Take On the Taliban With a $250 Chess Set

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Hedwig & Sergeant Major

Never has “King to E4” sounded so dramatic.The Canadian toy company Hedwig & Sergeant Major has come up with the idea to turn chess into a potentially more exciting proposition than you think it is. How have they managed it? By creating a Taliban chess set, that’s how.

For the not inconsiderable sum of $250, you can choose your poison: either the Taliban vs. the U.S., Canada (Vancouver rioters sadly not included) or Britain. And in case that doesn’t do it for you, U.S. or Britain vs Iraqi insurgents is also available, but it just feels so 2003.

(MORE: Space Oddity: Russian Chess Chief (and Ufologist) Visits Gaddafi)

Let’s take a closer look at the U.S. vs. Taliban match up. The Taliban features such figures as Osama bin Laden as the King (we won’t tell them if you don’t), a woman in a burqa as the Queen (stay classy, Hedwig & Sergeant Major!), and Taliban snipers, RPGs, suicide bombers and assault soldiers as the Bishop, Rook, Knight and Pawn.

As for the U.S., you get to choose between Presidents Obama or George W. Bush for King, while the Statue of Liberty is the Queen. Various kinds of soldiers play the Bishop, Knight and Pawn with the World Trade Center as the Rook.

Clearly, nothing is sacred anymore, not even the civilized game that is chess. Bobby Fischer would be turning in his grave, even if he surely would have embraced the game in this format. (via Gawker)

PHOTOS: Chess Prodigy Bobby Fischer