Last Saturday we published GM Jonathan Rowson's review of The Art of Chess in the Saatchi Gallery in London. On Sunday, the second rest day of the FIDE Grand Prix, a number of grandmasters attended the exhibition and a photoshoot was done. With kind permission from the organizers of the tournament we publish the pictures below.

Sophie Leko, Peter Leko, Anish Giri, Wang Hao, Robert Fontaine and Veselin Topalov watching Amorphous Organic (2008) by Alastair Mackie

The Art of Chess began life with five sets exhibited at Somerset House, London in 2003. Since then the exhibition has grown in size and toured the world showing in leading museums and galleries in the USA, Russian Federation, Ireland, Iceland, Czech Republic, Italy, Australia and Switzerland. Currently The Art of Chess is on display at the Saatchi Gallery in London.

It brings together sixteen chess sets designed by some of the world's leading contemporary artists in celebration of the 'game of kings' and its continued relevance to the creative arts. These specially commissioned chess sets have been created by Maurizio Cattelan, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Oliver Clegg, Tracey Emin, Tom Friedman, Paul Fryer, Damien Hirst, Barbara Kruger, Yayoi Kusama, Paul McCarthy, Alastair Mackie, Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Matthew Ronay, Tunga, Gavin Turk and Rachel Whiteread. Each set is individually crafted in a wide variety of different materials including wood, porcelain, glass, amber and silver.

On Sunday a number of participants of the FIDE Grand Prix went to the exhibition and performed in a photo shoot by Fred Lucas. With kind permission from the organizers of the tournament we publish the pictures below. The photos below were taken by Fred Lucas and Anastasiya Karlovich and Fred Lucas, all courtesy of FIDE and the official website of the FIDE Grand Prix.

Wang Hao, Peter Leko, Leinier Dominguez, Veselin Topalov
and Anish Giri watching... | Photo © Anastasiya Karlovich 

...quite amazing chess sets | Photo © Anastasiya Karlovich

Wang Hao capivated by one of the works of art | Photo © Anastasiya Karlovich

Veselin Topalov and Peter Leko... | Photo © Fred Lucas

...mostly looking at such strange pieces | Photo © Anastasiya Karlovich

Posing behind one of the sets protected by glass | Photo © Fred Lucas

A peek inside a little room with one more chess set | Photo © Fred Lucas

Anish Giri posing | Photo © Fred Lucas

Posing in front of a video screen showing the Mechanical Turk | Photo © Fred Lucas

Photographer Fred Lucas in action... | Photo © Anastasiya Karlovich

...creating shots like this one | Photo © Fred Lucas