In last year’s Live Chess tournament, the Black Kingdom fell under control of the White Kingdom — which is to say, the white pieces won. Now a strong young warrior has found the lost crown of the Black Kingdom and is setting out to defeat the White King and win back his kingdom’s lands.
It’s a rather unusual chess game, says event coordinator Drew Serres. Not only does the game have a story, but it will also be acted out by students in black and white costumes on a giant chess board.
“Live chess is a chess game where all the pieces are played by people, sort of like Harry Potter chess,” Serres said. “There is one game of chess being played, and whenever players make a move on their smaller board, it’s acted out on the larger board.”
This year’s Live Chess game will be held on Sunday, May 16 at 3 p.m. in the LLC Performance Hall. Admission is free.
Serres, a resident assistant, organized the first Live Chess game last year for his residence hall. Many of his residents from last year play chess, as does Serres, who played competitively in high school. This year, Serres, his former residents and some of his fellow RAs are expanding the event and making it more audience-friendly with the support of University Housing.
“Last year was fun,” Serres said. “But sometimes, when people were just making moves and standing there for an hour, it got a little boring. This year we’re trying to make it more engaging and active for the audience.”
To that end, senior Chris Cunningham filmed and edited a trailer for the event, which can be viewed on YouTube under “Live Chess 2010.” Cunningham, who also filmed other videos that will be shown during the game, played the victorious white king last year.
“Last year was a lot of fun,” Cunningham said. “I got to make passionate speeches to motivate my troops. I would go around and hand out cookies to people who killed other chess pieces.”
Two of Serres’ former residents, Jade Snelling and Anthony Martin, will play a standard chess game while more than 20 students act out the game on the life-sized board. Sophomore Kelsey Tull Stilson acted in last year’s Live Chess game. She helped organize this year’s event and will be playing a knight.
“People get really into it when we actually start,” Stilson said. “We do chants at each other,
and whenever you fight somebody, you have to die dramatically. The Live Chess is for everyone to really get involved and make it epic.”
Serres promised plenty of opportunities for audience members to interact with the players and hinted that the dead Black King might make an appearance at this year’s Live Chess.
“We’re going to find ways to bring back old characters and have them provide motivational speeches to get people thinking about their next moves,” Serres said.
Serres, Cunningham, Stilson and the other Live Chess organizers have been
working on the event since the beginning of the term, making black and white costumes with matching swords and shields. Serres hopes that the costumes, story line and interactive nature of Live Chess will appeal to audience members who don’t play chess.
“Normally, you’d just see people sitting there, playing a few moves here and there,” Serres said. “This is a really active form of chess — people are getting up, sword fighting and running around.”
Even Serres doesn’t know if the Black Kingdom will return or stay under the control of the White Kingdom. That all depends on the outcome of Sunday’s game, and he said that’s what sets Live Chess apart from other events.
“Live Chess is not something you’re going to do every day. It’s really original and interesting because you’re involved with the making of the event and how it turns out,” Serres said.

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