Chess Slugfest

This photo was tagged 'Steampunk' and 'Pioneer Square, Seattle'. I can guess what Pioneer Square means, but Steampunk? And what's the connection with Jules Verne?

Jules Verne's Birthday 2014 © Flickr user helix90 under Creative Commons.

Steampunk [Wikipedia]:-

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction that typically features steam-powered machinery, especially in a setting inspired by industrialised Western civilization during the 19th century. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the 19th century's British Victorian era or American "Wild West", in a post-apocalyptic future during which steam power has regained mainstream use, or in a fantasy world that similarly employs steam power.

Steampunk perhaps most recognisably features anachronistic technologies or retro-futuristic inventions as people in the 19th century might have envisioned them, and is likewise rooted in the era's perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, and art. Such technology may include fictional machines like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne [...]

Now I get it, but slugging it out with giant chess pieces will have me baffled forever.