World Chess Hall of Fame

WCHOF Logo 2013
Established	1984
Location	Central West End, St. Louis Missouri
Type	Hall of Fame Art museum

The World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF) is a nonprofit, collecting institution situated in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri, United States.

The WCHOF is the only institution of its kind and offers a variety of programming to explore the dynamic relationship between art and chess, including educational outreach initiatives that provide context and meaning to the game and its continued educational impact. Founded in 1984, it is run by the United States Chess Trust, a charitable arm of the United States Chess Federation. Formerly located in New Windsor, New York; Washington D.C.; and Miami, Florida, it moved to St. Louis on September 9, 2011.

History

The brainchild of Steven Doyle, USCF president from 1984 to 1987, the World Chess Hall of Fame was created in 1986 as the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame.

Opened in 1988 in the basement of the Federation’s then-headquarters in New Windsor, New York, the small museum contained a modest collection, including a book of chess openings signed by Bobby Fischer; a silver set awarded to Paul Morphy, American chess player and unofficial World Champion; and cardboard plaques honoring past grandmasters.

In 1992, the U.S. Chess Trust purchased the museum and moved its contents to Washington D.C. At its Washington D.C. location from 1992 to 2001, the hall featured America's "big four" chess players: Paul Morphy, Bobby Fischer, Frank Marshall, and Samuel Reshevsky. It displayed the World Chess Championship trophy won by the United States team in 1993 as well as numerous chess boards and chess pieces. The museum gave visitors the opportunity to play against a chess computer. By 2001, the collection had grown to include numerous chess sets and boards and plaques commemorating inductees to the U.S. and World halls of fame.

In the late 1990s, Sidney Samole, former owner of Excalibur Electronics, proposed to move the hall of fame to Miami, where it would be located in a rook-shaped building constructed by Excalibur. Although Samole died in 2000, the U.S. Chess Trust accepted the proposal the following year. Reopened in 2001, it was renamed the World Chess Hall of Fame and Sidney Samole Museum. The museum continued collecting chess sets, books, tournament memorabilia, advertisements, photographs, furniture, medals, trophies, and journals until it closed in 2009. Philanthropist Rex Sinquefield soon afterward agreed to pay for moving the museum to St. Louis and renovating its new building.

The World Chess Hall of Fame is located across the street from the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis in the city's vibrant Central West End neighborhood. It displays artifacts from the museum’s permanent collection and temporary exhibitions highlighting the great players, historic games, and rich cultural history of chess as well as the U.S. and World Chess Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame collaborates with the Chess Club and Scholastic Center to provide programming, instruction, and outreach to an international audience of novices and experts alike. Its collection includes pieces such as a 500-year-old piece from an Egyptian game called senet, the earliest known board game; a custom-made set of chess furniture that belonged to Bobby Fischer, and the first commercial chess computer. Rotating exhibitions feature items from the permanent collection; the museum also mounts two temporary exhibitions per year. The Hall of Fame also commemorates the careers of its members.

Hall of Fame

There are 52 members in the U.S. Hall of Fame, including Bobby Fischer, John W. Collins, Larry Evans, Benjamin Franklin, George Koltanowski, Sammy Reshevsky, Paul Morphy, and Arnold Denker.

There are 19 members in the World Hall of Fame, including José Raúl Capablanca, Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, and Boris Spassky. Winner of the first Women’s World Chess Championship Vera Menchik was the first woman to be inducted into the WCHOF in 2011.

The 2011 inductions took place on September 8 as part of the World Chess Hall of Fame Grand Opening celebration.

U.S. Chess Hall of Fame inductees

The U.S. Chess Federation Hall of Fame Committee considers candidates for the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame and sends its nominations to the U.S. Chess Trust each year. The trustees of the U.S. Chess Trust vote on who should be inducted. The induction itself take place either at the U.S. Chess Federation Awards Luncheon during the U.S. Open or at the World Chess Hall of Fame, which is now located in Saint Louis, Missouri. The induction is almost always performed by either the Chairman of the U.S. Chess Trust or the Chairman of the Hall of Fame Committee.

Current members of the committee are Harold Winston (Chairman), John Donaldson, John McCrary, Al Lawrence, GM Joel Benjamin, GM Arthur Bisguier, John Hilbert, Jennifer Shahade, and Shane Samole. McCrary and Donaldson are former Chairs of the Hall of Fame Committee. Both Bisguier and Benjamin are members of the Hall of Fame. Samole was in charge of the Hall of Fame when it was located in Miami, Florida from 2001-2009.

