Contested Ground takes the pieces off a chess board and shows what is left: who controls each square.

For every square, it counts how many pieces from each side could attack or defend it, plus the piece standing there. Blue marks the squares White holds and orange the squares Black holds, and the deeper the color, the bigger the margin. Each king is a small glow that dims as the other side closes in.

Played through a whole game, the board reads like a map of territory changing hands. The collection runs from Anderssen’s Immortal Game in 1851 to the 2024 World Championship, with every major opening represented. You can browse by opening or by player, or just let it play.

The images here show the Game of the Century at the moment Fischer gave up his queen, the Immortal Game near its finish, and Kasparov’s 1999 win over Topalov with the pieces drawn in faintly.

See it at chess.hive-mind.com.