Imagine using a next door neighbor as a pawn, while simultaneously capturing a brother playing a bishop and a mother, who is dressed as a queen.

Those who participated in the living chess game at the Baker Free Library in Bow were able to do just that.

“It’s a whole family event is what we are trying to make it,” said Jennifer Ericsson, the children’s librarian. “It’s not hard-core chess. It’s more like let’s have some fun here.”

On Nov. 2, a life-size chess board was set up in the lower level of the library, with 32 locals dressed up as chess pieces were moved around by two designated players from an elevated position.

Andrew Hollinger, 13, who plays chess with his parents in his Bow home, said living chess is more challenging.

“It’s more difficult than regular chess because there’s not an actual board to look at and you can’t always see where all the players are at all times,” he said.

Michael Sullivan of Portsmouth, a former librarian and chess instructor, coordinated the event.

“It’s a great way to sort of build up energy around chess and so it’s one of the things I like to do to promote the game,” said Sullivan. “Everybody thinks about chess as such a solitary game, just sitting in the corner for four hours, but this is what chess is more like. It’s fun. It’s active and it’s just the whole community coming together to have some fun.”

Ericsson said living chess has been depicted in many movies throughout the years, even as recently as the “Harry Potter” films.

“It’s just a fun family program,” Ericsson said. “There’s a lot of interest in town for chess and a lot of kids are really excited because most of them have seen ‘Harry Potter.’”

While the concept may have been popularized in modern times by “Harry Potter” and Mel Brooks’ “History of the World,” Sullivan said living chess dates back hundreds of years.

“It’s a long tradition going back to Elizabethan England, where it was a very popular game,” he said. “It used to be all the fashion in Europe, so it’s bringing back an old tradition.”

Because he enjoys teaching and promoting chess, Sullivan said living chess is a fun way for people to relate the game.

“Living chess is great because it’s such a great spectacle and you don’t have to know how to play to be part of it,” he said. “It’s a great way to recruit new players because they get to play the game and maybe learn it as well.”