Chess grandmasters break the rules to call attention to racial discrimination
Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri play a match where black can make the first move
Editor's Pick
Rules are made to be broken.
In modern chess, white always goes first, which gives that player an advantage over their opponent, who plays black. But chess grandmaster and four-time chess world champion Magnus Carlsen is flipping the board for the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Along with fellow grandmaster Anish Giri, the pair are breaking the game’s first rule and letting black make the first move, to symbolize how color shouldn’t determine who gets a leg up. Carlsen and Giri played a game, with Carlsen moving a black pawn first, and are encouraging others to do the same through Carlsen’s chess app company Play Magnus. For one day, players can choose which side goes first.
The campaign from BBDO Düsseldorf was created for ICCAR, UNESCO’s International Coalition of Inclusive and Sustainable Cities. In addition to a short film running on social media at the campaign hub, moveforequality.com, the game site chess24.com is also hosting a “Banter Blitz Marathon” where grandmasters play against amateurs who play black first.
Credits
- Date
- Mar 22, 2019
- Client :
- Unesco
- Agency :
- BBDO-Dusseldorf
- Chief Creative Officer :
- Till Diestel
- Creative Managing Director :
- Kristoffer Heilemann
- Managing Director :
- Cornelius Kölblin
- Creative Director :
- Rod Henriques
- Creative Director :
- Michael Pluckhahn
- Senior Art Director :
- Ailton Henriques
- Senior Copywriter :
- Guilherme Nesti
- Junior Art Director :
- Anina Waesche
- Junior Copywriter :
- Henrik van Laak
- Client Service Director :
- Simon Stitz
- Digital Account Executive :
- Jan Kronies
- Head of Strategic Planning :
- Ralf Sieke
- Creative Technologist :
- Martin Boeing-Messing
- Production Company :
- Craftwork
- Music/Sound Company :
- DaHouse Audio
- Camera Department :
- Kamera Rental
- Camera Operator/Gaffer :
- Jorgen Werner
- Camera Operator Assistant :
- Lars Pettersen
- Chief Technician :
- Fabian Lopez
- Photographer :
- Jan Kronies
- CGI/Post-Production Company :
- Fuze Image
- Creative Director :
- Daniel Klock
- Creative Director :
- Marcio Bueno
- Head of Post-Production :
- Cauê Andrade
- 3D Generalist :
- Leandro Mendonça
- PR :
- Emanate
- Senior Consultant :
- Stefan Rybkowski
- Junior Consultant :
- Fabienne Guetzkow
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