Count	Inductee	Induction year
1	Reuben Fine	1986
2	Robert Fischer	1986
3	Isaac Kashdan	1986
4	George Koltanowski	1986
5	Frank Marshall	1986
6	Paul Morphy	1986
7	Harry Pillsbury	1986
8	Sammy Reshevsky	1986
9	Sam Loyd	1987
10	Wilhelm Steinitz	1987
11	Arpad Elo	1988
12	Hermann Helms	1988
13	Al Horowitz	1989
14	Hans Berliner	1990
15	John W. Collins	1991
16	Arthur Dake	1991
17	Arnold Denker	1992
18	Gisela Gresser	1992
19	George MacKenzie	1992
20	Pal Benko	1993
21	Victor Palciauskas	1993
22	Arthur Bisguier	1994
23	Robert Byrne	1994
24	Larry Evans	1994
25	Ed Edmondson Jr.	1995
26	Fred Reinfeld	1996
27	Kenneth Harkness	1997
28	Milan Vukcevich	1998
29	Benjamin Franklin	1999
30	Edmar Mednis	2000
31	Lubomir Kavalek	2001
32	Lev Alburt	2003
33	Walter Browne	2003
34	Donald Byrne	2003
35	Anatoly Lein	2004
36	Leonid Shamkovich	2004
37	Yasser Seirawan	2006
38	Irving Chernev	2007
39	Jeremy Gaige	2007
40	Joel Benjamin	2008
41	Larry Christiansen	2008
42	Nick de Firmian	2008
43	John Fedorowicz	2009
44	Burt Hochberg	2009
45	Diane Savereide	2010
46	Jackson Showalter	2010
47	Herman Steiner	2010
48	Boris Gulko	2011
49	Andy Soltis	2011
50	Alex Yermolinsky	2012
51	Gregory Kaidanov	2013
52	Mona May Karff	2013
53	Abraham Kupchik	2014
54	Jacqueline Piatigorsky	2014
55	Alexander Shabalov	2015

World Chess Hall of Fame inductees

The World Chess Hall of Fame inductees are nominated by representatives of the World Chess Federation (FIDE).

Count	Inductee	Induction year
1	Jose Raul Capablanca	2001
2	Robert Fischer	2001
3	Emanuel Lasker	2001
4	Paul Morphy	2001
5	Wilhelm Steinitz	2001
6	Mikhail Botvinnik	2003
7	Tigran Petrosian	2003
8	Vasily Smyslov	2003
9	Boris Spassky	2003
10	Mikhail Tal	2003
11	Alexander Alekhine	2004
12	Max Euwe	2004
13	Anatoly Karpov	2004
14	Garry Kasparov	2005
15	Siegbert Tarrasch	2008
16	Vera Menchik	2011
17	Elisaveta Bykova	2013
18	Mikhail Chigorin	2013
19	Nona Gaprindashvili	2013
20	Maia Chiburdanidze	2014
21	Paul Keres	2014
22	Olga Rubtsova	2015
23	Lyudmila Rudenko	2015
24	Carl Schlechter	2015

Exhibitions

Upon its move to St. Louis in 2011, the World Chess Hall of Fame not only features chess artifacts from throughout history in its permanent collection, but also art and artifacts on loan from various artists and collectors.

OUT OF THE BOX: Artists Play Chess

On view from September 9, 2011 to February 12, 2012, this contemporary art exhibition was curated by Dr. Bradley Bailey, assistant professor of modern and contemporary art history at Saint Louis University, It featured artworks that consider chess both at the formal level and at the level of actual play. The artists featured in this exhibition were Tom Friedman, Barbara Kruger, Liliya Lifanova, Yoko Ono, Gavin Turk, Diana Thater, and Guido van der Werve. On the exhibit's opening night Dutch contemporary artist Guido van der Werve performed on a one-of-a-kind chess piano that he built. The piano sounded a note as each chess piece was played, while nine string musicians from the Saint Louis Symphony played van der Werve’s score. On closing night, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis hosted an event featuring Liliya Lifanova's performance art piece Anatomy is Destiny, one of the pieces in the exhibition.

