Chess Among the Daffodils

With sunny days leading to warm afternoons, the lure of nature and the great outdoors is just too much for many chess players. I'm a great nature lover myself and just can't resist the chance to see the fleeting wonder of wildflowers racing to beat the trees to the sunshine. But warm weather isn't incompatible with chess!

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In New York's Central Park sits a structure called the Chess and Checkers House just for playing the royal game. Tables are found inside and out for setting up a board. At Washington Square Park, even Hikaru Nakamura is looking for action.



Not to be outdone, Los Angeles also features chess in its famous MacArthur's Park, though you might want to note which gang territory the park is in. Orange County in California is already celebrating this great chess weather with a Chess in the Park event this weekend. Glendale even has a park specially designed just for playing chess. And not to be outdone, Santa Monica has a park with permanent chess tables on the beach.

Kids in the windy city invaded Hyde/Nichols Park last year for some outdoor woodpushing.

Readers of the Daily Dirt Chess Blog have created this list of places to play chess outdoors.

In China, the native chess version called Xiang Qi is played outdoors.

In Elizabethtown, Kentucky the place to be on a sunny day is at Panera Bread playing chess on the cafe's tables out front. Join us on Saturday at 10am. The coffee is fine, the chess is fun, and the weather should be great!

Or for an even larger venue, why not try a favorite spot at Freeman Lake Park. Anybody up for a game?