List of famous amateur chess players
Encyclopedia
This is a list of skilled but non-professional chess players who were famous for some other reason, but whose life or work was significantly impacted by the game of chess.
- Film comedian Woody AllenWoody AllenWoody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
authored a comical epistolary short story entitled "The Gossage- Vardebedian Papers" which takes the form of a chess game via mail along with other exchanges. The two protagonists disagree on the correct position due to alleged lost mail. Both players eventually claim victory. Allen did himself play on occasion, and taught his stepson Moses Farrow how to play.
- Science fiction writer Isaac AsimovIsaac AsimovIsaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
devotes over a page of his autobiography to his hopeless lack of aptitude at chess. In spite of this, Asimov incorporated chess into his famous story Nightfall and his novel Pebble in the Sky.
- It is unknown if Swedish film director Ingmar BergmanIngmar BergmanErnst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
played chess himself. However, the scenes from his film The Seventh Seal in which the knight from the Crusades plays a game of chess with the figure of Death is arguably the most famous usage of chess in the entire history of cinema. After Bergman's death, the chess pieces used in the film (Bergman had kept them) were auctioned off at rather high prices. Among several historical anachronisms in the film, there is a chess history inaccuracy. In the time-period of the film, the Queen was not a particularly powerful piece, yet a turning point in the story is when Death captures the Knight's Queen. When Bergman died, more than one obituary stated that Bergman had lost his chess-game with Death.
- Mathematician and fantasy author Lewis CarrollLewis CarrollCharles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
wove chess extensively into his second "Alice" book Through the Looking Glass. Most of the characters are chess pieces participating in a game on a giant chess board in which each square is about one square mile in size. Similar chess games played with human pieces on enormous fields often occurred in in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The two Queens always run very fast and the Knight character is always falling off on one side of his horse, characteristics which imitate the moves of their respective pieces in a real chess game. Carroll also composed occasional chess problems.
- Silent screen comedian Charlie ChaplinCharlie ChaplinSir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
devotes two pages of his autobiography to playing chess, with particular focus on the time he was one of 20 Hollywood stars to play simultaneous chess against Sammy Reshevsky (then nine years old) at the Los Angeles Athletic Club in June 1921.
- Actor Humphrey BogartHumphrey BogartHumphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
was an excellent chess player, almost of master strengthChess masterA chess master is a chess player of such skill that he/she can usually beat chess experts, who themselves typically prevail against most amateurs. Among chess players, the term is often abbreviated to master, the meaning being clear from context....
. Before he made any money from acting, he would hustle players for dimes and quarters, playing in New York parks and at Coney Island. The chess scenes in Casablanca had not been in the original script, but were put in at his insistence. A chess position from one of his correspondence games appears in the movie, although the image is a little blurred. He achieved a drawDraw (chess)In chess, a draw is when a game ends in a tie. It is one of the possible outcomes of a game, along with a win for White and a win for Black . Usually, in tournaments a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.For the most part,...
in a simultaneous exhibitionSimultaneous exhibitionA simultaneous exhibition or simultaneous display is a board game exhibition in which one player plays multiple games at a time with a number of other players. Such an exhibition is often referred to simply as a "simul".In a regular simul, no chess clocks are used...
given in 1955 at Beverly Hills by the famous chess Grandmaster Samuel ReshevskySamuel ReshevskySamuel "Sammy" Herman Reshevsky was a famous chess prodigy and later a leading American chess Grandmaster...
and also played against George KoltanowskiGeorge KoltanowskiGeorge Koltanowski was a Belgian-born American chess player, promoter, and writer. He was informally known as "Kolty". Koltanowski set the world's blindfold record on 20 September 1937, in Edinburgh, by playing 34 chess games simultaneously while blindfolded, making headline news around the world...
in San Francisco in 1952 (Koltanowski played blindfoldedBlindfold chessBlindfold chess is a form of chess play wherein the players do not see the positions of the pieces or touch them. This forces players to maintain a mental model of the positions of the pieces...
but still won in 41 moves).
