Game of the Century, The

Connor Shafran

2 Players

Medium Concert Percussion

Instrumentation: • Chess board and pieces • 1 table • 2 chairs • Chess clock • Ticking analog clock (or loud metronome)

Creative, original, and just plain cool, this work for two percussionists by Connor Shafran recreates the famous chess match played in 1956 between Donald Byrne (White), and 13-year-old Bobby Fischer (Black) and dubbed The Game of the Century. In its musical rendering, The Game of the Century is performed by two players seated across from each other, a chess board between them, the ticking clock driving the piece as White and Black move exactly as Byrne and Fischer did in 1956, the rhythms coinciding with the flow and strategy. Theatrical yet graded only Medium in level, the players are aided by the extensive performance notes and visual diagrams of how the board should look at key points.

This piece comes as a professionally printed and bound score and includes individual parts in PDF format for printing or for tablet viewing.