Chess Masterpieces: Highlights from the Dr. George and Vivan Dean Collection

On view from September 9, 2011 to February 12, 2012, this sho celebrated the Deans’ 50th year of collecting together and featured selected works to trace the development of the game of chess and the design of fine chess sets from the tenth to the early twentieth century. Sets came from Austria, Cambodia, China, England, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Kashmir, Morocco, Persia, Russia, Syria, and Turkey. Among the works displayed were pieces owned or commissioned by Catherine the Great, Napoleon, Czar Nicolas II, and the British royal family.

Marcel Dzama: The End Game

On view from March 9, 2012 to August 12, 2012, Marcel Dzama's artistic works were on display, including films, related drawings, paintings, sculptures, and dioramas. Dzama’s work draws from a diverse range of references and artistic influences, including Dada and Marcel Duchamp. His film features characters based on the classic game of chess. Dressed in geometrically designed costumes of papier-mâché, plaster, and fiberglass and wearing elaborate masks (including a quadruple-faced mask for the King), the figures dance across a checkered board to challenge their opponents in fatal interchanges.

BOBBY FISCHER: Icon Among Icons, Photographs by Harry Benson CBE

On view from March 9, 2012 to October 7, 2012, this show featured photographs by Harry Benson, the only person to have private access to Bobby Fischer during the entire 1972 World Chess Championship match in Reykjavík, Iceland. Benson captured intimate images of this time with Fischer and was the first person to deliver the news to Fischer that he had won the match.

Screwed Moves

On view from September 13, 2012 to February 10. 2013, this show featured nine of Saint Louis’ most recognized artists, known as The Screwed Arts Collective, worked together over a two-week period to spontaneously produce a one-of-a-kind, site-specific wall drawing inspired by chess.

Everybody's Game: Chess in Popular Culture

On view from October 18, 2012 to April 14, 2013, this show took a playful look at how the ancient sport is represented in our contemporary culture by showcasing the game of chess as it has been featured in such mass media as magazine advertisements, rock music and movie posters, and other popular venues.

Power in Check: Chess and the American Presidency

On view from October 18, 2012 to April 21, 2013, this show explored how chess has influenced the American presidency since the administration of George Washington.

Bill Smith: Beyond the Humanities

On view from March 7, 2013 to August 25, 2013, this show featured the work of Bill Smith, which explores how rules guide the creation of our world’s structure and behavior. In order to highlight the intersection of art, chess, and nature, Smith used art to show the underlying similarities of all things. His videos and constructions gave a holistic view of the world by presenting the ubiquitous patterns and interactions common to music, games, technology, animals, molecules, and the galaxy.

Prized and Played: Highlights from the Jon Crumiller Collection

On view from May 3, 2013 to September 15, 2013, this event showcased over eighty beautiful, antique chess sets from across the centuries and around the world, as well as many interesting artifacts related to the history of chess.

A Queen Within: Adorned Archetypes, Fashion and Chess

On view from October 19, 2013 to April 19, 2014, this show explored the archetypes of a queen. Works from radical and experimental designers highlighted the queen archetypes in fashion and identify relationships with the cultural collective unconscious and traditions of storytelling. Curated by independent curators, Sofia Hedman and Serge Martynov.

Jacqueline Piatigorsky: Patron, Player, Pioneer

On view from October 25, 2013 to July 13, 2014, this show explored Jacqueline Piatigorsky’s position as one of the best female chess players of the 1950s and 1960s, as well as her support of the game as a patron. It featured artifacts from her personal archive. Highlights included the Piatigorsky Cup, photos from the 1963 and 1966 Piatigorsky Cup tournaments, and artifacts and photos related to Piatigorsky’s impressive career in women’s chess.

Cage & Kaino: Pieces and Performances

On view from May 8, 2014 to September 21, 2014, this exhibition is accompanied by live performances of the work of 20th-century composer John Cage and contemporary multimedia artist Glenn Kaino. Curated by independent curator, Larry List.

Strategy by Design: Games by Michael Graves

On view from May 8, 2014 to September 28, 2014, this exhibition focuses on the games designed by the Michael Graves Design Group. Curated by independent curator, Bradley Bailey.

A Memorable Life: A Glimpse into the Complex Mind of Bobby Fischer

On view from July 24, 2014 to June 7, 2015, this exhibition explores the career of Bobby Fischer, considered one of the greatest American chess players of all time.