Bogart was a United States Chess FederationUnited States Chess FederationThe United States Chess Federation is a non-profit organization, the governing chess organization within the United States, and one of the federations of the FIDE. The USCF was founded in 1939 from the merger of two regional chess organizations, and grew gradually until 1972, when membership...
tournament director and active in the California State Chess Association, and a frequent visitor to the Hollywood chess club. The cover of the June–July 1945 issue of Chess ReviewChess ReviewChess Review is a U.S. chess magazine that was published from January 1933 until October 1969 . Until April 1941 it was called The Chess Review. Published in New York, it began on a schedule of at least ten issues a year but later became a monthly...
showed Bogart playing with Charles BoyerCharles BoyerCharles Boyer was a French actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found success in movies during the 1930s. His memorable performances were among the era's most highly praised romantic dramas,...
, as Lauren Bacall (who also played) looks on. In June 1945, in an interview in the magazine Silver ScreenSilver ScreenSilver Screen Cinemas was a multiplex cinema operator in Poland. In February 2008 it was announced that Silver Screen will merge with its rival Multikino. Since then all Silver Screen cinemas have been converted to Multikino brand, except a single one based in Łódź...
, when asked what things in life mattered most to him, he replied that chess was one of his main interests. He added that he played chess almost daily, especially between film shootings. He loved the game all his life.
- Marcel DuchampMarcel DuchampMarcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
for a while abandoned painting for chess. Prior to that time, his 1911 Portrait of Chess Players ({portrait de joueurs d'echecs) contained Cubist overlapping frames and multiple perspectives of his two brothers playing chess. He dropped painting in 1923, concentrating on chess and his strength became near master class. Duchamp can be seen, very briefly, playing chess with Man RayMan RayMan Ray , born Emmanuel Radnitzky, was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Perhaps best described simply as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal...
in the short film Entr'acte (1924) by Rene ClairRené ClairRené Clair born René-Lucien Chomette, was a French filmmaker.-Biography:He was born in Paris and grew up in the Les Halles quarter. He attended the Lycée Montaigne and the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. During World War I, he served as an ambulance driver. After the war, he started a career as a journalist...
. He designed the 1925 Poster for the Third French Chess Championship, and later became a chess journalist, writing weekly newspaper columns. While his contemporaries were achieving spectacular success with art, Duchamp observed, "I am still a victim of chess. It has all the beauty of art - and much more. It cannot be commercialized. Chess is much purer than art in its social position." Later he said "while not all artists are chess layers, all chess players are artists." Duchamp composed an enigmatic endgame chess problem in 1943, included in the announcement for Julian Lev's gallery exhibition "Through the Big End of the Opera Glass". It was printed on traslucent poper with the faitn inscription: "White to play and win". Grandmasters and endgame specialists have since grappled with the problem with most concluding that there is no solution. In 1968, Duchamp and John CageJohn CageJohn Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
appeared together at a concert entitled "Reunion", playing a a game of chess and composing Aleatoric music by triggering a series of photoelectric cells underneath the chess board.
- Mathematician Leonard Euler constructed an 8x8 square with each square containing one of the numbers from 1 to 64. This square was simultaneously a "magic square" (all the rows and columns adding up to the same sum) and a solution to the knight's move problem according to which all 64 of the squares of the chess board must be hit in a series of knight's moves. The square may be viewed here.
- American Founding Father and scientific experimenter Benjamin FranklinBenjamin FranklinDr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
was an avid chessChessChess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
player. He was playing chess by around 1733, making him the first chess player known by name in the American colonies. His essay on the "Morals of Chess" in Columbian magazine, in December 1786 is the second known writing on chess in America. This essay in praise of chess and prescribing a code of behavior for it has been widely reprinted and translated. He and a friend also used chess as a means of learning the Italian languageItalian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, which both were studying; the winner of each game between them had the right to assign a task, such as parts of the Italian grammar to be learned by heart, to be performed by the loser before their next meeting. Franklin was posthumously inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of FameWorld Chess Hall of FameThe World Chess Hall of Fame is a museum in St. Louis, Missouri dedicated to honoring achievements in the game of chess. It is run and organized by the United States Chess Trust, a charitable arm of the United States Chess Federation. Its past locations include New York, Washington D.C., and...
in 1999.
- Actor and novelist Stephen FryStephen FryStephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
both plays the game and includes a philosophical conversation about chess in his novel Revenge.
