Politicians and Chess

by Bill Wall

Here is a list of politicians that

play or played chess, or at least
supported chess in some way.

US President John Adams

(1735-1826) may have been
exposed to chess from Benjamin
Franklin while in France. John
Adams wrote in his
autobiography that his evenings
in France were devoted to
music, cards, chess, and Bill Wall
backgammon.

US President John Quincy

Adams (1767-1848), was a
chess player who collected chess
sets. One of his chess sets is Nowadays, when you're not a
displayed at the Smithsonian gradmaster at 14, you can forget
Museum of American History. about it. —Anand
He once purchased an ivory
chess set and billiard table for
his home in the White House.
His political enemies (Andrew
Jackson's democratic supporters)
accused him of using public
funds (it was Adams own
money) to buy and install
gaming furniture and gambling
devices in the White House. It
was part of a theme (negative
campaigning) that may have
cost Adams the election in 1828.
John Quincy Adams said that
chess was the best way to
occupy time during long sea
voyages. After a sea voyage
across the Atlantic Ocean, he
wrote that a game of chess
surpassed all other resources for
killing time at sea (James
Madison, James Monroe and
John Quincy Adams by William
Stoddard). He may have learned
chess from his father, John
Adams, or Benjamin Franklin,
who he stayed with while in
France.

Spiro Agnew (1918-1996) was

US Vice-President under
Richard Nixon. He was a chess
player. His yacht was always
equipped with a chess set.

Alfonso XIII (1886-1941) was

king of Spain from 1886 to
1931. He was a chess player and
participated in chess
tournaments throughout Spain.

Corazon "Cory" Aquino (1933-

2009) was President of the
Philippines. She was a chess
player.

Yasser Arafat (1929-2004) was

a Palestinian leader. He was a
chess player.

Herbert Henry Asquith (1852-

1928) was Prime Minister of the
UK from 1908 to 1916. He was
a chess player.

Clement Attlee (1883-1967) was

a British Prime Minister. He was
a chess player.

Arthur Balfour (1848-1930) was

a British Prime Minister. He was
a chess player.
Menachem Begin (1913-1992),
President of Israel from 1977 to
1983, was a chess player. In
September 1978, he played a
chess game against National
Security Advisor Zbigniew
Brezinski at Camp David. Begin
told Brezinski that the last time
he played chess was in
September 1940, when the
NKVD (secret police) broke into
his hiding place in Vilna to
arrest him. Shortly afterward,
Begin's wife passed by and said.
"Oh, the two of you are playing
chess. You know, Mr.
Brzezinski, Menachem just
loves to play. He plays all the
time.

Robert N. Bodine (1837-1914)

was a US Representative from
Missouri. He was a chess
player.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-

1821) was an avid chess player.

Andrew Bonar Law (1858-

1923), Prime Minister of the UK
in 1922-1923, was a chess
player. He once lost to
Capablanca in a consultation
game with Richard Barnett and
William Rutherford.

Willy Brandt (1913-1992) was a

former West German chancellor.
He was a chess player.

Zbigniew Brzezinski (1928- )

was a National Security Advisor
under President Carter from
1977 to 1981. He is a chess
player. In 1997, he wrote a book
called The Grand Chessboard.

Patrick Buchanan (1938- ) was a

presidential candidate (1992 and
1996) and is a political
commentator. He is a chess
player but says he doesn't play
anymore.

Aaron Burr (1756-1836), third

Vice President of the United
States from 1801 to 1805, was
an enthusiastic chess player.
(Source: The Book of the First
American Chess Congress,
1857, p. 346)

US President George Herbert

Walker Bush (1924- ) George
H.W. Bush may not play chess,
but in 1989, President Bush and
his wife, Barbara, visited
Budapest and was introduced to
the Polgar sisters. A picture of
George Bush and his wife with
the three Polgar girls appeared
on the cover of Inside Chess. In
2004, Boris Spassky wrote a
letter to President Bush
appealing to let Bobby Fischer
go free and not be subject for
arrest because he played chess in
Yugoslavia. Spassky received
no sanctions from the French
government. (source: ChessBase
magazine, August 10, 2004).

US President George W. Bush

(1946- ) may not have played
chess, but he posed for pictures
with former world chess
champion Garry Kasparov on
September 23, 2008 in New
York. One picture shows Bush
holding Kasparov's book, How
Life Imitates Chess.

Charles Carroll (1738-1832),

Senator from Maryland and one
of the signers of the Declaration
of Independence, was a chess
player. He once played a chess
game with The Turk, also
known as the Automaton Chess
Player, winning his game.

US President Jimmy Carter

(1924- ) was a chess player. He
wanted to become a chess expert
after he left the White House.
He bought numerous chess
books and a computer chess
program. He finally gave up on
chess around 1997, saying: "I
found that I don't have any
particular talent for chess. I hate
to admit it, but that's a fact." He
hand-carved his own chess sets
and contributed hand-carved
chess sets to the Carter Center to
be auctioned for charity.

Fidel Castro (1926-2016) was a

chess player.

Catherine II (1729-1796),
former empress of Russia, was a
chess player.

Charles I (1600-1649) was king

of England. He was a chess
player.

Charles V (1338-1380) was king

of France. He was a chess
player.
Charles VII (1403-1461) was
king of France. He was a chess
player.

Charles XII (1682-1718) was

king of Sweden. He was a chess
player.

Salmon P. Chase (1864-1873)

was the governor of Ohio, the
Secretary of the Treasury, and
the 6th Chief Justice of the
United States. He was a chess
player.

Jacques Chirac (1932- ) was

French president from 1995 to
2007. He is a chess player.

Sir Winston Churchill (1874-

1965), twice British Prime
Minister, was a chess player,
along with his father, Lord
Randolph Churchill (1849-
1895).

Charles Clarke (1950- ) was UK

Education Secretary and was a
Member of Parliament. He is a
chess player.

Henry Clay (1777-1852) was a

chess player. He was a US
Senator from Kentucky and US
Secretary of State.

William "Bill" Clay (1931) was

a US Representative from
Missouri from 1969 to 2001. He
is a chess player.

US President Grover Cleveland

(1837-1908) was a chess player.
In September, 1885, he visited
the Eden Musee in New York
while the chess automaton
Ajeeb was being displayed.
Cleveland's Vice-President,
Thomas Hendricks, was with
Cleveland at the time. Hendricks
played Ajeeb and lost in a
smothered mate. In 1893, he
consented to become a patron
for the New York Chess
Congress (Columbian Chess
Congress) and presented to the
winner of the tournament a gold
medal (British Chess Magazine,
Volume 13, 1893).

US President Bill Clinton (1946-

) played chess while at
Georgetown University. He
played for the Georgetown
University's chess team in 1968.
He is a supporter of the Chess-
in-the-Schools program and has
met with Garry Kasparov. When
Clinton contributed a President's
Day recipe, his recipe was
Lemon Chess Pie. His daughter,
Chelsea, also plays chess and
has played chess on the Internet.
In his book, My Life: the
Presidential Years, Clinton
wrote: "...I had a cousin in
Arkansas who played chess
twice a week on the Internet
with a man from Australia..." In
2007, Clinton wrote Giving:
How Each of Us Can Change
the World. He mentioned the
Chess-in-the Schools program
and how it was a classic
example of a very good idea
with no chance of becoming a
reality without private support.
Clinton pointed out that playing
chess helps students develop
thinking and analyzing skills,
concentration, greater self-
control, and self-confidence.

Viktorija Cmilyte (1983- ) is a

member of the Lithuanian
parliament. She was twice
Lithuanian champion and is a
Grandmaster. Her peak rating
was 2536. She is perhaps the
strongest chess-playing
politician ever.

Bainbridge Colby (1869-1950)

was Secretary of State from
1920 to 1921 under Woodrow
Wilson. He was a chess player.

US President Calvin Coolidge

(1872-1933) played chess. In his
diary in 1886, he wrote, "played
chess with Dal and beat him
every game" (February 25).
(Source: The Tormented
President: Calvin Coolidge by
Robert Gilbert)

William Crawford (1772-1834)

served as Secretary of War and
Treasury Secretary. He played
chess. John Crittenden (1787-
1863) was the governor of
Kentucky. He was a chess
player.

Ted Cruz (1970- ) is a former

U.S. presidential candidate and
Republican Senator from Texas.
He may or may not play chess,
but he has an $800 Barrister's
chess set and board on display
(king and queen set up wrong).
Henri Francois d'Aguesseau
(1668-1751) was Chancellor of
France. He was a chess player.

Valery Giscard d'Estaing (1926-

) is a former French premier. He
is a chess player.

Richard M. Daley (1902-1976)

was the mayor of Chicago. He
was a chess player.

John Dickert (1861- ) has been

the mayor of Racine, Wisconsin
since 2009. He is a chess
player.

Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)

was a British Prime Minister. He
was a chess player.

Anatoly Dobrynin (1919-2010)

was Soviet Ambassador to the
United States from 1962 to
1986. He was a chess player. He
occasionally played chess with
Zbigniew Brzezinski.

Bob Dole (1923- ), who

represented Kansas in the House
of Representatives and as a
Senator and was a presidential
candidate, is a chess player.

Angela Eagle (1961- ) is a

Member of Parliament. She is a
chess player.

Edward III (1312-1377), was

king of England. He was a chess
player.

Edward VII (1841-1910) was

king of England. He was a chess
player.

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-

1969) may have played chess.
He acknowledged he received a
chess set from a political
supporter. In one of his
speeches, he said, "...I am an
indoor man and I find more
relaxation in playing a game of
chess." (Source: Dwight D.
Eisenhower: Containing the
public messages, speeches and
statements of the President,
1953-1960/1, Volume 1)

Elizabeth I (1533-1603) was

Queen of England. She was a
chess player.

Elizabeth II (1926- ) is Queen of

England. She is a chess player.
Nelson Mandela sent her a chess
set as a gift in 1996.

Farouk of Egypt (1920-1965)

was king of Egypt. He was a
chess player. His chess set is on
display in the Royal Jewelry
Museum in Alexandria.

Chaka Fattah (1956- ) was a US

Representative from
Pennsylvania from 1995 to
2016. He is a chess player.

Ferdinand of Aragon (1452-

1516) was king of Spain. He
was a chess player.

Robert "Bob" Ferguson (1965- ),

the Attorney General of
Washington State, won the
Washington State Chess
Championship in 1984 and
1987.

US President Millard Fillmore

(1800-1874) played chess but
did not encourage it with his
son. In 1842, Millard Fillmore's
son wrote to his father about
how pleasant it was playing
chess after a long day of
studying in school. Millard
Fillmore wrote back to his son
and told him he would rather see
him doing something else than
playing chess while studying.
He thought chess was too
sedentary and that sitting all day
playing chess would make you
crooked (Millard Fillmore by
Robert Scarry). In one letter that
he wrote while in Florida,
Fillmore mentioned that he
played chess. He wrote, "In the
evening he [Major General
Thomas Jessup] suggested we
play chess, a game of which I
am most fond, but I found my
concentration somewhat
disrupted by the Indians he
repeatedly saw lurking in the
bushes behind me, and lost three
games in a row." (The
Remarkable Millard Fillmore by
George Pendle)

US President Gerald Ford

(1913- 2006) may not have been
a chess player, but he did
declare October 9th, 1976,
National Chess Day.

Francisco Franco (1892-1975),

Spanish dictator, was a chess
player. He often arranged chess
pieces on maps and boards to
follow the progress of the war.

Hans Frank (1900-1946) was

governor general of Poland in
1939. He was an avid chess
player.

Felix Frankfurter (1882-1965)

was a Supreme Court Justice.
He was a chess player.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

was a chess player.

Frederick II (1712-1786) was

King of Prussia. He was a chess
player.

John C. Fremont (1813-1890), a

presidential candidate, was a
chess player.

Mark Funkhouser (1949- ) was

the mayor of Kansas City. He is
an avid chess player.

Muammar Gaddafi (1942-2011)

was the former Prime Minister
of Libya. He was a chess player.
In 2011, he played a chess game
with FIDE president Kirsan
Ilyumzhinov in Tripoli.

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948),

leader of India, was chess
player.

Carlos Garcia (1896-1971) was

a former President of the
Philippines. He was a chess
player.

US President James A. Garfield

(1831-1881) was a strong chess
player. A Philadelphia chess
column described him as a first-
rate chess player in 1880. He
played chess with Salmon P.
Chase (1808-1873), who was
Ohio Senator and Governor,
U.S. Treasury Secretary, and
Chief Justice of the United
States. An article in Chess Life
in 2003 suggests that James
Garfield was perhaps the
strongest chess player who was
President. Author Arthur
Hosterman, in Life and Times of
James Abram Garfield, wrote,
"At one time, he became a chess
player. He enjoyed the game to
the utmost, but perceiving that
its playing carried him to late
hours, he denied himself even
the pleasure of this game."

Jim Garrison (1921-1992),

famous New Orleans attorney,
was a chess player. In 1964, he
played Bobby Fischer in a simul
in New Orleans.

George III (1783-1820) was

king of England. He was a chess
player.

William Gladstone (1809-1898)

was a former British Prime
Minister. He was a chess
player.

Boris Godunov (1551-1605),

regent of Russia, was a chess
player.

Joseph Goebbels (1897-1945),

was a German politician and
Reich Minister of Propaganda.
He was a chess player.

Mikhail Gorbachev (1931- ),

former president of the Soviet
Union, is a chess player.

