March 1, 2017
Through the Featured Chess Set project, the World Chess Hall of Fame showcases a variety of chess sets throughout the year. These include highlights from our own collection as well as chess sets owned by friends and chess lovers who have special stories to accompany their sets. For more information about how to participate in the Featured Chess Set project, please inquire at the front desk or email Assistant Curator Emily Allred.
March’s Featured Set is on loan to the World Chess Hall of Fame courtesy of Husky Corporation. Husky has manufactured fuel dispensing equipment for 65 years and is based in Pacific, Missouri, which is in the Saint Louis metropolitan area. This set was designed with the same equipment and from identical materials used to create their fuel dispensing hardware. It was a commemorative gift for the 2016 shareholders of Husky Corporation.
John Sever
The Husky Machine, November 2016
Machined and anodized aluminum, wood
King Size: 4 1/2 in.
Board: 21 1/2 x 21 1/2 in.
Collection of Husky Corporation
This set repurposes industrial materials to create a set that is both charming and serves as a showcase for the products of its manufacturer. In the words of John C. Sever, Product Design Engineer for Husky Corporation, “One of my favorite features of this chess set is that each piece has some miniature machine functionality: the knight swivels on a live ball bearing race, the rook is spring loaded and can be ‘squashed’ by hand, the bishops incorporate an active thread that lets the player adjust their heights, and the pawns all include an external pipe thread that can be mated to the internal threads included in all the other pieces.”
