Moscow, Russia — Mayors of 86 global and regional cities around the world got a surprise gift for the International Chess Day on Friday, July 20 – a competition chess set, with a note from Vladimir Palikhata, President of the Moscow Chess Federation (MCF), extolling the virtues and benefits of chess – “a wise and ancient game,” which, according to the release, can “help reduce stress associated with managing a city” and “bring pleasure.”

Vladimir Palikhata decided to use this opportunity to reach out to the chief administrators of sister cities of Moscow, including London, Chicago, Vienna, Tokyo, and Santiago, to establish and reinforce relations with the chess-playing community in these cities.

“It gives me pleasure to congratulate Mayors of so many cities on our holiday,” said Palikhata. “I know that some are already very good players. Others may yet develop an interest in the game.”

First VP of the MCF Nikita Kim added that the gift chess sets were “one of several actions we are planning to strengthen MCF partnership relations overseas.” He emphasized that “Vladimir Palikhata sees developing MCF’s relations with international partners as very important.”

Russian capital has 85 sister cities; Paris is Moscow’s “partner city”.  Moscow Chess Federation, established in 1970, aims to develop and popularize chess in the Russian capital. It is headed by Vladimir Palikhata, successful Russian businessman and philanthropist. Under Palikhata’s watch, the Federation underwent rebranding, announced major chess tournaments and nurtured three new chess champions.

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St. Louis, U.S.A. – The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (CCSCSL) unveiled a Guinness World Record– a chess piece that stands at 14 feet, 6 inches tall and is 6 feet wide at the base. The king piece is based on the “Championship Staunton” design and made of layers of 3/4 inch exterior grade plywood and is 45 times larger than a standard chess piece. This new record beat the previous record, set in 2003, by one foot, 5 inches.

The Club, in partnership with the World Chess Hall of Fame also located in Saint Louis, set the new record, helping to further cement the city’s reputation for being the hub of Chess in the United States. The piece was unveiled to kick off the 2012 U.S. and Women’s Chess Championships, which take place May 8 through May 20.

This is the fourth year in a row the Club has hosted the tournaments. As part of the unveiling and tournament kickoff, Saint Louis Mayor Francis G. Slay issued an official proclamation, declaring Saint Louis the “Gateway to Chess.”

“The Saint Louis Arch was built to commemorate Saint Louis as the gateway to the west,” said CCSCSL Executive Director Tony Rich. “This record-breaking chess piece is meant to celebrate another distinction for our city. Saint Louis has truly become a center of chess culture, and this larger-than-life chess piece serves as a striking monument to honor our city’s involvement in the game.”

The piece was built by R.G. Ross Construction, located in Saint Louis, and has been officially approved by Guinness as an official world record. Some statistics about the World’s Largest Chess Piece include:

• The piece took 18 days to construct and weighs more than 2,200 pounds
• The piece is taller than a professional basketball hoop (10 ft.), an average size female giraffe (14 ft.) and the Statue of Liberty’s fingernail (13 ft.)
• If the piece were to be used during a chess game, the board would need to be 72 feet x 72 feet, with each square being 9 feet x 9 feet, the board would be big enough to hold 392 bathtubs or nine school buses.

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