Illinois man's house is filled with chess sets

~ Collection features sets that pit dogs against cats, cowboys against Indians and North against South.

MORTON, Ill. -- Bob Gottlieb's best move in chess came 14 years ago when he started collecting chess sets.

In the "board room" of his Morton home, the 53-year-old accounting manager at Caterpillar Inc. has on display chess sets from 17 different countries, including the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Kenya, Mexico, Sweden and Russia. Sets also can be found in almost every room of his home. His chess sets, which number between 80 and 100, are made of various types of stone and wood, as well as glass, resin, clay, pewter, cardboard and plastic.

They range in cost from $10 to $1,000 and in size from as small as a credit card to an outdoor set that measures about 10 feet square. Some of his chess sets were made to represent major war battles, scenes from literature and popular television shows and movies, while others are simply objects of design. There are chess sets that pit dogs against cats, cowboys against Indians and North against South.

"My collection of chess sets is a natural offshoot of my lifelong love of playing chess," Gottlieb said. "After buying a few sets, I found myself a collector."

He has several computerized chess boards in which he tests his skills against the computer. One such computerized board automatically moves the pieces.

His collection of foreign-made chess sets began in 1992, when he traveled to Mexico on Caterpillar business and bought a chess set carved from onyx. It would be five more years before he purchased his second set, on a business trip to Sweden.

In 1998, Gottlieb purchased in England a colorful Sherlock Holmes chess set with hand-painted resin pieces, featuring Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional literary detective on one side of the board and his arch enemy, professor James Moriarty, on the other side. That same year in St. Petersburg, Russia, Gottlieb purchased a wooden chess set with its pieces hand-painted with colorful berries, flowers and leaves.

He also acquired artwork related to chess that included a carved wood piece from Kenya and a signed piece of Kosta Boda crystal from Sweden.

Major war battles are well represented in his collection. There is one chess set recalling the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C., a naval battle of the Roman Civil War between Mark Antony and Octavian (Caesar Augustus). There also is one representing Napoleon's battle at Waterloo with colorful resin pieces on a handsome-looking wooden board.

In the past few years, his collection has really exploded. His wife, Ella, other family members and friends have added to the collection. In fact, his wife purchased his two most expensive chess sets -- a fantasy pewter set made in England and another pewter set from the Franklin Mint that features hand-enameled, gold-plated chess pieces that resemble jeweled eggs from the House of Faberge.

"The Faberge chess set is my favorite, because it is so regal looking," Gottlieb said.

Gottlieb learned to play the game at age 9 from his older brothers.

"My brothers wanted to play someone they could beat," he recalled. "... After about three years, I was better than my brothers, and they stopped playing me."

Gottlieb considers himself an average chess player. At one time, he played in chess tournaments and held a rating of 1500, he said.

In 1985, Gottlieb played international grandmaster Lev Alburt, a three-time U.S. champion and former European champion.

"He kindly let me resign after 25 moves," Gottlieb said.