n Thursday, September 10, 2009 I was in the north wing of the John F. Kennedy Library at Cal State L.A. (California State University Los Angeles). I was on the ground floor about to leave when I noticed a display of chess sets in the western corner near the copy machines. I had a bit of time and the library wasn’t going to close for another 15-20 minutes so I walked over to check it out. The exhibit was in several shelves and island display cases. It had little cards saying when the set was made, who made it, and the country it came from if known. There were some fantastical sets such as one on a board that looked like an elevated fortress. The king looked like a conquistador and the queen was a mermaid. Most were made between 1960-1980, though a few looked military or Medieval in nature. They were all different sizes including large ones that could be put on the lawn. Each standard looking piece of this set was about a foot tall. The large pieces reminded me of a large set I saw in Seattle where the pieces were life size. That was many years ago, back in the 1980’s. I don’t remember exactly where it was, possibly in a park or industrial area. I just remember driving by it.
The sets in the CSULA display ranged from traditional wooden pieces to modern-looking sets made of glass, acrylic, and metal. One was just a set of black and white balls with the names of each piece on them in text. I’m not sure I’d want to play with that one. The sets from other countries were particularly interesting. There were sets from Nepal and Kenya. One from England had Michaelangelo’s David as King, a famous classic sculpture of a woman (not sure which one but it appears in Night of the Museum II, I believe), and Rodin’s The Thinker as the bishop. There was a set from Ecuador where the pieces were in a stand-up case that looked like a narrow house. The kings and queens were peasants, though well dressed. The bishops were priests and friars, with the black bishops Franciscans. The black knights looked like the heads of mules or donkeys while the white knights looked like llamas. The pawns were peasant workers with each of the black pawns holding one of these multi-pipe flutes. The most culturally different was a wooden set from the Philippines. Other than the rooks and the knights, each piece was a thin figure sitting on the ground with feet planted in front, arms crossed, and elbows on the knees. They had long, thin faces like Easter Island heads. The pawns were smaller than the others. The bishops, kings, and queens wore things on their heads. I’m not sure which was which but one had a bowl on their head, another had a pot, and the third a veil that looked like a sled. The knights were also the reclining figures only they had horse heads. The rooks were little nipa huts.
The last set I looked at was a large patriotic set from the United States. The king was Uncle Sam and the queen was the Statue of Liberty. The bishops were blind justices, the knights were bald eagles, and the rooks were miniature Capitol building domes. The pawns were kids each dressed in the uniform of a different profession. There was a graduate in cap in gown, a doctor with a disk-mirror on a headband, a fire fighter, a miner with shovel and helmet, a sailor, a soldier, even a welder with the heavy mask. The set was made in 1964 but it was appropriate I saw it that day because the next day, September 11, was Patriot Day.
I first learned to play chess from my dad when I was 5-6 years old and I played it off and on until I became a young adult. I was never particularly good but I still had fun playing with my brothers who were around the same skill level and playing some early chess computer games. I remember Battle Chess showed the pieces actually fighting with each other. But until I chanced upon the chess display at the Cal State L.A. Library, I never knew chess had so much artistic and cultural diversity.
The sets in the CSULA display ranged from traditional wooden pieces to modern-looking sets made of glass, acrylic, and metal. One was just a set of black and white balls with the names of each piece on them in text. I’m not sure I’d want to play with that one. The sets from other countries were particularly interesting. There were sets from Nepal and Kenya. One from England had Michaelangelo’s David as King, a famous classic sculpture of a woman (not sure which one but it appears in Night of the Museum II, I believe), and Rodin’s The Thinker as the bishop. There was a set from Ecuador where the pieces were in a stand-up case that looked like a narrow house. The kings and queens were peasants, though well dressed. The bishops were priests and friars, with the black bishops Franciscans. The black knights looked like the heads of mules or donkeys while the white knights looked like llamas. The pawns were peasant workers with each of the black pawns holding one of these multi-pipe flutes. The most culturally different was a wooden set from the Philippines. Other than the rooks and the knights, each piece was a thin figure sitting on the ground with feet planted in front, arms crossed, and elbows on the knees. They had long, thin faces like Easter Island heads. The pawns were smaller than the others. The bishops, kings, and queens wore things on their heads. I’m not sure which was which but one had a bowl on their head, another had a pot, and the third a veil that looked like a sled. The knights were also the reclining figures only they had horse heads. The rooks were little nipa huts.
The last set I looked at was a large patriotic set from the United States. The king was Uncle Sam and the queen was the Statue of Liberty. The bishops were blind justices, the knights were bald eagles, and the rooks were miniature Capitol building domes. The pawns were kids each dressed in the uniform of a different profession. There was a graduate in cap in gown, a doctor with a disk-mirror on a headband, a fire fighter, a miner with shovel and helmet, a sailor, a soldier, even a welder with the heavy mask. The set was made in 1964 but it was appropriate I saw it that day because the next day, September 11, was Patriot Day.
I first learned to play chess from my dad when I was 5-6 years old and I played it off and on until I became a young adult. I was never particularly good but I still had fun playing with my brothers who were around the same skill level and playing some early chess computer games. I remember Battle Chess showed the pieces actually fighting with each other. But until I chanced upon the chess display at the Cal State L.A. Library, I never knew chess had so much artistic and cultural diversity.
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