It’s very rare that I write about paintings on this blog. But it’s far rarer even that I write about a sculpture. In fact, I’ve done so only once before. That time, it was about a sculpture by an obscure local artist in a small Dutch village, in which the position carries important historic meaning. This time, it’s in Cleveland, by a sculptor with a long wikipedia page. How about the position? Does it have historical meaning? Does it have any meaning at all? Let’s find out!
There are many pictures of this statue on the internet, and some of those show the board very clearly. As a consequence, it was a mere triviality to give a perfectly accurate reconstruction of the position: 1
There are only two possible previous moves: either Qb1-a2+ or Rd5-d1+. The former would be rather to argue for, as white would have had the obvious and immediately winning alternative Rxe1. The latter, however, would have been by far the best move in the position. It is also, perhaps, the sort of move that one might have overlooked in one’s calculations, which would explain the despondent look of the sculpted man.
And this reveals the true purpose of this sculpture. It’s like those boards with a hole cut out, that you can find at touristic sites, which let you take a picture with your head in the place of the girl with the pearl earring. By taking place on the bench opposite this statue, you can pretend you have gotten a brilliant position just by yourself.
Realism: 4/52 This position doesn’t seem ridiculous, which is already good. Still, some slightly weird things must have happened. If white’s last move really was Rd1+, what did black play before that?
Probable winner: White is much better. But perhaps the real winner is the city of Cleveland, which joins a very select group of places with chess statues.3
1. [The winner is, of course, this diagram editor.] ↩
2. [The winner takes it almost all.] ↩
3. [As far as I know, the list consists of: Paris, Cleveland, and IJzendijke.] ↩