By Leslie Albrecht
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER WEST SIDE — Chess games usually involve two people hunched over a board full of pint-sized pieces, but in Riverside Park on Wednesday, the game was super-sized.
Teams of people moved themselves across a 15-foot board at the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument at 89th and Riverside Drive, taking turns as rooks, pawns, kings and queens.
Akeem Castillo, a sports and recreation intern with the parks department, said letting players move around the board themselves made the game more appealing to people who may not have the attention span for regular chess.
"I thought if we had a life-sized game it would spark a different kind of interest in chess," Castillo said.
The game was more boisterous than your usual chess match. Instead of silently strategizing, players vocalized their moves.
"We're chasing down that bishop like he's alone in the woods," shouted Zhen Heinemann, director of programming for Riverside Park.
The players included 10-year-old Don Drew of Astoria, who was a rook in one game. He declared human chess better than regular chess because he liked moving around the board.
Some of the players were seasoned chess veterans. Michael Ackerman, 8, is on the chess team at P.S. 166, which won a national championship for its age group in Atlanta.
Ackerman said playing with humans instead of pieces was more difficult. It's harder to strategize when you can't see the entire board, he said. There's also more room for human error, he noted.
"It's harder because you play with other players," Ackerman said. "If they do a wrong move, it's like, too late."
The game was one of many free events Riverside Park will host this summer, including tai chi at the Soldiers' and Sailors' monument and trivia night at Hudson Beach Cafe.
