3D Gallery
Fourteen Centuries on a Chessboard
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Fourteen Centuries on a Chessboard is a 3D virtual gallery on MyGallery3D, a walkable online exhibition of 13 works. Step inside and explore it in your browser: no app, no headset.
Walk through this 3D virtual museum of chess in your browser. The board in front of you is a fossil of an army.
Chess began in India in the 7th century CE as chaturanga, meaning four divisions of the military: infantry, cavalry, elephantry, chariotry. Those four became the pawn, the knight, the bishop and the rook. In Persia players called Shāh Māt!, the king is helpless, when the king was attacked and could not escape. That cry survived every translation and every border. You still say it: checkmate.
In 1831 a hoard of 94 objects was found on the Isle of Lewis: 78 chess pieces, 14 tablemen and a belt buckle, most carved from walrus ivory and made around 1150 to 1200 AD. The kings sit on thrones. The queens hold their right hands to their faces. Four of the rooks are berserkers, biting their shields.
The Moors rendered shatranj as shaṭerej, which gave rise to the Spanish ajedrez and the Portuguese xadrez. Everywhere else in Europe the game took its name from the Persian word for king, shāh: scacchi in Italian, échecs in French, Schach in German, szachy in Polish, schack in Swedish. Russia calls it shakhmaty, literally checkmates. The game is named, everywhere, after a king in trouble.
In 1997 an IBM supercomputer beat Garry Kasparov, then the world chess champion, in the Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov match. Computer analysis had begun in the 1970s with the first programmed chess games on the market. It now far surpasses any human player and is freely available, and it has become an ordinary part of professional preparation.
A detailed view of wooden pieces arranged for play. The image captures chess as both tactical pursuit and timeless material practice.
Photograph by Matthew Twin, via Pexels.
An intricately sculpted vintage chess set in a domestic space. The photograph suggests chess as both heirloom and lived companion.
Photograph by Joel Zar, via Pexels.
Ornate silver pieces catch artistic light on the board. The photograph emphasizes the material refinement of chess across time.
Photograph by K., via Pexels.
Wooden pieces in close detail, emphasizing strategy and attention. The image grounds chess in the specific moment of deliberation.
Photograph by Doğan Alpaslan Demir, via Pexels.
Wooden pieces rest on a distinctively patterned board. The photograph documents the local materials and designs that have shaped chess across different regions.
Photograph by Muhammed İKİTEPE, via Pexels.
A wooden board holds the eternal contrast of the game. This photograph captures the simplicity at the heart of chess, across centuries.
Photograph by Ron Lach, via Pexels.
A close-up study of a single chess piece. The knight emerges in warm tones, inviting us to consider how individual pieces carry meaning across centuries of play.
Photograph by Yusuf Gündüz, via Pexels.
Ornate chess pieces carved to depict historical figures. The craftsmanship suggests how chess has long served as a mirror for the societies that shaped it.
Photograph by Engin Akyurt, via Pexels.
Gold and silver pieces gleam against wood. This image speaks to chess as both intellectual pursuit and object of luxury.
Photograph by UMUT 🆁🅰🆆, via Pexels.
The queen commands attention in monochrome. This close study reveals how a single piece can embody both strategic power and artistic ambition.
Photograph by Theia Sight, via Pexels.
Intricately carved pieces evoking a medieval aesthetic. The craftsmanship speaks to chess as an ancient form, still present in how we make and hold it.
Photograph by Van3ssa 🕊️peace 💕 love🕊️, via Pexels.
Carved chess pieces arrest the eye with their detailed craftsmanship. The photograph captures how design and gameplay have been inseparable across centuries.
Photograph by Engin Akyurt, via Pexels.
Intricate medieval styling adorns these wooden pieces. The image shows one interpretation of how chess pieces have been imagined and crafted through time.
Photograph by Mike Art 🎥 Visual Creator | Photography and Video 📸, via Pexels.
