MARK RUBERY CHESS

An article in Chessbase revealed that over half presidents of the United States, over the last two centuries, have played and enjoyed chess. Here are a few examples of chess being played at the highest (political) level.

Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) liked to play chess in the evenings with friends. Among the 6,000 volumes he collected in his library were several chess books including his favourite, Analysis of Chess, by the legendary French composer Philidor, then regarded as the best chess player in the world. While he lived in Paris, before his Presidency, Jefferson joined the Salon des echecs.

James Madison (1809-1817) was also a keen chess player, who once attended a fancy dress ball in Washington DC and spent the evening playing chess with John Quincy Adams (1825-1829), the sixth US President.

The seventh President, Andrew Jackson (18291837), was most likely a chess player, since he once played against the Turk chess automaton. Jackson has been described by contemporaries as an excellent chess player, who would sometimes kibitz his guests during a game direct the moves for one side.

One of the chess sets owned by Abraham Lincoln (1861-65) is displayed at the Smithsonian, another at the National Museum of American History. Lincoln was fond of playing chess and checkers, and usually acted cautiously upon the defensive until the game reached a stage where aggressive movements were clearly justified. A case of life imitating chess.

The 20th US President, James Garfield (1881), was probably the strongest chess player ever to occupy the White House. His biographer Arthur Hosterman wrote that the President “enjoyed the game to the utmost” but had to deny himself even this pleasure when it repeatedly carried him into late hours of the night

The 26th US President, Theodore Roosevelt (19011909), played chess during hunting trips. In 1906, as a tribute to the game, he invited the masters who played in the prestigious Cambridge Springs tournament to the White House.

The 32nd President Franklin Roosevelt (1933-1945) spent many a lunch hour playing chess with his White House guest, Henry Ford.

Richard Nixon (1969-1974) more at home with Poker admitted in a newspaper interview that he never understood chess. He aptly named his dog checkers.

The 39th President Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) wanted to become a chess master after leaving the White House. He bought several chess books and a chess computer, but eventually gave up in frustration. “I found that I didn’t have any particular talent for chess,” he lamented. “I hate to admit it, but that’s a fact.”

Barak Obama plays chess, as does wife Michelle. He learnt the game from his grandfather and his Indonesian stepfather.