English Chess Forum

Spotted in the Barbican Centre bookshop in London:


I don't know exactly why it was there, but it was interesting that the board is £250 and the chess pieces are £400. I totally forgot to find the "Chess Players" book that was downstairs in the other part of the bookshop.

Anyway, board is the right way round. I suspect it is an actual game position and looks very familiar, but cannot quite place it. Spookily, it might have been mentioned on the forum recently.

Maybe a chess player who reads this forum works at the Barbican Centre??

4q2k/2n1n3/4PN1p/p1p5/P1Pp1Q1P/1P6/6P1/6K1

It is possible I have got the position wrong (one of the pawns might be a bishop), or it was set up wrong (from a diagram in the book?).

Does anyone recognise it?

Is the picture on the book Steve McQueen in The Thomas Crown Affair?

I think the pieces you think are knights are actually rooks (knights are curly things, rooks are blocks):
4q2k/2r1r3/4PR1p/p1p5/P1Pp1Q1P/1P6/6P1/6K1

This might be a puzzle in which White's first move (1. Qf4) has been played:
4q2k/2r1r3/4PR1p/p1p5/P1BpQ2P/1P6/6P1/6K1 w - - 0 1
White to move and mate in 8.

I found this position / puzzle on this github repository:
https://github.com/vondele/matetrack/tree/master

The final position of Fischer - Spassky game 6

4q2k/2r1r3/4PR1p/p1p5/P1Bp1Q1P/1P6/6P1/6K1 b - - 4 41

"Is the picture on the book Steve McQueen in The Thomas Crown Affair?"

Yes - the most inspiring but inaccurate depiction of chess ever. Imagine complaining to the arbiter about Faye Dunaway?

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 26, 2025 9:35 am

"Is the picture on the book Steve McQueen in The Thomas Crown Affair?"

Yes - the most inspiring but inaccurate depiction of chess ever. Imagine complaining to the arbiter about Faye Dunaway?

It wasn't about the chess Kevin

Thanks all. Should have taken more care over trying to work out what geometric shapes were which pieces...

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 26, 2025 12:21 pm

Thanks all. Should have taken more care over trying to work out what geometric shapes were which pieces...

The shop doesn't tell you much about which piece is which, but it does say "He based the form of the Knight on a found object in his studio, the head scroll of a violin."

Heights of each piece are given though, so that's enough to work out which shape is which piece, except for the king and queen, which are the same height.