Greatest Chess Photos

i like this.

Outstanding thread.  I'm very tempted now to buy one of those digital picture frames and have these photos cycling through it.

Thanks to everyone who's contributed, especially you, goldendog.

Amy

Thanks for the bump. There are lots of people that haven't found this thread yet.

With all the great photos, this thread offers an alternative to the other threads that seem to be a place where people argue about trivial things.

Capablanca, 1931.  No he's not playing chess.  But can anyone name the game?

(Answer given in a post below.)

Amy

OMG ! Capablanca was unfaithful ?!!  I wonder if Caissa knows.....

That Norse kind of chess?

Hnefatafl?

OK, nobody got the answer in an hour so here it is:

It's named Camelot and was published by Parker Bros.  It was invented in 1888 by George Parker and first called Chivalry.  That version had a larger board and more pieces.  Finally this smaller board was settled upon as the standard.  A four-player version was published, and also an even smaller edition named Cam.  It was briefly reissued in 1985 under the title Inside Moves.

It's out of print now, but there is actually a World Camelot Federation in existence today.

 Seems that way ;) 

Think I read in Chess Life once that J.R actually enjoyed Gothic Chess equal to or more then chess.

Thanks, Amy, for that most intriguing photo as well as the information on Camelot.
I'm impressed and delighted.

Lisa Lane playing in a tournament at the Marshall Chess Club in 1962. She was US Women's champion at the time.

30,000 views for the thread. Great contributions and thanks!

"There was, however, a special circumstance about Lisa's appearance while playing. When she is absorbed in her game her expression becomes hauntingly beautiful in her complete self-forgetfulness and her quiet concentration on her moves. She leans forward slightly over the chess board, with her chin on the knuckles of her left hand, a tranquil expression on her pale and delicate features. She moves the pieces slowly and carefully, lifting them above the board between her thumb and two fingers, and places them gently on their new squares as if they were fragile works of art that she feared might be broken. Each move seems to be weighted with some cosmic significance to her, not in the sense of anxiety about the outcome but because of its place in the profound seriousness of her game."

from "The Queen of Knights and Pawns" by Robert Cantwell, Sports Illustrated August 7, 1961

Amy

 Thanks for that fine description! I have that SI in my chess mag pile btw. An interesting read.

Lisa Lane

Thanks for that link, it led me to your chess world.

I'll need some time to explore it !

But I will say...I first heard about Lisa Lane when I read Jen's book...and yes, I fell in love with her.

Amy

Amy,

Shahade saw my page on Lisa Lane when she was writing ChessBitch and inquired about some of the source material, so I had at least an small, indirect impact on her book. Lisa Lane was particularly important, I think, in that she almost single-handedly raised (USA) public awareness of women's chess.

Since you like Duchamp, you might also want to navigate within my chess world to my tribute to chess and the surrealists.  The fact that Duchamp himself wasn't a surrealist didn't prevent him from becoming the central figure in this rather involved tribute.

<bump>

No doubt there are a few who haven't seen this one yet.

Great, really great contributions!

Easily the best thread on Chess.com. Wow.

Here's a couple from the frankly great site nevver.tumblr.com: