Before the Applause
1972, World Chess Championships; Reykjavik, Iceland.
In the heated tension during the Cold War, Soviet Boris Spassky faces American Bobby Fischer in a Cold War of their own. Boris plays his Tartakower defense strategy - a strategy that had never lost. Fischer, however, takes a risk against Spassky’s supposed impenetrable defense, playing the Queen’s Gambit for the first time in his life. And wins. Despite the seething hatred betwixt the two political, militaristic world superpowers at the time, Spassky joined the crowd in applauding Fischer’s genius. Fischer, filled with anti-soviet patriotism, was astounded by Spassky’s response, calling Spassky, “a true sportsman,” and the ice between these two individuals began to thaw.
Design and composition choices:
Name:
The painting’s name, “Before the Applause” and the painting itself are inspired by the moment before Fischer made his winning play (rook to F7) in Game 6 of the World Championship now known as “The Applause.”
Lighting:
The bulb is positioned such that the white rook casts a shadow onto F7 to foreshadow the winning move. Rook to F7 is indefensible, and Spassky resigns.
A warm light creates color harmony with the warm tones in the chess pieces and cloth.
Choice of equipment:
Staunton-style chess pieces and the board were chosen to reflect the same equipment style used in the world championship.
The cloth background was chosen to harmonize with the dark chess pieces. The focus is meant to be on the winning white rook, so the cloth color chosen is to help the white piece stand out more and the dark pieces to blend into the cloth.
Painting Style:
Three colors were used (+Titanium white) to create harmony: Cad Yellow Deep, Alizarin Crimson, French Ultramarine Blue.
To draw attention to the focal point:
I placed the lighting such that the contrast in the background cloth compared to the white rook was the highest in the painting.
I chose to leave out some pieces to give the rook’s shape the greatest definition compared to the rest of the painting.
I attempted to paint the remaining pieces more loosely to force the eye back to the rook.