This picture took approximately a year and a half to paint. It contains many themes, but central to the painting is the idea that politics are like a never-ending game of chess. The painting was exhibited in the Daily Mail Not The Turner Prize Exhibition in 2003 and was selected as one of the finalists in the exhibition.

The positioning of the chess pieces is according to a famous end-game study called the 'Saavedra Position'. Bouchard was told about the Saavedra Position by a friend, Brian Gosling, who plays chess and worked at Downside school when the picture was being painted: 'This is a very famous position of great classical beauty known throughout the chessworld.

"It has a very curious history with a number of twists and turns. In the early days it was known as the 'the Lasker position' because he enjoyed showing it to his chess fans. Although he never claimed he composed the study he did have a hand in its creation. Today we tend to call it 'the Saavedra position or theme'".(Brian Gosling: PRACTICAL CHESS ENDGAME or BRIAN'S CHESS FOLLY. 14/12/97)

Click on the painting to go back through the Surreal Spaces Exhibition.