Duchamp created this pocket chess set in 1943, shortly after he fled from wartorn France to New York. Planning to produce and market hundreds of them to chess enthusiasts with the guarantee that the pinned pieces would remain in place during travel, he exhibited it as a work of art at The Imagery of Chess, an exhibition he coorganized in December 1944. After his nomadic expedition, sailing from southern France to New York and living with friends before finding his own studio, Duchamp was keenly aware of wartime and developed this reliable travel chess set as a solution for such exile.