Playing Big Chess in the Realm of Angels

by Kevin Cummings, Messenger Staff Writer
A flock of chimney swifts sweep the sky above the chess board as dusk approaches—occasionally one of them darts into the Lemon Fair’s chimney.

Freddy Saussy watches the swifts’ frenzy as his opponent, Charles Whitmer, studies the three-foot high chess pieces and ponders his strategy.

Big chess, with oversized plastic pieces weighted with sand bags that sometimes require two hands to move, is an event that occurs every Wednesday evening at Angel Park in Sewanee. The set belongs to Charles, who has a vision of Sewanee becoming “the destination for big chess” in the world. He imagines big chess boards at different points on the Domain.

“That is a mighty exposed king there,” Charles chides Freddy after a series of moves. “But he’s got space. I like space,” Freddy laughs. “That’s the only rationale I can come up with to why he’s exposed there.”

Charles discovered the big chess set at an antiques store in Cowan, and it called to him, not unlike the “needful things” from Stephen King’s novel. “I had an ‘I’ve got to have that’ feeling stronger than I’ve had in a long time,” Charles says. “I thought, ‘If they want my kidney they can have it, or I can pawn my (wedding) ring.’” 

Later, Charles’ parents tell him about a picture of when Charles was 3 years old, hugging a giant queen chess piece in Finland. “Apparently this (fascination) has been buried deep in my psyche for 40 years,” he says.

Charles didn’t offer any vital organs or the symbol of his vows to his wife Kelly Whitmer, a Sewanee history professor. He did strike a deal to make payments on the set and a few months later he hauled it up the Mountain in the back of his pickup truck. While parked on University Avenue, a couple of log cabin assemblers from Kentucky took an interest and started pulling the pieces out of the truck.

“Can we play with these?” they asked when Charles returned to his truck.

“I was just planning on taking it home and playing in the backyard,” Charles recalls. “Then some kid started showing them how to play.” Thus, Wednesday evening big chess was born.

Stephen Carter, a local handyman, climbs the steps to Angel Park to watch the Saussy–Whitmer match. He tells them they’ve got the board set up all wrong, “white always on right and the Queen takes her color.” 

A little later, Tom Phelps stops by the match. He is a Sewanee resident and a physician in Tullahoma who is a sleep disorder specialist.

“Chess is really good because the brain can relax for a moment while it’s working,” Tom comments.

Freddy started strong and a handful of Charles’ captured pieces sit along the Angel Park wall, but now Charles is coming back and decorates his side of the wall with two white pawns and a rook.

“Big chess has sort of a “Wee!” factor that’s missing from regular chess,” Charles says.

The knights waiting patiently all have goofy grins on their faces, maybe because Charles complains that the grease from the hamburger he’s eating makes it hard to move the pieces.

Freddy totes a captured pawn with two hands and walks it from the board to the wall of death. A donation jar also perches on the wall, stuffed with greenbacks that Charles hopes will eventually grow to be enough to purchase a 5-foot-tall community chess set.

Tom has left, but Susan Holmes of Sewanee arrives with her two black Labrador retrievers on leashes. One of the puppies runs around the board and its leash hits a rook but the stately castle barely budges. Susan asks Charles if he’ll watch the dogs while she places an order at the Blue Chair across the street. With one black lab in his arms, and Carter watching the other puppy, Charles needs help.

“Can you kill your own guy for me?” he asks Freddy. Freddy captures his own pawn. 

Darkness has fallen. Someone utters checkmate and Freddy is finally victorious. He also wins the next match. A small knot of brew-bolstered onlookers have gathered; Freddy and theology student Paul Schutz play to a stalemate.

With the hour late, the small but hearty team of men load big chess back into Charles’ truck. Any resolutions or revenge matches will have to wait until next Wednesday, when Angel Park hosts another clash between two armies.