Chicago Chess 'Social Experiment'

Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013

Hi everyone, 

Lindia Paul of WBEZ91.5 profiles Cecil Locke whose chess party draws people of all backgrounds in Chicago. Are you up to a chess feature this weekend? (Photo left: (WBEZ/Linda Paul) Just south of the Art Institute, another Chicago cultural institution: The Touch and Go Chess Party.)

If you live anywhere near Chicago, no doubt you’ve seen the statues of two formidable lions guarding the entrance to the Art Institute.

But what you may not have noticed – or maybe you saw it, but didn’t know quite what to make of it – is another art installation of sorts, less than 300 feet from those famous lions.

Cecil Locke is the owner, founder and creator of the iconic ‘Touch and Go Chess Party” at the northeast corner of Jackson and Michigan Avenue.

This colorful one-of-a-kind display is basically a 26-foot-long outdoor chess and checkers table with Whirlygigs and teddy bears above, that spin and bob in the wind.

The space above the table is important to Locke. Tourists from all over the world, and locals too, take pictures of his creation, and he doesn’t want “negative space” above his chess display. He wants the photographs to be filled from top to bottom with beautiful objects and bright, happy colors like pink and yellow.

Artist and social experimenter Cecil Locke.“If you’re not an artist, you’ve got to be an engineer to build this,” he said. “Because it’s a lot of wing-nuts and you have to put things in sequence. It all boils down to electrical piping, hinges and wood.”

Locke studied art at Kennedy-King College and he describes his installation as a look at chess “through the eyes of an artist.” His street performer’s license allows him, in a sense, to perform chess in a public place, and others can join in if they want to.

“To me, it’s an experiment,” Locke said. “It’s an art project. “But it’s also a social experiment. You know, it’s what the public do when a highly decorated table is on a busy street corner.”

The demographic results of Cecil Locke’s experiment are impressive. There’s a steady stream of complete strangers who play chess together: Middle-aged men and women, young people, Asians, blacks, whites, Latinos. All this in a city that’s notoriously segregated.

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Vintage Chess Video - Chicago Coffee House Chess Talents!

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012


Hi everyone,


We found this very nice vintage collection of portraits put up as a chess video collage by Matthias Pfau. We don't have the details and would appreciate if someone sent us all the names. However, enjoy the video. Do you play chess in Chicago?





From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com

Chess forges friendships among the unlikely - feature story

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011


Hello everyone,


We would like to share this nice feature story about a friendship forged across the chess board! Naomi Nix writes in the Chicago Tribune:


Shawn Hu and Alexander Pinkston might seem like unlikely chess buddies.Hu, 26, is an immigration lawyer who works alongMichigan Avenue in the Loop. Pinkston, 57, sleeps outside the building next door. But one day in May, after watching Pinkston play chess, Hu decided to sit down for a match.


"I started playing with him and he would beat me," Hu said.


Pinkston's winning streak didn't last long. About a month later, Pinkston taught Hu his killer move: how to achieve checkmate with a king and a rook. "I am trying to figure out a way to charge him for that," said Pinkston, who first learned how to play chess when he was in jail on a burglary conviction.

Almost every weekday, Hu and Pinkston perch themselves on plastic crates outside a building near Hu's office and play for an hour or two. They don't talk much during the matches, and though they don't bet money, Pinkston will ask his opponents for donations. He says he is terrible at panhandling, and he uses the money for food. In late October, Pinkston left his usual spot on Michigan Avenue to appear in court on a trespassing charge. When he returned, his suitcase, MP3 player, notebooks of poems he had written and, most important to Pinkston, his chessboard had disappeared, he said.


When Hu heard of Pinkston's loss, he didn't hesitate. He ordered a wooden chessboard online and gave it to Pinkston. He also has given Pinkston MP3 players, a Chicago Transit Authority pass and cash, among other items. "I don't see him as a homeless guy. He doesn't see me as a young attorney. We are just friends," Hu said. "I don't give it out of charity, but I do it out of friendship."


That chessboard didn't last long. Pinkston left it unattended in a backpack last week, and it also disappeared, he said.


But apparently Hu isn't Pinkston's only benefactor. Brandon Haskins, 48, who chats up Pinkston during his breaks from his job in the technology department at a nearby bank, heard about the loss of the second chessboard and gave Pinkston a board from his office.


"I couldn't bear to throw it away, and I was like, well, maybe I can find someone to use it," Haskins said. "And lo and behold, the opportunity arose."


Hu was pleased to hear that others support Pinkston's love of chess. And Pinkston said he is grateful. "I am extremely glad he did that," Pinkston said, speaking of the board from Haskins, a sentiment he echoes when talking about Hu.

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From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com