Featured Chess Sets 2023

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.

December

December’s Featured Chess Set is part of the collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF). Since its creation in 1986, the WCHOF has endeavored to highlight the history and cultural significance of the game of chess. The WCHOF’s collection is diverse and includes sets once owned by legendary players, mass-produced sets with lively pop culture themes, antique ivory sets, travel sets, as well as chess computers. Through these artifacts, the WCHOF illustrates how chess has evolved through its over 1500-year history.

Self-taught artist Sammy Palmer reimagines familiar chess pieces as members of Santa’s workshop and an icy team of snowmen in this jolly holiday chess set. Palmer is a disabled artist living on the southern coast of England. She has created many chess sets, including some that are in the collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame. Palmer states that her family inspires many of her sets, and they often feature the children’s favorite animals.

 

November

November’s Featured Chess Set is part of the collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF). Darrah Sellars has always loved art, science, and technology. As a result, she started an Etsy shop called HazelBasilBoutique, where she sells 3d-printed items like this science-themed chess set that she designed. Sellars named the shop after her dog, Hazel. She believes that by looking at STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) problems through a creative lens a new world of possibilities is opened.

This 3D-printed black and white chess set includes pieces inspired by laboratory equipment. The pawns are test tubes and the rooks are beakers. The knight is a Schlenk flask, used for air-sensitive chemistry, and the bishop is an Erlenmeyer flask, which has various uses including heating, cooling, and mixing liquids. The queen is a pipette, used to measure and transfer liquids, and the king is a microscope, used to examine small objects.

October

October’s Featured Chess Set is part of the collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF). Since its creation in 1986, the WCHOF has endeavored to highlight the history and cultural significance of the game of chess. The WCHOF’s collection is diverse and includes sets once owned by legendary players, mass-produced sets with lively pop culture themes, antique ivory sets, travel sets, as well as chess computers. Through these artifacts, the WCHOF illustrates how chess has evolved through its over 1500-year history.

Jen Shih, a Taiwanese American artist, has always loved to draw and create since she was a child. Growing up in a household heavily focused on academic achievement, drawing became an outlet for her to cope with stress. Shih is heavily influenced by Japanese kawaii (meaning ‘cuteness’ in Japanese) illustration and animation. She began making ceramics just before the pandemic and stated, “...The pure body/mind connection through working with clay has brought me a new sense of calmness and joy.” Shih's inspirations for this festive set include Colima dog figurines from Mexico and her own pet dog, Barney.

September

The estate of Edwin and Ann Munger donated September’s Featured Set to the World Chess Hall of Fame. It is part of a donation of hundreds of sets from around the world. Edwin Munger was a professor of geography who specialized in Africa at the California Institute of Technology. He was also passionate about collecting chess sets from around the world, and he wrote three books about sets from different countries.

September’s featured set is a South African Township chess set. Conceived from a conversation with a group of mostly Zimbabwean men, the leader, Steve Chizero created this metal wire chess set in one weekend. Copper wire is the main material used to create Township art and it is primarily rooted in the South African community. This chess set is made from copper and silver metal wire. While the pawn, bishop, king, and queen have human-like features that are best seen in profile, the knight and rook are the only pieces that can be either profiled or front facing.

August

David Sanfilippo donated August’s Featured Chess Set to the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF). Sanfilippo is a self-taught artist from Reading, Pennsylvania, who is also a creative writer and songwriter. He has created 37 chess sets using glazed terracotta clay. His chess sets are included in the collections of the Honey Acres Museum, No. 9 Coal Mine and Museum, and the Schachmuseum Ströbeck. Sanfillippo says that he “draws inspiration from nature and the ancient world” when creating his sets.

Describing the theme of this chess set, David Sanfilippo states, “Overworked from the expanding Roman Empire’s need to build bridges and aqueducts, a village of limestone workers revolts against a Roman army.” The set is one of several that Sanfilippo has made featuring a historical theme, and he fashioned each of the oversized pieces by hand. The rooks that represent limestone furnaces feature spaces for candles that can be lit.