- Pope John Paul IIPope John Paul IIBlessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
was a chess enthusiast. While acting as a vicar for University students in Krakow, Poland, the young priest, then known as Karol Wojtyla, frequently played chess with other students. However, chess problems alleged to have been composed by him have generally proved to have been hoaxes.
- Film director Stanley KubrickStanley KubrickStanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
was an avid chess player. As a young man in New York, he hustled chess games in the streets for money. Chess plays a role in the plot of two of his films LolitaLolitaLolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first written in English and published in 1955 in Paris and 1958 in New York, and later translated by the author into Russian...
and 2001:A Space Odyssey. In LolitaLolitaLolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first written in English and published in 1955 in Paris and 1958 in New York, and later translated by the author into Russian...
, Professor Humbert plays chess with Lolita's mother, Charlotte Haze, and announces he will "take her queen" while he has designs on her daughter who is kissing him goodnight as he speaks. This scene is not in the source novel. In 2001:A Space Odyssey, the super-computer HAL 9000HAL 9000HAL 9000 is the antagonist in Arthur C. Clarke's science fiction Space Odyssey saga. HAL is an artificial intelligence that interacts with the astronaut crew of the Discovery One spacecraft, usually represented as a red television-camera eye found throughout the ship...
defeats astronaut Frank PooleFrank PooleFrank Poole is a fictional character from Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey series. In Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Poole was portrayed by Gary Lockwood....
at chess, though making a mistake in chess notation when announcing his moves, just prior to beginning to malfunction.
- Author Vladimir NabokovVladimir NabokovVladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist...
wove chess themes into many of his novels. Chess plays a major role in his first novel The DefenseThe DefenseThe Defense is a Russian novel written by Vladimir Nabokov during his emigration in Berlin and published in 1930.-Plot summary:The plot concerns the title character, Aleksandr Ivanovich Luzhin. As a boy, he is considered unattractive, withdrawn, and an object of ridicule by his classmates...
about a young chess prodigy who has a mental breakdown. Nabokov published 18 chess problems in his anthology Poems and ProblemsPoems and ProblemsPoems and Problems is a book by Vladimir Nabokov published in 1969. It consists of:* 39 poems originally written in Russian and translated by Nabokov* 14 poems written in English* 18 chess problems...
, and composed three poems in sonnet form about chess in the Russian émigré journal Rul’ in Berlin in November 1924. His autobiography Speak, MemorySpeak, MemorySpeak, Memory is an autobiographical memoir by writer Vladimir Nabokov.-Scope:The book is dedicated to his wife, Véra, and covers his life from 1903 until his emigration to America in 1940. The first twelve chapters describe Nabokov's remembrance of his youth in an aristocratic family living in...
compares the composition of chess problems to the composition of poetry. In his foreword to The Defense, he calls the creation of surprise twists in a novel "chess effects". A 1979 study in Yale French Review explores links between Nabokov's chess problems and his novels, as does Janet Gezari's 1971 Ph.D. thesis 'Game Fiction: The World of Play and the Novels of Vladimir Nabokov', later issued as a book entitled Vladimir Nabokov: chess problems and the novel.
- Napoleon is perhaps the most well-known victim of the chess hoax involving an apparently mechanical chess-playing machine called The TurkThe TurkThe Turk, also known as the Mechanical Turk or Automaton Chess Player , was a fake chess-playing machine constructed in the late 18th century. From 1770 until its destruction by fire in 1854, it was exhibited by various owners as an automaton, though it was exposed in the early 1820s as an...
that was actually animated by a player hiding inside. In 1809, In 1809, Napoleon arrived at Schönbrunn Palace to play the Turk. In a surprise move, Napoleon took the first turn instead of allowing the Turk to make the first move, as was usual; but the device's inventor, Mälzel. allowed the game to continue. Shortly thereafter, Napoleon attempted an illegal move. Upon noticing the move, the Turk returned the piece to its original spot and continued the game. Napoleon attempted the illegal move a second time, and the Turk responded by removing the piece from the board entirely and taking its turn. Napoleon then attempted the move a third time, the Turk responding with a sweep of its arm, knocking all the pieces off the board. Napoleon was reportedly amused, and then played a real game with the machine, completing nineteen moves before tipping over his king in surrender.
