Residents of San Francisco’s Mission district witnessed a first for Bay Area chess…a Human Chess game by the Williamsburg NY Chess Club and Go Club for Wayward Men and Ladies. The exhibition match featured local Estonian expert Liina Vark and National Master Charlie Gelman, who has won or tied for first in four national scholastic chess championships and competed in the U.S. Junior Closed Championship in 1997.
Humans playing the roles of pieces stood on street corners corresponding to the squares on the chess board. When a player made a move in the master game, the information was transmitted to the appropriate piece via cellphone! The piece would then walk, bike, or skate the appropriate number of blocks. My heart went out to the Black Queen, running back and forth from the Mission to Noe! This was the second human chess game for artist Sharilyn Neidhardt and her Brooklyn based club. Their first exhibition was played in NYC and featured Women’s International Master Jennifer Shahade against her brother Gregory. Plans are still in the works for the next human chess game, in Vancouver, Canada. The map and coordinates of the park, plus the game score is given below!
White Liina Vark
Black Charles Gelman
Modern Benoni Defence
1 d4 Nf6
2 c4 c5
3 e3 g6
4 Nf3 Bg7
5 Nc3 O-O
6 g3 Na6
7 Bg2 Rb8
8 O-O e6
9 Nb5 d5
10 Ne5 Nc7
11 Qa4 Bd7
12 Nxd7 Qxd7
13 Qxa7 Nxb5
14 cxb5 Rfc8
15 Qa4 Ra8
16 Qd1 Qxb5
17 Re1 Nd7
18 b3 c4
19 bxc4 dxc4
20 Qc2 Qa5
21 Rd1 Rab8
22 Rb1 b5
23 e4 b4
24 Bf4 Rb6
25 Bf1 c3
26 Be3 Ra8
27 Rdc1 Rd8
28 Ra1 Nb8
29 Bg2 Nc6
30 e5 Rdb8
31 Bxc6 Rxc6
32 Qb3 Qd5
33 Qxd5 exd5
34 Rab1 Bf8
35 Rc2 Ra8
36 Re1 h5
37 Kf1 Be7
38 h4 Rca6
39 Ree2 Kf8
40 Kg2 Ke8
41 Kf3 Kd7
42 Bc1 Kc6
43 Ke3 Kb5
44 Kd3 Bd8
45 Be3 Ra4
46 Bc1 Bb6
47 Be3 R8a7
48 f3 Rc7
49 Rg2 Rc8
50 Rg1 Rca8
51 Rgg2 Ba5
52 Bc1 Rc8
53 Rh2 Rc4
54 Be3 Bb6
55 Rh1 Ra3
56 Rb1 Rc8
57 Re1 b3
58 axb3 Rxb3
59 Rec1 Ba5
60 Bf2 Rc4
61 Be1 Bb6
62 Bf2 Kb4
63 Be3 Ba5
64 Bg1 Ka4
65 Be3 Rb2
66 Bf2 Kb3
67 Be3 Bb4
68 Bg1 Rxc2
69 Rxc2 Ba3
70 Be3 Bb2
71 Bg1 Ra4
72 Bf2 Ra1
0-1 (time)
E. “Doc” Smith is a former Rhode Island Amateur Champion, and has won divisional titles in the U.S. Amateur Team Championships for Brown University as well as the Rhode Island Chess League Championships. He has also taught chess to kids in S.F. schools, where he has recently directed several successful citywide tournaments.
