Inspired by the Lewis Carroll classic “Alice through the Looking Glass”, Yasmin Sethi has designed a chess set in which the pieces are opaque cylindrical blocks and hide the identity of the pieces until they are placed on the board.

The idea is to show that chess pieces have no intrinsic value and when removed from the board, a pawn and a queen are equal and neither has any value. Embedded within the glass chessboard are LEDs (LightPoints) while the chess pieces are made of clear glass with the shape of a traditional Staunton chess piece enclosed within it.

Owing to the Mirona coating on the chess pieces, they turn transparent when light shines through them. Placing a piece on the board effectively completes the circuit and lights up the LED, which then shine through the piece, and magically ‘reveal’ the identity.

Sethi even incorporated a cheeky reference to the White Knight from the novel, in which the White Knight claims that “he thinks better when he is upside down”. In her chess set, all the White Knights remain opaque even when placed on the board, unless you place them upside down.

via Yasmin Sethi