First Moves
Calling
Guinness!
World’s largest chess piece
unveiled in St. Louis
ST. LOUIS, May 7, 2012—The Chess Club and
Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (CCSCSL) unveiled
the newest Guinness world record today—a chess
piece that stands 14 feet, six inches tall and and is
six feet wide at the base. The king piece is based on
the “Championship Staunton” design and is made of
layers of ¾-inch exterior grade plywood. It is 45
times larger than a standard chess piece. This new
record beat the previous record, set in 2003, by 1
foot, 5 inches.
The Club, in partnership with the World Chess Hall of
Fame also located in St. Louis, set the new record to
help further cement the city’s reputation for being the
hub of chess in the United States. The piece was
unveiled to kick off the 2012 U.S. and Women’s
Chess Championships, which took place May 7
through May 20. This is the fourth year in a row the
Club has hosted the tournaments. As a part of the
unveiling and tournament kickoff, St. Louis Mayor
Francis G. Slay issued an official proclamation,
declaring St. Louis the “Gateway to Chess.”
“The St. Louis Arch was built to commemorate St.
Louis as the gateway to the west,” said CCSCSL
Executive Director Tony Rich. “This record-breaking
chess piece is meant to celebrate another distinction
for our city. St. Louis has truly become a center of
chess culture, and this larger-than-life chess piece
serves as a striking monument to honor our city’s
involvement in the game.”
The piece was built by R.G. Ross Construction,
located in St. Louis, and has been officially approved
by Guinness as a world record. Following are some
key statistics about the world’s largest chess piece:
• The piece took 18 days to construct and weighs
more than 2,200 pounds.
• The piece is taller than a professional basketball
hoop (10 feet), an average-sized female giraffe (14
feet) and the Statue of Liberty’s fingernail (13 feet).
• If the piece were to be used during a chess game,
the square the piece sits on would be nine feet by
nine feet, and the board would be 72 feet by 72
feet. This board would be big enough to hold 392
bathtubs or nine school buses.
8
Chess Life — July 2012
GM Hikaru Nakamura compares kings. Nakamura went on to become a king
himself as he won his third U.S. Championship after this picture was taken;
we will have full coverage in next month’s issue.
uschess.org