When Strategy Meets Elegance: A Chess Set Like No Other
Chess thrives on strategy: on the art of thinking several moves ahead, staying patient, and knowing exactly how the pieces must work together at the crucial moment. Not all that different from equestrian sports, where horse and rider only achieve peak performance when every movement aligns and harmony prevails.
That same blend of precision and partnership can be felt at the Chair for Computer Graphics, Geometry, and Multimedia at RWTH Aachen University, where a chess set is taking shape that is as unusual as the event it is being created for. Under the direction of Prof. Leif Kobbelt, Director of JARA-CSD, chess pieces are being developed that stand an impressive 85 to 140 centimeters tall, and each one takes the form of a horse. Every figure carries its own personality, tailored to its role on the chessboard.
The queen wears a stylish hat, the pawn shows up in overalls with a wild mane, and the bishop sports a number on his chest like an athlete. They look as if they’ve just stepped out of a training break, waiting for their next “match”, though not on an arena, but on a chessboard.
A Request from City Hall: A Project for the 2026 World Equestrian Games
The spark for this extraordinary idea came from a request to Prof. Kobbelt from Aachen City Hall. The occasion is the 2026 World Equestrian Games, which will transform Aachen into a global hub of equestrian sport. As part of a wide-ranging program of events, an oversized chess set will be installed on the Katschhof square. The towering horse-shaped pieces for this installation are now being produced in Kobbelt’s lab.
When the inquiry arrived, Kobbelt didn’t have to think twice. Printing objects of this size, he explains, is certainly a challenge, but one that his team was excited to take on. Typically, the researchers work with much smaller models. But here, it’s all about developing new strategies and pushing boundaries, a bit like chess and equestrian sports themselves.
Further information is available on the website of RWTH Aachen University: https://www.rwth-aachen.de/go/id/brftnn#aaaaaaaaabrftoh (german)