June

June’s Featured Chess Set is part of the collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF). Artist Adriana Cristal is a ceramicist currently based in Red Hook, Brooklyn. They grew up in Missouri with a Chilean mom and a Jewish dad that supported her dreams of becoming a ceramicist from a young age. Cultivating a magical life is why functional ceramics are the center of her practice. The goal of their work is to encourage a lifestyle where people never want to buy an IKEA plate again. She believes that when the tools you use on a daily basis are beautiful, they work better and make you healthier.

Cristal’s practice moves fluidly between hand-building, wheel throwing, and plaster mold making. They pull influence from a global Pre-Columbian catalog which ranges in time and space from the Woman of Willendorf, to illuminated manuscripts, and to Atacaman pottery/imagery. Because of this, their designs are whimsical, abstracted, and anthropomorphic in nature.

Adriana Cristal grew up playing chess with their dad and loved the game ever since. This chess set is inspired by a set at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and commemorates the fond memories they share with their dad. It was important to the artist that each piece could be a standalone totem but also well as a set. The set is handmade, fired, and glazed. The rooks resemble castles, while the knight are animals with their tails fused to the pieces. The bishops are kneeling figures while the king and queen each have crowns. The king’s crown is shaped like a circle and the queen’s is topped with spikes.

May

May’s Featured Chess Set is part of the collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF) and was created by Gloria Gurrola-Graciano. Gurrola-Graciano is an artist based in Banning, California, a town near Palm Springs that is a hub for Los Angeles artists. Gurrola-Graciano states that her father has mentored her in art since she was five years old and originally made art projects for her friends and family. She started an Etsy store to sell her products. Gurrola-Graciano learned to play chess as a child and loved the game ever since. Over the course of her artistic pursuits, she admired the concept of chess as an art form and embraced Mexican culture as her central theme.

Lotería, a Mexican game of chance with similarities to bingo, is the theme of this chess set. This set depicts classic playing board illustrations such as La Bota (the boot), La Rana (the frog), and La Mano (the hand) represented as the rook, knight, and bishop. The king is illustrated as La Chalupa (the chalupa) and the queen as El Mundo (the world). The pawns include various trees. On the opposite side, the pawns are various stringed instruments, such as El Arpa (the harp), El Violoncello (the cello), and El Bandolón (a Mexican instrument that resembles a guitar).

April

April’s Featured Chess Set was donated by John De Luca and is part of the collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF). Since its creation in 1986, the WCHOF has endeavored to highlight the history and cultural significance of the game of chess. The WCHOF’s collection is diverse and includes sets once owned by legendary players, mass-produced sets with lively pop culture themes, antique ivory sets, travel sets, as well as chess computers. Through these artifacts, the WCHOF illustrates how chess has evolved through its over 1500-year history. This set is part of the museum’s permanent collection.

Eighty-three-year-old John De Luca has a passion for creating chess sets. De Luca and his family live on a few acres of land, and during the winter months he creates chess sets by hand. He sketches the design before utilizing the wood available on his property to make his creations. Over the years, he has made 31 chess sets, which he has gifted to members of his community or sold.

March

Bernice and Floyd Sarisohn donated March’s featured set to the World Chess Hall of Fame. The Sarisohns share a passion for collecting chess sets, which began when Bernice gave one to Floyd as an engagement gift. In the years since, their devotion led them to become active members of Chess Collectors International, an organization founded in 1984 that brings together lovers of artistic chess sets and chess memorabilia. Their generous loans and donations have allowed the World Chess Hall of Fame to share a variety of wonderful sets with our patrons.