Al Gore (1948- ), former Vice-

President of the United States, is
a chess player. He often played
chess with his son.

US President Ulysses S. Grant

(1822-1885) was a chess player.
There is a picture of him playing
chess with Mrs. W.B. Dinsmore.
He played chess at his army
outposts and sometimes traveled
10 miles from his post to find a
chess player. He may have
learned chess while he was at
West Point. When he found a
chess player who was stronger
than him in a match, he persisted
in playing the match until he
"tired out" his opponent, and
finally beat him. William Crafts,
author of Life of Ulysses S.
Grant, wrote of Grant, "His
characteristic persistency was
illustrated at West Point not only
by his application to studies, but
by his playing the game of
chess, of which he was fond."

Jules Grevy (1807-1891),

former President of France, was
an avid chess player and a great
patron of chess.

John W. Griggs (1849-1927)

was governor of New Jersey and
US Attorney General under
President William McKinley,
was an avid chess player.
(Source: American Chess
Magazine, 1897, p. 467.)

Andrei Gromyko (1909-1969)

was a former Chairman of the
Presidium of the Supreme
Soviet. He was a Soviet
diplomat for 50 years. He
relaxed by playing chess.

H.R. "Bob" Haldeman (1926-

1993), former White House
Chief of Staff to President
Richard Nixon, was a chess
player.

Chester Harding (1866-1936),

former governor of the Panama
Canal Zone, was a chess player.

US President Warren Harding

(1865-1923) played chess.
William Kerr, who founded the
American Flag Day Association
and is considered the founder of
Flag Day played a
correspondence chess game with
Harding. At the moment that
Harding died in San Francisco,
the Western Chess
Championship, now known as
the U.S. Open, was being played
across the street at the
Mechanics' Institute. A rumor
circulated that Harding was
poisoned by one of the chess
players in the event.

Vaclav Havel (1936-2011) was

a former President of
Czechoslovakia. He was a chess
player.
US President Rutherford B.
Hayes (1822-1893) was a strong
chess player, taught by his
mother. He wrote about playing
chess in his diary. He wrote
"Somehow my faculties are so
dull that nothing but chess
seems to excite the attention..."
He mentioned that his sister,
Fanny, was a skilful chess
player. His chess set is in the
Rutherford B. Hayes
Presidential Center in Ohio.
William Howells, in Sketch of
the Life and Character of
Rutherford B. Hayes, wrote,
"His greatest amusements were
fishing and chess."

Thomas Hendricks (1819-1885)

was Governor of Indiana and US
Vice President in 1885 under
President Grover Cleveland. He
was a chess player.

Henry II (1133-1189) was King

of England. He was a chess
player.

Henry IV (1553-1610) was King

of France. He was a chess
player.

Henry V (1387-1422) was King

of England. He was a chess
player.

Henry VIII (1491-1547) was

King of England. He was a
chess player.

Rudolf Hess (1894-1987) was

Deputy Fuhrer in Nazi
Germany. He was a chess
player.

Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969), was

President of North Vietnam. He
was a chess player.

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-

1894), Supreme Court Justice,
was a chess player.

Henry Home, also known as

Lord Kames (1696-1782) was a
Scottish judge. He was a chess
player.

US President Herbert Hoover

(1874-1964) played chess. An
acquaintance of Hoover
remembered him as "a quiet,
introspective nontalkative lad
who played a little chess and a
little checkers." (Herbert
Hoover: A Public Life, by David
Burner)

Mike Huckabee (1955- ) was the

governor of Arkansas. He is a
chess player.

James Huffman (1894-1980)

was a Senator from Ohio. He
was a chess player.

Abdullah ibn Hussein (1882-

1951) was the king of Jordan.
He was a chess player.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov (1962- )

was President of Kalmykia from
1993 to 2010. He was elected
President of FIDE in 1995.

Isabella (1451-1504) was Queen

of Spain. She was a chess
player.

Ivan IV, or Ivan the Terrible

(1530-1584), Tsar of Russia,
was a chess player.

US President Andrew Jackson

(1767-1845) was a chess player.
One source (Gerald Leavitt and
Tom Standage) states that
Andrew Jackson played chess
against the Turk chess
automaton. In The American
Lion, by John Meacham,
Jackson was described as an
excellent chess player. He would
sometimes observe his
houseguests play chess and
frequently directed the moves
for one side or the other.

Shah Jahan (1592-1666),

emperor of India who built the
Taj Mahal, was a chess player.

