The game
The moves
In the first edition, in 1923, the Chess Game of Marostica was played by two champions from the local Chess Club, but it was immediately evident that the performance required a more theatrical approach and timing; so in 1954, the organisers decided to take their inspiration from some of the finest matches in international chess history, re-enacted in Piazza Castello using living chess pieces.
The chessboard
With a size and splendour unrivalled worldwide, the chessboard where the Chess Game of Marostica takes place was created in 1954, when the performance resumed after the interruption imposed by Fascism and by WWII. The piazza is surrounded by a black basalt frame measuring 16 metres at the side, and has 64 squares, each measuring 4 square metres, made from red and biancone di Asiago marble.
The stage
The performance takes place on the “liston” of the piazza, a raised paved area created by the Venetians in 1462 to host the trading activities and city strolls typical of the Venetian way of life. The piazza is marked off by Palazzo del Doglione, once the chancellery and the armoury of Marostica, and by a double row of Gothic buildings with porticoes. The south end of the “liston” is embellished by the coat of arms of the Scaliger family, and the north by a number of fifteenth-century elements: a column topped with a Lion of St. Mark , a standard and a well.
The backdrop
The ancient façade of the Lower Castle forms an extraordinary backdrop to the performance, rendered even more striking by the stage decorations. Flying on the keep and the corner towers are the standards of the friend cities, and running in line under the standards are the war shields in vibrant colours, while elegant red velvet drapes crown the base of the lit windows. Above it all reigns the white lion of Venice.
The games
THE IMMORTAL GAME, Anderssen
London 1851
London 1851
In a break during the first international chess tournament, the German mathematician Adolf Anderssen, destined to become the greatest chess player of his time, and the Estonian Lionel Kieseritzky, a professional chess player in Paris, took each other on in the restaurant. This memorable encounter is considered the finest demonstration of the romantic school of chess, with Anderssen sacrificing both rooks and queen to deliver a checkmate with the three minor pieces remaining.
THE OPERA GAME, Morphy
Paris 1858
Paris 1858
"A steel blade cutting a silk cushion": this is the image used to explain the elegant logic applied by the US chess master Paul Morphy during a game played on the stage of an opera house in Paris against the German nobleman Karl II, Duke of di Brunswick and the French aristocrat Count Isouard de Vauvenargues, in which Morphy voluntarily sacrificed the queen to disorient his adversaries, before immediately turning his fortunes around and winning the encounter.
MORPHYESQUE MINIATURE by Nimzowitsch
St. Petersburg 1914
St. Petersburg 1914
This encounter was between the Lithuanian railway engineer Semyon Alapin and the Latvian and champion of Russia Aron Nimzowitsch, and put into practice the latter’s unconventional theory of “First restrain, then blockade, finally destroy!”, thus inviting the opponent to neglect their own development, capture pieces and keep the king in the centre. The result is an impressive strategic miniature, in which, move after move, Alapin’s pieces gradually become defenceless targets.
ADVENTURER, Pre’ Busnardo
Italy 570 AD
Italy 570 AD
This game was played against an unknown opponent in the eighth decade of the 16th century by the Jesuit Lorenzo Busnardo, native to Mussolente, although mistakenly believed for centuries to be of Spanish origin. Busnardo was one of the first Renaissance chess professionals, and one of the founders of the modern game. This encounter ended with an incredible pawn checkmate, for which he was tried for heresy by the Inquisition.
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