The Chicago Bulls and the New York Knicks, two rival NBA teams, face off in this set, which has pieces that resemble Russian nesting dolls. The two teams sparred several times in the playoffs in the 1990s, when this set was likely created. The Bulls were a thorn in the Knicks' side, however, once Michael Jordan, represented as the Bulls' red king, retired for the first time in 1993, the Knicks made it to the NBA Finals in 1994. Although the two teams were adversaries, Jordan and Patrick Ewing, who is represented as the Knicks’ white king, remained friends off of the court.

On both the white and red side, the back of the pawns are painted the historic NBA logo. On the Knicks’ side, the pieces include: Charles Oakley (rook), Derek Harper (knight), Anthony Mason (bishop), John Starks (queen), and Patrick Ewing (king). On the Bulls’ side, the pieces are Toni Kukoč (rook), Steve Kerr (knight), Scottie Pippen (bishop), Dennis Rodman (queen), and Michael Jordan (king).

February

The estate of Edwin and Ann Munger donated February’s Featured Set to the World Chess Hall of Fame. It is part of a donation of hundreds of sets from around the world. Edwin Munger was a professor of geography who specialized in Africa at the California Institute of Technology. He was also passionate about collecting chess sets from around the world, and he wrote three books about sets from different countries.

The king and queen of Carnival rule in this chess set created by Lia Sanchez Maldonado. Maldonado is an Aruban artist who started working in ceramics in 1976 and runs her own company called Creative Hands, which makes ceramic souvenirs, paintings, and gifts. Each of the pieces in the set takes inspiration from local culture, including: kings holding the keys to Carnival, queens holding bowls of white sand from Aruba’s beaches, bishops decorated with divi divi or watapana trees, and the rooks as homes decorated with the flag of Aruba. Carnival is a pre-Lent celebration held in January and February in Aruba. Locals honor it with parades, music, and parties featuring performers in colorful elaborate costumes like those seen in this set. Maldanado has created other projects celebrating Aruban culture, including an award-winning ceramic doll called DivitA, whose dress is adorned with images related to the country’s history.

January

January’s Featured Chess Set is part of the collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF). Since its creation in 1986, the WCHOF has endeavored to highlight the history and cultural significance of the game of chess. The WCHOF’s collection is diverse and includes sets once owned by legendary players, mass-produced sets with lively pop culture themes, antique ivory sets, travel sets, as well as chess computers. Through these artifacts, the WCHOF illustrates how chess has evolved through its over 1500-year history. This set is part of the museum’s permanent collection.

Members of the Saint Louis Chess Campus’s staff and the Caïssa Club, a joint gift program that recognizes dedicated individuals, corporations, and foundations who make a combined annual gift of $1,000 or more to the Saint Louis Chess Campus, painted the pieces in this colorful and creative set. They decorated it at the Caïssa Club Recognition Event, which took place on September 15, 2022. The set is now part of the permanent collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame.

Cool:
King: Andrew Walker
King: Rex Sinquefield
Queen: Joy Bray
Queen: Carol Meyer
Bishop: Kevin Depew
Bishop: Alex Kerford
Knight: Yasser Seirawan
Knight: John Beckstead
Rook: Nate Cohen
Rook: Doug Eckert
Rook: Jenny Beckstead
Pawn: Courtney McNeely
Pawn: Ryan Chester
Pawn: Tony Rich
Pawn: Randy Bauer
Pawn: Rebecca Buffington
Pawn: Maria Kerford
Pawn: Emily Allred
Pawn: Keith Stephens

Warm:
King: Nicole Tessmer
Queen: Emily Billhartz
Bishop: Christina Anderson
Bishop: Molly McKay
Bishop: Sanjay Jain
Knight: Jill Rawlins
Knight: Joe Reinmann
Rook:  Mark Rawlins
Rook: Shannon Bailey
Pawn: Margaret McDonald
Pawn: David Ott
Pawn: Lauren Baumann
Pawn: Barb Combs
Pawn: Sanjay Jain
Pawn: Jean Nystrom
Pawn: Steve Nystrom
Pawn: Stephanie Tucker
Pawn: David A. Hater
Pawn: David A. Hater