US President Thomas Jefferson

(1743-1826) played chess. It
was one of his favorite games.
He started playing in his 20s and
owned at least six nice chess
sets. Dr. William Small
probably introduced chess to
Jefferson around 1762. Dr.
Small was a professor of
mathematics at the College of
William and Mary who taught
Jefferson. He usually played
chess in the evenings with his
friends. The earliest dated
reference from Jefferson came
from his diary on August 18,
1769, when he wrote "gave
James Ogilvie to buy me a set of
chessmen." Friends gave him
chess sets or he gave them chess
sets as presents. When he moved
into Monticello, he was
concerned about his ivory chess
sets that had disappeared in the
move. He collected chess books
as well, and one of his favorites
was Philidor's Analysis of
Chess. He also had chess books
by Greco and Stamma.
Jefferson's hobby was book
collecting and he had over 6,000
books in his library. His books
later became part of the Library
of Congress when the original
Library of Congress was burned
by the British in 1814. In his
later years, he played Benjamin
Franklin, also a keen player. He
would write letters about
Franklin and how popular he
was in France because he played
chess with beautiful or powerful
women. Jefferson would tell
friends that he and Franklin
were equal in chess playing
strength. He also told friends
that he played four hour games
of chess against James Madison.
In 1784, Jefferson moved to
Paris. Before leaving, he sold
some of his chess books to
James Monroe. When Jefferson
was in Paris he joined the Salon
des echecs chess club for 96
francs in 1786. He did not renew
his dues in 1787, saying he was
too busy. David McCullough, in
his book on John Adams, says
that Jefferson was so decisively
beaten at the chess club that he
never went back. Jefferson left
Paris in 1789. Jefferson was
elected President in 1801. His
vice president was Aaron Burr,
also an enthusiastic and strong
chess player. They may have
played chess together. Jefferson
taught his grandchildren how to
play chess at Monticello.
Jefferson left two undated sheets
of paper concerning chess. The
sheets of paper were how to play
an endgame with a Rook and
Bishop against a Rook. The
analysis came from Philidor's
Analysis of Chess book. A letter
of December 4, 1818 was his
last writing on chess. It was
about the recollection of
Franklin and chess.

John I (1167-1216), King of

England, was a chess player.

US President Andrew Johnson

(1808-1875) may have played
chess and was a checkers player.
In debates, he would compare a
bill to Maelzel's automaton
chess player, as deceiving no
person save those wishing to be
deceived. (The Life and Public
Services of Andrew Johnson, by
John Savage)

Joseph II (1741-1790), Holy

Roman Emperor, was a chess
player.

Janos Kadar (1912-1989) was

the General Secretary of the
Hungarian Socialist Workers'
Party. His only real hobby was
chess.

Nancy Kassebaum (1932- ) was

a senator from Kansas. She is a
chess player. She chaired the
Chess for Peace advisory board.

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

may have played chess. He
received a very nice chess set as
a birthday gift in 1962 from a
very close friend. In a Cold War
statement, referring to the
USSR, he said, "We play poker,
they play chess." His son, John
F. Kennedy, Jr., did play chess.
There is a picture of John F.
Kennedy, Jr. playing a game of
chess while on a visit to
Moscow State University Chess
Club.

Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971),

USSR Premier, was a chess
player.

Henry Kissinger (1923- ),

former US Secretary of State,
was a chess player.

Nikolai Krylenko (1885-1938)

was the People's Commissar for
Justice of the USSR. He was an
avid chess player and promoter
of the game.

John Lackland (1166-1216) was

King of England. He was a
chess player.

Fiorello LaGuardia (1882-1947)

was the mayor of New York. He
was a chess player.

Vytautas Landsbergis (1932- )

was a former President of
Lithuania. He is a chess player.
In 1952, he took 3rd place in the
Lithuanian chess championship.

Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)

was a chess player.

Karl Liebnecht (1871-1919),

German socialist leader, was a
chess player.

US President Abraham Lincoln

(1809-1865) played chess. One
of his chess sets is displayed in
the Smithsonian. He may have
played an occasional game at the
White House. Some years before
becoming President, Lincoln
was playing chess with Judge S.
H. Treat, Chief Justice of the
Illinois Supreme Court.
Lincoln's son, Tad, was sent by
his mother to say dinner was
ready. When his father
continued with his chess game,
Tad went over to the game and
kicked the chess board off the
table or laps of the two players.
The judge was speechless, but
Lincoln said mildly, "Come,
Tad," and they walked away
together to have dinner.
(American Chess Magazine,
Volume 2, 1898). Lincoln
bought a chess set for his son
Tad, which is on display at the
National Museum of American
History. In The every-day life of
Abraham Lincoln, author
Francis Browne wrote, "Mr.
Lincoln was fond of playing
chess and checkers, and usually
acted cautiously upon the
defensive until the game had
reached a stage where
aggressive movements were
clearly justified." In Lincoln:
The Biography of a Writer by
Fred Kaplan, there is a story that
Abraham Lincoln and a family
friend, George Harrison.
Harrison wrote of their time in
the militia during the Black
Hawk War, "We [Lincoln and
Harrison] passed our evenings
by jumping, playing checkers,
chess, swimming our horses..."

