to describe where they were found. The added text was moreover inserted at the wrong place in the first sentence, almost making it sound as if all the surviving sets were found on the Isle of Lewis! Eilthireach 18:20, 28 Mar 2005 (UTC)

That's true, but... many people don't really want to read past the first paragraph. Although not perfectly worded, the edit was well founded in suggesting that the lead paragraph could be better in summarising the key points of the article. See for example Wikipedia:Guide_to_writing_better_articles#Lead_section. -- Solipsist 19:16, 28 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Have inserted slight explication -- will be interested to see how long it lasts until reversion by the cabal -- Simon Cursitor 08:38, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] reproduction

Should it be mentioned that reproductions of these pieces are available, or not, since that is a commercial site? Bubba73 (talk), 16:34, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] inconsistencies

In the third paragraph, it states that "The 93 pieces form parts of..." and then states how many of each type but they don't add up to 93. In addition, 19 pawns is not enough for two complete sets: each side has 8 pawns initially in the modern game.

Agreed. The numbers seem to be simply copied from http://history.chess.free.fr/lewis.htm with no regard to their accuracy, nor a citation. The "93" number comes from including the checker/disc pieces and the belt buckle mentioned on that site: "They are 93 pieces forming parts of four or five sets, two complete. 82 are in the British Museum in London and 11 are in the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh. They are 8 Kings, 8 Queens, 16 Bishops, 15 Knights, 12 Warders (Rooks) and 19 Pawns. In addition, they are 14 plain disks for Tabula game (Backgammon ancestor) and 1 belt-buckle." If someone has an authoritative source for these it should be updated. Tofof 11:45, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Chessmaster

I deleted this sentence:

A 3D computer simulation of chess with the Isle of Lewis chessmen can be played in the 10th edition of the chess software Chessmaster.

And replaced it with this:

The Isle of Lewis chessmen are one of the optional themed chess piece designs available for use in the more recent editions of the computer chess series Chessmaster.

The reason for this is that I own Chessmaster 9000, which also features the Lewis chessmen, so I know they were available before 10th Edition. I wrote "the more recent editions" instead of saying they became available starting with 9000, though, because 9000 is the first Chessmaster I've owned and I have no idea when the series began using the Lewis chessmen.