- It is unknown to what degree Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
actually played chess. However, chess figures prominently in both an essay and two stories by him. He wrote an important essay speculating on the secret of the hoax chess-playing automaton The TurkThe TurkThe Turk, also known as the Mechanical Turk or Automaton Chess Player , was a fake chess-playing machine constructed in the late 18th century. From 1770 until its destruction by fire in 1854, it was exhibited by various owners as an automaton, though it was exposed in the early 1820s as an...
entitled Maelzel's Chess PlayerMaelzel's Chess Player"Maelzel's Chess Player" is an essay by Edgar Allan Poe exposing a fraudulent automaton chess player called The Turk, which had become famous in Europe and the United States and toured widely. The fake automaton was invented by Wolfgang von Kempelen in 1769 and was brought to the U.S...
. Poe also published a short story in which the Turk figures entitled "Von Kempelen and His Discovery". The Turk was eventually purchased by Poe's personal physician, John Kearsley MitchellJohn Kearsley MitchellJohn Kearsley Mitchell was an American physician and writer, born in Shepherdstown, Virginia . He graduated from the Medical College of the University of Pennsylvania in 1819. Before he went to Philadelphia to practice his profession, he made three voyages to the Far East as ship's surgeon...
. Unrelated to the Turk, Poe's short story "The Murders in the Rue MorgueThe Murders in the Rue Morgue"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in Graham's Magazine in 1841. It has been claimed as the first detective story; Poe referred to it as one of his "tales of ratiocination". Two works that share some similarities predate Poe's stories, including Das...
" contains a discussion of the psychology of chess, arguing that much greater powers of shrewdness are required to play checkers than chess, whereas the latter only requires intense concentration. In the following paragraph, Poe asserts that proficiency in the game of whist is an indicator of high general capacity for achievement, but not proficiency in chess.
- Russian composer Serge Prokofiev relates in his autobiography that he learned to play chess at age seven and it remained a lifelong passion. He became friends with various grandmasters and frequented the chess club in St. Petersburg, often spending hours on simultaneous games. According to his personal diary, he once beat the future chess champion of Cuba, Jose Raoul Capablanca.
- George C. ScottGeorge C. ScottGeorge Campbell Scott was an American stage and film actor, director and producer. He was best known for his stage work, as well as his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the film Patton, and as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr...
was addicted to chess according to actress Shirley MacLaineShirley MacLaineShirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
. He played frequently on movie sets, and one of the few people who beat him was director Stanley KubrickStanley KubrickStanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
who directed Scott in the film Doctor Strangelove.
- Radio shock jock Howard SternHoward SternHoward Allan Stern is an American radio personality, television host, author, and actor best known for his radio show, which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style...
plays chess every day according to a profile in the New York Times by their chess columnist.
- Russian novelist Leo TolstoyLeo TolstoyLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
learned to play chess at a young age and late in life played chess frequently with his biographer Aylmer Maude writing "He had no book-knowledge of it, but had played much and was alert and ingenious.". Another frequent chess companion of Tolstoy's was Prince Leonid Urusov.
- Computer scientist Alan TuringAlan TuringAlan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS , was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a...
, long considered to be a major founder of the field of artificial intelligence, considered chess playing to be the ideal starting point for researching the field of machine intelligence. He was himself a mediocre player.
- Iconic Western actor John WayneJohn WayneMarion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
played chess frequently on movie sets according to both biographers Ronald L. Davis and Herb Fagan. His onscreen characters play chess in the films McClintock and 3 Godfathers. According to biographer Michael Munn, when Wayne was asked a question about the homosexuality of Rock HudsonRock HudsonRoy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...
, Wayne replied "Who the hell cares if he's a queer? The man plays great chess" before further expositing that Hudson's personal life was something he didn't feel he needed to know about.
- British science-fiction novelist H.G. Wells devoted an essay in his collection Certain Personal Matters entitled Concerning Chess to trying to account for humanity's passion for chess. Chess figures prominently in his short story The Moth, and somewhat incidentally in The War of the Worlds. According to biographer Vincent Brome, Wells was "bad, very bad" at chess.