Louis VI (1081-1137) was King

of France. He was a chess
player.

Louis XIII (1601-1643) was

King of France. He was a chess
player.

Louis XV (1710-1774) was

King of France. He was a chess
player.

US President James Madison

(1751-1836), was a chess player
who played several games
against Thomas Jefferson. James
Madison by Jeremy Roberts
mentions that Madison was fond
of chess, and that he studied the
moves carefully, considering
every step before proceeding.
James Madison: Builder, by
Abbot Smith, mentions that
Madison once attended a fancy
ball in Washington D.C., but
spent the evening playing chess
with John Quincy Adams.

Louise-Marie d'Orleans (1812-

1850) was Queen of Belgium.
She was a chess player.
Blaine Luetkemeyer (1952- ) is
a US Representative from
Missouri. He is a chess player.

John Major (1943- ) is a former

British Prime Minister. He is a
chess player.

Nelson Mandela (1918-2013)

was President of South Africa
from 1994 to 1999. He was a
chess player. He learned how to
play chess in prison.

John Paul Marat (1767-1793)

was a French revolutionary. He
was a chess player.

Ferdinand Marcos (1917-1989),

former President of the
Philippines, was a chess player.

John Marshall (1755-1935) was

Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court. He was a chess player.

Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a

chess player.

Bob McDonnell (1954- ) was

the Governor of Virginia from
2010 to 2014. He is a chess
player.

Angela Merkel (1954- ) is the

current Chancellor of Germany.
She is a chess player and
collects large wooden chess
pieces.

US President James Monroe

(1758-1831) was a chess player
and purchased chess books from
Thomas Jefferson (including
Philidor's manual of chess)
when Jefferson departed for
France according to James
Monroe, The Quest for National
Unity, by Harry Ammon. He
played chess against Jefferson
and Aaron Burr. Monroe was an
avid player in chess, checkers,
poker, whist, and dominoes (The
Last Founding Father: James
Monroe by Harlow Unger). The
James Monroe Museum in
Virginia has a chess set that
belonged to Monroe.

Benito Mussolini (1883-1945)

was an Italian dictator. He was a
chess player.

Ralph Nader (1934- ) was a

presidential candidate. He
described himself as a good
chess player.

Gamal Abdul Nasser (1918-

1970), President of Egypt, was a
chess player.

Benjamin Netanyahu (1940- ),

Prime Minister of Israel, is a
chess player.

Richard Nixon (1913-1994) may

have played chess. However, in
a 1983 interview, he admitted he
never understood chess. Nixon
declined to invite Fischer to the
White House after Fischer won
the world chess championship in
1972. Nixon did write to Fischer
congratulating his victory over
Tigran Petrosian in Buenos
Aires.
Glenn Nye (1974- ) was a
congressman from Virginia. He
is a chess player.

US President Barack Obama

(1961- ) plays chess. So does his
wife, Michelle. A New York
Times article stated that "Mrs.
Obama and her brother were
expected to fill their time with
books, chess, and sports."
Obama mentioned chess in his
book Dreams from My Father
and talked about learning chess
from his grandfather and
Indonesian stepfather. He
learned chess around age 9 and
played chess with his stepfather,
Lolo Soetoro (1935-1987). In
2009, President Obama spoke at
the New Economic School, a
graduate economic school in
Moscow and used chess as a
metaphor. In his speech, he said,
"The days when empires could
treat sovereign states as pieces
on a chess-bard are over."
(source: Senauth, The Making of
a President, p. 235). While in
Moscow, Obama met with
former world chess champion
Garry Kasparov. In 2009, Henry
Kissinger (a chess player) was
interviewed by Spiegel Online.
He said this of Obama. "Obama
is like a chess player who is
playing simultaneous chess and
has opened his game with an
unusual opening. Now he's got
to play his hand as he plays his
various counterparts. We haven't
gotten beyond the opening game
move yet. I have no quarrel with
the opening move." In
Afghanistan, Allied troops have
been playing Osama vs. Obama
"terror chess." The traditional
pieces have been replaced with
late terrorist Osama Bin Laden
and U.S. President Obama as
respective kings. The rooks have
been replaced by the World
Trade Center towers. The Statue
of Liberty is the queen. A map
of Afghanistan is superimposed
over the classic checkerboard
pattern. The chess board game
was produced by an ex-
Canadian Special Forces
soldier.

