Turkey: Micro-sculptor’s chess set small as thumbtack

AYDIN, Turkey

A Turkish micro-sculptor created a ceramic chess set on a board measuring 9 by 9 milimeters, asserting it to be two times smaller than the set of current Guinness World Record's holder.

Necati Korkmaz told Anadolu Agency that he worked around six hours every day in the last six months to finish his tiny chess set.

“From time to time, I was very tired but it is a great pleasure to see the work of art finished,” Kormaz said.

“I prepared a really usable micro chess set.”

The details of the chess set can only be seen under a microscope and it is played with special sticks. The chess set is on a board measuring 9mm by 9mm, and the pieces are between 1,5 mm and 3mm.

Korkmaz wants to apply to Guinness World Records, the global authority on record-breaking achievement, to register his mini chess set.

“The set consists of 32 pieces built on a board of about 9 mm by 9 mm,” he said, adding the set of the current world record holder US-based artist Ara Ghazaryan measures 15.3 by 15.3 mm.

“It is almost two times bigger than ours,” Korkmaz said. “We want to beat this record and bring it to Turkey.”

The Turkish sculptor’s more than 40 works which can only be seen via a magnifying glass or a microscope are exhibited at Necati Korkmaz Micro Miniatur Art Center and Exhibition Area in Kusadasi, Aydin on Turkey’s Aegean coast.

Among his artworks are a 2mm-doctor sculpture on a syringe needle to raise awareness on medical staff fighting against the novel coronavirus as well as a prayer bead with 99 names of God written on it which is made of fig seeds.