U.S. & World History – Easter Island lies about 2000 miles west of the coast of Chile. The statues that made Easter Island famous were created around 475 A.D., and are as high as a three-story building weighing around 60 tons. The reason why they were carved remained a mystery, until a pilot flew over the island and noticed that the statues were on 10′ x10′ black and white squares. The pilot speculated that the statues were pieces of a chess game and later had it confirmed by many of the natives. The natives also told him that, according to legend, the man with the second move always the match, because the man with the first move would always concede the game… complaining of a hernia.