Oscar II (1829-1907) was King

of Sweden and Norway. He was
a chess player.

George Pataki (1945- ) was the

governor of New York from
1995 to 2006. He was a chess
player.

Richmond Pearson (1852-1923)

was a diplomat and
Representative from North
Carolina. He was a chess
player.

Robert Peel (1788-1850) was a

former British Prime Minister.
He was a chess player.

Juan Peron (1895-1974) was a

former President of Argentina.
He was a chess player.

Rick Perry (1950- ) was the

governor of Texas. He is a chess
player.
Peter the Great (1672-1725) was
a Russian Czar. He was a chess
player.

Mohammed Phalavi (1919-

1980), was the Shah of Iran. He
was a chess player.

Philip II (1527-1598) was King

of Spain. He was a chess player.

William Pitt (1708-1778) was

British Prime Minister. He was a
chess player.

US President James K. Polk

(1795-1849) may have played
chess. In one of his
correspondence letters to
Samuel Laughlin on May 9th,
1844, he wrote: "From what
Cave Johnson writes, I think the
recent occurrances (sic), on the
chess-board, have decidedly
improved my prospects."
(Correspondence of James K.
Polk, January-August 1844 by
James K. Polk).

Grigori Potemkin (1739-1791)

was a Russian statesman and a
chess player.

Yitzhak Rabin (1922-1995) was

Prime Minister of Israel. He was
a chess player.

Fidel Ramos (1928- ) was the

12th President of the Philippines
from 1992 to 1998. He was a
chess player.

Jamie Raskin (1962- ) is a US

Representative from Maryland.
In 2013, as a state senator, he
was caught playing chess during
testimony on a Maryland new
gun grabbing bill.

US President Ronald Reagan

(1911-2004) may not have
played chess, but he talked
about chess with Mikhail
Gorbachev during their summit
meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland,
the site of the 1972 world chess
championship match between
Bobby Fischer and Boris
Spassky. In his diaries, Reagan
wrote that he met with some
school chess champions on May
23, 1983. In 1984, Victor
Palciauskas of the United States
won the 10th World
Correspondence Chess
Championship. President Ronald
Reagan sent him a note of
congratulations.

Dana Reizniece-Ozola (1981- )

is the Minister of Finance of the
Republic of Latvia. She is also a
Woman Grandmaster rated 2289
(peaked at 2355). She played for
Latvia in the 2016 Chess
Olympiad in Baku, beating
world champion Hou Yifan in
the final round.

Richard I (1157-1199) was King

of England. He was a chess
player.

Bob Riley (1944- ) was the

governor of Alabama. He was a
chess player.

Richard Riordan (1930- ) was

the mayor of Los Angeles. In his
spare time, he enjoys playing
chess. He has a chess festival
named after him.

Maximilien Robespierre (1758-

1794) was a French politician
and revolutionary. He was a
chess player.

US President Franklin D.
Roosevelt (1882-1945) played
chess. When Henry Ford was
Roosevelt's luncheon guest at
the White House, they would
spend the whole luncheon hour
playing chess. (That Man: an
Insider's Portrait of Franklin D.
Roosevelt, by Robert Jackson,
John Barrett, and William
Leuchtenburg)

US President Theodore
Roosevelt (1858-1919) played
chess during his hunting trips.
He may have also played Ajeeb
the automaton. In 1904 he
invited the foreign masters that
played in the Cambridge Springs
chess tournament to the White
House. He was rumored to have
kept an astrological chart
mounted on a chess board while
in office. Theodore Roosevelt
once described living on his
ranch. "The long winter
evenings are spent sitting round
the campfire, playing checkers
or chess, in the fire light."
(Theodore Roosevelt: His Life
and Work, by Frederick
Drinker).

Karl Rove (1950- ) served as

Deputy Chief of Staff under
President George Bush. He is a
chess player.

Sir William Rutherford (1853-

1927) was a Member of
Parliament and a strong chess
player.

Anwar Sadat (1918-1981) was

President of Egypt. He was a
chess player.

Pierre Salinger (1925-2004) was

Press Secretary under John F.
Kennedy. He was a chess
player.

Rick Santorum (1958- ) was a

senator from Pennsylvania. He
is a chess player.

Helmut Schmidt (1918-2015)

was the former Chancellor of
Germany. He was an avid chess
player.

