The chess set shown here is of a very simple design, but of great historical significance - a so-called Isaac Lipnitsky chess set. Its importance is  demonstrated by the fact that there are now several reproductions of these chess pieces, which are very popular with chess players and collectors worldwide. However, the set presented here is one of only four originals that I am currently aware of. Two of the other three sets belong to collectors in the USA, the third to a collector in Berlin/Germany. The pieces which were presumably created shortly after the Second World War, were turned and carved from wood in a very unique design, one side natural, the other side lacquered in black. The set came with the original folding board.

The chess pieces are named after Isaac Lipnitsky because they were used at a tournament in Berlin in 1946, which was organised by Lipnitsky. It can be assumed that they were also used in the chess club he organised in Berlin at the time. However, photographic material from the period showing these pieces in use is extremely rare. Enclosed are the only four photos known to me on which corresponding chess pieces can be seen.

Isaac Oskarovich Lipnitsky, who was of Jewish origin, was born in Kiev in 1923. He studied at the Faculty of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where he graduated with three degrees in 1941. At that time, the war had already been going on for two years. Lipnitsky received military training at the 2nd Tomsk Artillery School and was assigned to the army of Azerbaijan in 1942. As Senior Assistant to the Chief of the Intelligence Department of the 32nd Rifle Corps, which was deployed as part of the 5th Shock Army in the Berlin Offensive, he arrived in Berlin in 1945 with the rank of Major and remained there after the end of the war as part of the Soviet occupying force. From 31 October 1945, he was head of the 5th department (fire inspection) of the housing and maintenance department, which belonged to the administrative and economic department of the SVAG, i.e. the Soviet military administration in Germany, which had its headquarters in Berlin-Karlshorst.
Lipnitsky was an enthusiastic and talented chess player throughout his relatively short life (he died in 1959 at the age of just 36). He won the Ukrainian chess championships in 1949 and 1956 and won the silver medal at the XVIII USSR Chess Championship in 1950. His enthusiasm for chess also characterised his stay in Berlin after the war. He organised a chess club in the central club of the SVAG, where tournaments were held regularly. In the spring of 1946, the SVAG championship was held for the first time, in which these pieces were used. This is documented by two photos of Lipnitsky's game against Nikolayev, which were apparently taken at this tournament on the SVAG's premises.