As one of the most prestigious and iconic designs in chess history, the Régence style takes its name from the legendary Café de la Régence in Paris. These sets embody the era when chess migrated from royal courts to the intellectual heart of Europe, gracing the tables of philosophers, scientists, and revolutionaries. Throughout the 18th century and much of the 19th, this design served as the universal language of the game, witnessing the strategic moves of minds that changed the course of history, such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Benjamin Franklin, and Voltaire.
During this era, when the great master François-André Danican Philidor provided the game with a modern theoretical foundation declaring that “Pawns are the soul of chess” the slender, tiered, and architectural lines of the Régence pieces became the visual signature of this intellectual revolution. This set stands as a living memory, carrying the liberated, graceful, and strategic legacy of the Enlightenment into the present day.
You can find the chess set photo and accompanying letter below by A. Doğan Günsav to Sertaç Dalkıran. Günsav shares that the chess set was gifted to him by Prof. Yucesoy’s family after Yucesoy’s death.
