An article that will describe the most famous and concurrently the largest chess museums in the world. Below you can read about the chess museums in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Elista, St. Louis, Ankara and Swiss Lucerne. Reviews and addresses of museums will be provided.
It's not just a game
Chess is both a sport, a science and an art. World Chess Day is celebrated on July 20. Tribute to this great and very old game has been paid in many places around the world and the largest of them will be described below.
Chess Museum in Moscow
The Moscow Museum from the very opening has become known for its unique atmosphere and unique chess accessories. Vyacheslav Dombrovsky posthumously invested his collection in the basis of the exhibits of the chess museum on Gogolevsky Boulevard. During his lifetime, he collected absolutely everything related to chess in one way or another, from photographs of famous chess players to chess pieces of all colors of the rainbow. In addition to what Vyacheslav Dombrovsky collected during his lifetime, this “temple” regularly receives awards won by the Russian chess team. And yet the greatestold exhibits are of interest: chess pieces of ancient tribes, a set of wire of prisoners from the Gulag. The Chess Museum in Moscow is open in an old building, which is now a cultural monument.
Here you can find marble sets, porcelain, stone, wood of various unusual species, elephant bone and even bread. African sets of the 17th century, Italian ones of the 18th century are of particular importance for the museum of chess on Gogolevsky. There are samples that belonged to famous people. There are chess sets of Pushkin, Mendeleev, and even Peter I. The pieces were made with special scrupulousness and accuracy, and sometimes one might think that through them it is possible to feel the spirit of the era. The museum was opened in 1980 with the help of the Chess Federation and is located at 14 Gogolevsky Boulevard, Moscow, Russia, 119019, the nearest metro station is Kropotkinskaya.
Museum of Chess and Porcelain in St. Petersburg
The museum composition contains over one hundred and fifty sets, including busts of celebrities, empresses, as well as chess in the form of half-naked ladies. The Museum of Chess and Porcelain in St. Petersburg is completed thanks to the exhibits of German Alexandrov, who is a connoisseur of chess culture and a lover of beautiful porcelain figures. Most of the sets were made in the last century, but there are examples from the eighteenth century. The museum has more than a thousand copies. The halls illustrate porcelain chess. The Chess Museum in St. Petersburg is a chess pearl of Russia. German Alexandrov, like many others, believes that chess isart, not just a game.
The Chess Museum in St. Petersburg contains separate thematic chess sets placed in various showcases. In one of them there are soldiers' figurines - the heroes of the battle of Borodino, right there Napoleon and Josephine, in the second one the era of the end of the Tatar-Mongol yoke is reflected, and in it there are figurines of participants in the battles of those times. The Battle on the Ice and Russian heroes are also represented here. Artists-sculptors with the flight of their imagination turned everything into chess: here both animals and historical heroes. Thimble chess, revolutionary figurines and Kamasutra chess. There is a separate place representing chess in the form of caricatures of political figures, whose figurines were made in 2000 in Holland. Putin with a crown, in a judo suit, standing in front of Bush.
The Chess Museum is open 5 days a week, except Sundays and Mondays, from eleven to half past six in the evening. Address: Aptekarskaya embankment, 6, St. Petersburg, Russia, 197022, entrance from Instrumentalnaya street. The museum bribes, in every sense, its visitors with ticket prices: for students there is a half price discount, a visit will cost 50 rubles, and for schoolchildren and pensioners the price is 20 rubles at all.
Chess Museum in Elista named after Mikhail Tal
Reviews about this place can be found contradictory, but it is unlikely that a real connoisseur of chess will be able to speak unflatteringly about it. This chess museum is one of the largest in the world and can accommodate over 2,000 players.simultaneously. It is divided into two parts: in one you can see the medals and photographs of Mikhail Nekhemievich, and in the other the merits of other athletes.
The museum was built for the 1998 World Chess Olympiad. There are many copies in the chess temple, which can be used to trace each stage at which the development of chess as a sport and culture took place.
A large section of the museum is separated by cartoons of famous players. In total, the number of museum copies includes more than three and a half thousand items. Things related in one way or another to Mikhail Tal are presented in the amount of three thousand. In the halls you can seat about one and a half thousand players, and in the whole City-Chess about five thousand. Museum address: Russia, Republic of Kalmykia, Elista, City-Chess.
Chess Museum in Ankara
You don't have to be Garry Kasparov to visit this magical place.
These words belong to businessman, collector and great chess lover Akyn Gekai. In 2013, with the help of local authorities, he created and opened a local chess museum, which has become a tourist attraction. In a museum, as in a temple, there is no place for fuss. There are countless chess sets around. You are surrounded by peace and tranquility.
On the boards you can see politicians and cartoon characters, cultural works and echoes of the military actions of history. The cost of exhibits today ranges from 150 to 10,000 dollars. In 2012, Akyn's collection entered the Guinness Book of Records. At that moment the collection consisted of 416chess sets, and today the museum can count 560 pieces.
Akyn Gekyay collected his collection all over the world. He visited 103 countries of the world, from 93 of them he brought home a new part of his amazing collection. He regrets not being able to bring back a board from every place he has been. Sometimes they were so big they couldn't fit in luggage, and sometimes he had to wrap them in toilet paper and carry them around. He fondly recalled buying his first set in Milan in 1975, unaware of how far his passion for chess would go.
Today you can visit this temple of chess by paying 10 lira for a ticket, while a children's ticket will cost half as much. The museum is located at: Sakarya Mahallesi, Hamamarkası Basamaklı Sok. No:3, 06230 Altındağ/Ankara, Turkey.
The place leaves an amazing impression. Some even consider it underestimated. Here you can get acquainted with the cultures of different peoples through chess and have a cup of coffee with a carrot-cinnamon cake. Even people who, to put it mildly, have a vague idea of chess, spoke only positively about this museum.
Chess Museum in Lucerne
Lucerne is a small city near Zurich, which is known for its amazing panoramas and famous ski resort. If you have the opportunity to visit there, you can enjoy not only its famous architectural monuments, but also visit the chess museum founded by the brothers Ronald and Werner Rupp. The main attractionof this place are extraordinary chess boards and pieces. After the 1982 Chess Olympiad in this city, Werner and Ronald decided to immortalize chess in Lucerne. The museum is located at Industriestrasse 10, Kriens, Lucerne 6010, Switzerland.
Having been in this temple of chess art, tourists take with them only positive emotions. First of all, everyone speaks warmly about the unusual chess sets, about the sincere, cozy and calm atmosphere. In addition, the chess museum is located away from most other architectural sites and therefore it is never too crowded.
St. Louis Chess Museum
The museum was originally opened in New York in 1986, then in 1992 it was in Washington, and in 2001 in Miami. By the opening of this museum in St. Louis, a tournament was held according to the Scheveningen system. Rapid and Fischer chess matches were played between the women's and men's teams. All those present were satisfied with the museum.
The exhibition is open in a luxurious three-story building, which is completely filled with chess and themed accessories. Every year, great chess players from both the United States and other countries are forever immortalized within the walls of the institution.
This chess museum is located at 1 Fine Arts Dr, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. Its opening took place on September 9, 2011.
In chess, opponents checkmate themselves. Just gotta wait a bit
The history of chess is estimated at one and a half thousand years. The ancestor of chess is considered to be the Indian game underthe name of chaturanga, which appeared in the sixth century AD. As the game moved east, and then to Europe and Africa, the rules changed. The game did not receive its final form until the fifteenth century.
In conclusion, I would like to recall a quote from Paul Morphy, the strongest chess player of his time:
Help the figures and they will help you.
Love chess, play chess. Good luck!
