Chess Day at the Dali: Sold Out Simuls and Hula Chess

On March 29th, US Chess partnered with the Dalí Museum for Chess Day, a celebration of art, chess and community at the Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. I arrived in St. Pete's the night prior, still buzzing from the historic victory of Fabiano Caruana at the Candidates. Chess Day kicked off with a talk I prepared on the overlap between Marcel Duchamp's art and chess careers, inspired by the current show on display, Duchamp/Dalí. In the talk, I showed a video art installation partly inspired by Duchamp, hulachess, which I created with my husband Daniel Meirom back in 2009. Immediately after the presentation, I performed the piece with local hoop dancer and instructor, Abby Albaum, of Hoola Monsters. We even invited some audience members up to participate.  https://www.instagram.com/p/BhHhMDhFUAG/?taken-by=jenshahade https://www.instagram.com/p/BhC3JqSAzL-/?taken-by=missstairs Throughout the day, chess aficionados played casual games, with stunning photographs by David Llada on a loop in the background. Local actor Colby Boothman of Jurassic World, also a chess enthusiast, came out for the day's fun. https://twitter.com/ColbyBoothman/status/980241047707160576 The evening program featured three 20-board simuls, hosted by me, local master and coach Corey Acor and 11-year-old Class A player Anthony Gospidnov. https://twitter.com/carolbmeyer/status/979446595337977856 Carol Meyer said that the event surpassed her expectations and that she was inspired by the atmosphere, "(It was) very visually appealing - people were smiling, laughing & talking", and that the event was a good reminder that, "Chess doesn't always have to be serious." US Chess thanks Yvonne Marullier of the Dali, as well as event partners Hilton Downtown and the City of St. Petersburg.