MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

Chess is an ancient and intellectual recreational activity. Following World War II, chess tournaments between the United States and the Soviet Union became cerebral battlegrounds of the Cold War, in which chess champions were entrusted with proving their respective superpower’s intellectual and strategic superiority over the enemy. American Bobby Fischer’s 1972 World Championship win over Soviet Boris Spassky was a political victory for the United States. However, chess became a politically loaded activity far before the Cold War began. For most of the twentieth century, chess was more than a game. In the first half of the twentieth century chess was a medium that served two contrasting purposes. First, chess was adopted by the Soviet Union as a political tool that would develop and instill qualities desirable of ideal citizens, cultivating a population that would contribute to the system. The game was an inextricable element in workers’ clubs and military training. Second, chess became as an outlet of expression for artists to communicate ideas that challenged the status quo. The game embodies many of the qualities that were embraced by Modern artists; chess is dynamic, different in every game, individualized by the players, and limitless. By reimagining an ancient game, specifically the game pieces that have maintained the same forms for centuries, artists presented a new way of perceiving and playing chess. Through the discussion and analysis of Aleksandr Rodchenko’s chess table for a Soviet Workers’ Club displayed at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris, and chess sets designed by artists including Marcel DuChamp and Max Ernst, we come to understand chess as both a political and social tool of the twentieth century.