Game Plan: The Strategy of Chess & Sports

Game Plan: The Strategy of Chess & Sports is open at the World Chess Hall of Fame & Galleries in St. Louis, and it's a long run—it opened May 7, 2026, and stays through April 4, 2027. The exhibition is curated by Shannon Bailey and Emily Allred, and it spreads across three galleries: the Hall of Legends, Gateway to Great Sports, and the Fan Zone. The whole thing is built around the connection between chess and sports, looking at how strategy, discipline, preparation, and competitive spirit are the same whether you're playing on a board or on a field.

The Hall of Legends focuses on elite figures who've bridged both worlds, and it brings in scientific studies on the brain, cognition, and performance to back up the comparison. Gateway to Great Sports keeps things local, grounding the show in St. Louis and Missouri and crediting U.S. Chess Hall of Fame inductees Dr. Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield and Rex Sinquefield for the state's outsized influence in the chess world. The Fan Zone is the hands-on part, with sports-themed chess sets, immersive VR and AR experiences, and playful variants like Hula Chess.

There's a lot of memorabilia on display. You'll see a game-used bat Joey Votto gave to Garry Kasparov, hockey gear from Robert Thomas, chessboxing artifacts, St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame memorabilia, and signed items from Wayne Gretzky. It also touches on emerging hybrid sports like chess diving and chess wrestling, and chess-based performance training developed by Poison Pawn founder Seth Makowsky. The exhibition runs for a full year to cover all sports and their respective seasons.

Admission is always free and open to the public. The galleries are open daily from noon to 5 PM, so you can drop in whenever fits your schedule.