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Italy Travel

Boardgame Travel: Pawns, Kings and Queens Gather in Italy

September 8, 2008 at 9:30 AM | 0 Comments

This week in the town of Marostica in Italy, a chess game will take place that is so much more civilized than the sport of chess boxing that we recently discovered.

Marostica, northwest of Venice, is home to the biannual Living Chess Game, when live people and animals adorned in medieval costumes play a game of chess on a giant board in front of the local castle. It's based on a tale of a love triangle from the 1400s when two men had to play chess to decide who would win the fair damsel.

These days there are no women at stake and it's more a matter of pure entertainment for the four thousand-plus spectators who crowd around the board. If you've seen it before, that doesn't matter--the script (and game play) changes every year. First pawn moves on September 12 with replays on September 13 and 14. If they don't get to checkmate too fast then it's bound to be a good night's entertainment.

Related Stories:
· Marostica Living Chess Game [WEG]
· Berlin Crowns the Chess Boxing Champ [Jaunted]

[Photo: liznorderg]