Not for blitz . . .

Is this the world's most impractical chess set?


The pieces are not only upside down, but lanterns.

Captures, one suspects, might become rather more inflammatory than usual.

And perhaps more than a little dangerous for anyone analyzing the position, who might be lying underneath:

Still, what a remarkable thing it is, and others certainly seem to like it. squirrelbait of Core77 for instance wrote: "Taking the extra time to move and appreciate the beauty of the suspended pieces only further reinforces the slow, careful nature of chess."

While Chris Davies of Slashgear blogged: "I’ve never had much patience for chess - not enough lasers - but the exception has always been those human-sized outdoor sets you play in the garden. Graphic designer Wei Lieh Lee might have come up with another exception, however, in his Gazebo Chess Set project with Kevin O’Callaghan: an inverted board of hanging lanterns [...] The great thing is, this is something you could quite easily recreate in your own garden; a grid of hooks and some simple paper lanterns would make for a fun summer game that you could leave out even with small children running around, and not have to worry that they’d knock all the pieces over."

Mm, maybe. Personally, I think I'm more tempted by the message toaster.