Clash for the Crown: Celebrating Chess Champions

April 11, 2024-January 12, 2025

Clash for the Crown: Celebrating Chess Champions explores the histories of the World Chess Championship and Women’s World Chess Championship through a display of artifacts from the collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF), the International Chess Federation (FIDE); and loans from world chess champions and private lenders. The exhibition will begin with the 1886 World Chess Championship, held in New York City, Saint Louis, and New Orleans, won by Wilhelm Steinitz, and continue through the present world chess champion, Ding Liren. It will also track the history of the Women’s World Chess Championship from its first winner, the legendary Vera Menchik, to Ju Wenjun, the reigning women’s world chess champion. This exhibition is being held in connection with the 100th anniversary of the founding of FIDE.

Displays in the exhibition will include an area where visitors can view videos of many of the past world champions and women’s world champions and interactive stations where people can learn about past champions. Programming will include lectures about the history of the World Chess Championship, collaborations with FIDE celebrating their golden anniversary, and possible collaborations with current and past champions.

Highlights

Replica of the 2023 World Chess Championship Trophy won by Ding Liren, lent by FIDE
Amber chess set once owned by World Chess Champion Mikhail Tal and is now owned by World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen
Chess set used in game 3 of the 1972 World Chess Championship
Women’s World Championship medal won by Women’s World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women’s World Chess Championship trophy won by Women’s World Chess Champion Susan Polgar (also the first woman to be inducted into both the U.S. and World Chess Halls of Fame) and dress and scarf worn by her at the closing ceremony of the competition
Tablecloth created by Martha Lasker (wife of World Chess Champion Emanuel Lasker) featuring the embroidered signatures of two world chess champions (Emanuel Lasker and Jose Raul Capablanca) as well as Women’s World Chess Champion Vera Menchik
The medal won by Nona Gaprindashvili in the 1975 Women’s World Chess Championship
A signed first-day cover from the 1984 Women’s World Chess Championship between Maia Chiburdanidze and Irina Levitina
Photos by famed photojournalist Harry Benson CBE from the 2018 World Chess Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana and the 1972 World Chess Championship
Artwork by LeRoy Neiman depicting the 1972 World Chess Championship
Videos from World Chess Championships
World Chess Championship medals lent by World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand
World Chess Championship trophies lent by World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen
Never-before-exhibited video related to famed American World Chess Champion, Bobby Fischer
Prototype of the table used in 1978 World Chess Championship created by Cesar Iligan
Score sheets from numerous World Championships and Women’s World Championships lent by FIDE