Chess table from the 17th Chess Olympiad in Havana

Created for the 1966 Havana, Cuba, Chess Olympiad, this table and chairs have multiple features designed for the comfort of players, including leather armrests and spaces to store belongings. The Havana organizers made special efforts to make this one of the best Olympiads in history. In a December 1966 article in Chess Life, U.S. team member Larry Evans noted that it was the “biggest, best organized, and best run to date” and that organizers reportedly spent 1.3 million pesos on the event. It is unknown how many tables were made, but International Master (IM) John Donaldson has estimated 104-120. After the Olympiad ended, organizers sent tables to Board One players and important FIDE officials around the world. Fred Cramer, then Zonal President for the United States, received this one. The chess set displays a position from Grandmaster Bobby Fischer’s 1966 Olympiad game against IM Jacek Bednarski, which Fischer included in his book My 60 Memorable Games (1969).