{"id":16565,"date":"2016-02-10T23:23:27","date_gmt":"2016-02-11T04:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nicknormal.com\/normalblog\/?p=16565"},"modified":"2016-04-13T21:30:34","modified_gmt":"2016-04-14T01:30:34","slug":"slideshow-world-chess-hall-of-fame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nicknormal.com\/normalblog\/slideshow-world-chess-hall-of-fame\/","title":{"rendered":"Slideshow: World Chess Hall of Fame"},"content":{"rendered":"

The World Chess Hall of Fame<\/a> is a gem of a museum hidden – albeit unabashedly – in the city of St. Louis, as given away by this Guiness World Record holder for the World’s Largest Chess Piece (at 14.5′ tall):<\/p>\n

\"the

the World’s Largest Chess Piece is a Cardinals fan<\/p><\/div>\n

(there’s a quick timelapse video of the construction of the piece on YouTube<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The facility spans three floors and manages to cram a lot into a little space – thanks in part to most of the pieces indoors being of the nimble, finger-sized variety. (In fact I don’t recall seeing a freight elevator, so they very well may cart everything by hand, or have a smaller elevator hidden off the floors for carting furniture up and down.)<\/p>\n

When I was there last I stumbled into an exhibition of chess art by contemporary artist Marcel Dzama – including some video works not shown below. I was mostly fond of the mask and puppet-influenced works, as they’re so rare in the world of chess, and so well done by Dzama. The blue box<\/em> of course is lovely, not only for its Duchampian references but it’s also really well done. I did like the robot chess monitor but it also seemed a bit contrived; it wasn’t dynamic or AI as far as I could tell.<\/p>\n

\"Play <\/a>
Play it with Yoko (Guadalajara Version) by Marcel Dzama, 2015 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Robot <\/a>
Robot Chess, 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 b6 3. c4 e6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Nc3 Bb7 6. Qc2 d5 7. e3 O-O 8. cd5 Nd5 9. Be7 Qe7 10. Nd5 Bd5 11. Bd3 h6 12. a3 c5 13. dc5 Rc8 14. b4 bc5 15. Rc1 Nd7 16. Ba6 Rc7 17. e4 Bb7 18. Bb7 Rb7 19. bc5 Qc5 20. O-O Qc2 21. Rc2 Kf8 22. Rfc1 Ke7 23. Nd4 Ke8 24. f4 Rab8 25. e5 Nf8 26. Rc5 Rb1 27. Rb1 Rb1 28. Kf2 Rb7 29. Rc8 Ke7 30. Ra8 Ng6 31. g3 Kd7 32. a4 Ne7 33. Nb5 Nc8 34. g4 Rb5 35. ab5 Kc7 36. g5 hg5 37. b6 Kb7 38. Rc8 Kc8 <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A blue box for Marcel, 2013 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A blue box for Marcel, 2013 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Golden <\/a>
Golden Knight, 2014 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Off <\/a>
Off with his head, 2014 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Performance <\/a>
Performance for the king, 2014 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Performance <\/a>
Performance for the king, 2014 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Performance <\/a>
Performance for the king, 2014 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The grandmasters hall of fame, 2014 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Bailiff <\/a>
Bailiff and bishops number 1, 2014 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Bailiff <\/a>
Bailiff and bishops number 1, 2014 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Bailiff <\/a>
Bailiff and bishops number 1, 2014 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Heading up or down the stairwell you’ll encounter some simple silhouetted wall pieces and really choice color and design carpet:<\/p>\n

\"chess<\/p>\n

On the second floor was an exhibition of World War II era artifacts including lightweight pocketable chess books, Nazi Germany chess-variant game boards, and some really interesting postal mailers – something totally not possible with so many other games, but possible with the notion of the ‘chess move’ to be contemplated over time, between moves, while cards between players ship back and forth. Check it out:<\/p>\n

\"World <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"World <\/a> <\/div>
\"World <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"World <\/a> <\/div>
\"postal <\/a> <\/div>
\"Chess <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Chess <\/a>
Chess bookzine <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"compact <\/a>
compact and lightweight pocket chess books <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"chess <\/a>
chess variant, Tak Tik by Wehr-Schach <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"chess <\/a>
chess variant, Tak Tik by Wehr-Schach <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"chess <\/a>
chess variant, Tak Tik by Wehr-Schach <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"chess <\/a>
chess variant, Tak Tik by Wehr-Schach <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Lastly on the third floor where what I presumed to be part of their permanent – or stored – collection, including many many display cabinets of sets from all over the world, spanning a few hundred years, from Napoleonic France to British India and Inuit walrus ivory to tortoiseshell tables – WOW!<\/p>\n

\"ivory <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"English <\/a>
English Ivory Figural Set, 1830 <\/div> <\/div>
\"Antique <\/a>
Antique Handpainted Chessboard, late 19th c. with Northern Upright Tall Ivory Set, 1830 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"German <\/a>
German 18th-Century Board-Box with Edel Style Ivory Set, 19th c. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Alaskan <\/a>
Alaskan Inuit Chessboard, 1900, with Inuit Walrus Ivory Set, 1940 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Alaskan <\/a>
Alaskan Inuit Chessboard, 1900, with Inuit Walrus Ivory Set, 1940 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"chess <\/a>
chess sets displays <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"chess <\/a>
chess sets displays <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Rajasthan <\/a>
Rajasthan Ivory Set, 1880 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Burmese <\/a>
Burmese Style Ivory Set, 1810 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"German <\/a>
German Red and White Ivory Figural Set, 19th c. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"German <\/a>
German Ivory Figural Set, 1850 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Indian <\/a>
Indian Sadeli-work Chessboard, 1850, with Samuel Pepys Black and White Ivory Set, 1870 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Indian <\/a>
Indian Sadeli-work Chessboard, 1850, with Samuel Pepys Black and White Ivory Set, 1870 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"DSC00935\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"chess <\/a>
chess board cabinet <\/div> <\/div>
\"French <\/a>
French Chess Table made from tortoiseshell, 1800, and French Battle of Waterloo Figural Ivory Chess Set, 1840 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"French <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

But you know when a place is real classy when even its bathroom decor matches its demeanor:<\/p>\n

\"even

even the bathroom has style!<\/p><\/div>\n

Like I say a gem of a museum. It originally opened in 1984 in a basement in New York state before making its way to Washington DC (typical, getting gobbled up by The Establishment) and then further down I-95 to Miami, before hopefully settling permanently – I’d like to visit whenever I’m visiting – in St. Louis in 2011. So if you’re ever there, and you like the game of chess like me and RZA<\/a> do, then please, stop by, say “checkmate.” You won’t regret it!<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The World Chess Hall of Fame is a gem of a museum hidden – albeit unabashedly – in the city of St. Louis, as given away by this Guiness World Record holder for the World’s Largest Chess Piece (at 14.5′ tall): (there’s a quick timelapse video of the construction of the piece on YouTube) The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16846,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"series":[1206],"class_list":["post-16565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stuffs","series-stl"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nicknormal.com\/normalblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/DSC00896.jpg?fit=800%2C534&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6OfVu-4jb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nicknormal.com\/normalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nicknormal.com\/normalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nicknormal.com\/normalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicknormal.com\/normalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicknormal.com\/normalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16565"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicknormal.com\/normalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17374,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicknormal.com\/normalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16565\/revisions\/17374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicknormal.com\/normalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nicknormal.com\/normalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicknormal.com\/normalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicknormal.com\/normalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16565"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nicknormal.com\/normalblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=16565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}