Chuck Schumer (1950- ),

Senator from New York, plays
chess.

Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947- )

was the governor of California.
He is a chess player.

John Shafroth (1854-1922) was

a Governor and Senator from
Colorado. He was a chess
player.

Richard Shannon (1839-1920)

was a US Representative from
New York. He was a chess
player.
Natan Sharansky (1948- ) is an
Israeli politician. He is a chess
player. As a human rights
activist in Russia, he kept
himself sane during solitary
confinement by playing chess
with himself, in his head.

Sir John Simon (1873-1954)

was a Member of Parliament,
Attorney General, Home
Secretary, Foreign Secretary,
Chancellor of the Exchequer,
and Lord Chanclllor. He was an
avid chess player. In 1923, he
drew with world champion
Alexander Alekhine in a
simultaneous exhibition.

Jason T. Smith (1980- ) is a US

Representative from Missouri.
He is a chess player.

Jan Sobieski (1624-1696) was

King of Poland. He was a chess
player.

Josef Stalin (1879-1953) was a

chess player.

Harold Stassen (1907-2001) was

the governor of Minnesota and a
GOP presidential candidate. He
was a chess player.

Peer Steinbrueck (1947- ) is a

German politician and former
finance minister. He is a chess
player.

Robert Taft (1889-1953) was a

senator from Ohio and
presidential candidate. He was a
chess player.

US President William Howard

Taft (1857-1930) played chess
as a child, according to the
National Park Service visitor's
guide for Taft's National
Historic Site. He taught chess to
his son. His son, Robert, was
described as a slightly
obnoxious whiz at chess. It was
his favorite game. Doug Wead,
author of All the Presidents'
Children, wrote, "On April 17,
1900, the Taft family boarded
the army transport Hancock,
bound for the Philippines.
President McKinley had just
appointed William Howard Taft,
Sr., as the civil governor of the
island nation. Eleven years old
at the time, Robert [Taft's son]
had taught himself to play chess
from a book. He promptly beat
all the army officers on board."

Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand
(1754-1838) was a French
politician and diplomat. He was
a chess player.

Josip Tito (1892-1980), former

President of Yugoslavia, was a
chess player.

Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) was a

Russian revolutionist and a
chess player.

US President Harry S Truman

(1884-1972) played chess as a
child, learning from his uncle,
Harrison Young who was a
strong chess player (Harry S.
Truman: a Life, by Robert
Ferrell and The Autobiography
of Harry S. Truman by Harry S.
Truman). Truman mentioned
chess in some of his speeches. In
1947 he said, "International
relations have traditionally been
compared to a chess game in
which each nation tries to outwit
and checkmate the other."

US President Martin Van Buren

(1782-1862) may have played
chess and taught his son. His
son, John Van Buren (1810-
1866), greeted Paul Morphy
when Morphy returned from
Europe to New York in 1859.
On May 29, 1859, at the
University of the City of New
York, it was John Van Buren
who first toasted Paul Morphy
and ended a testimonial
presentation by proclaiming
Morphy as "The Chess
Champion of the World" to
1,500 guests. It was the first
time that expression had been
used. John Van Buren later
wrote that he could not
understand why men wasted
time and thought on chess, even
though he did play it. He
considered politics the greatest
game in the world and open to
all.

Cyrus Vance (1917-2002),

former US Secretary of State
under President Jimmy Carter,
was a chess player.

Victoria (1819-1901) was Queen

of England. She was a chess
player.

Earl Warren (1891-1974) was

Governor of California and
Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court. He was a chess player.

US President George
Washington (1732-1799) owned
an ivory chess set that is now
housed in the U.S. National
Museum in Washington, D.C.
During the Revolutionary War,
he was dining one day at
headquarters when Mrs.
Washington asked him what
entertainment he had recourse
to. George responded, "I read,
my lady, and write, and play
chess...."

William Weld (1945- ) was the

governor of Massachusetts. He
was a chess player.

Wilhelm II (1859-1918) was a

German Kaiser. He was a chess
player.

US President Woodrow Wilson

(1856-1924) played chess. One
of his chess sets is in the
Smithsonian. Carol
Dommermuth-Costa, author of
Woodrow Wilson, wrote that
Woodrow Wilson (called
Tommy as a boy) and his father
shared many hours playing
chess and billiards.

Marmaduke Wyvill (1815-1896)

was a Member of Parliament
and a leading English chess
master.
Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007) was
President of Russia. He was an
avid chess player and founded
the Sverdlosk Chess Club.

Sam Yorty (1909-1998) served

as US Representative from
California and was mayor of Los
Angles from 1961 to 1973. He
was a chess player.

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