Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) is widely regarded as the most accomplished chess-playing painter in the history of Western art.
So good was he, in fact, that in the French Championship (in 1924) he scored real results against some of the world’s chess playing sub-top of the 1920s and 1930s.
Duchamp at that time stated: “while all artists are not chess players, all chess players are artists.”
The Art of Chess by Francis Naumann, Bradley Bailey and Jennifer Shahade focuses on Duchamp’s artistic life as a chess player and his chess life as an artist.
Ms. Shahade paid a visit to The Mechanics Institute when it was published few years ago, and signed my copy: “Play Chess Like Duchamp!”
As the author of “Play Chess Like a Girl,” and “Chess Bitch,” she has quite a devoted following in the Ferry community.
We watched with interest a hotly-contested match on a voyage not so long ago. Meanwhile, other passengers may have been competing remotely with their PDAs.
The Art of Chess and the art of ferry commuting will endure through the Pandemic, and will share a common resurgent destiny when the recovery is near.