Celebrity chess

By Frank “Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso

SUSAN Polgar, in an interview with Chessbase, lamented the fact that the media is focusing too much on the negative aspects rather than on the good side of chess. She believes the game is captivating, interesting and that there are many other news stories the public can be made aware of.

She was referring to the media coverage before Bobby Fischer was released from Japan and given asylum in Iceland, and Bobby’s distorted views on 9/11, his attitude towards the Jews and anti-American rants.

Susan also emphasized that the game is now extremely popular, hip and cool and has a drug-free competitive environment. It is the most popular game in history as proven by a great number of celebrities who play the game. Find out if your favorite celebrity is here.

CELEBRITY PLAYERS. Claude Akins (Sheriff Lobo), Alan Alda (M*A*S*H), Woody Allen, Lauren Bacall, the Barrymores, Polly Bergen, Sarah Bernhardt, Humphrey Bogart (Casablanca), Shirley Booth (Hazel), Charles Boyer, Marlon Brando, Mel Brooks, Nicholas Cage, Will Smith, Charlie Chaplin, Cher, Lee J. Cobb, Charles Coburn, Bill Cosby, Macaulay Culkin (Home Alone), Timothy Dalton (James Bond), James Darren, Marlene Dietrich, Erik Estrada (CHIPs) Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Peter Falk (Columbo), Mia Farrow, Jose Ferrer, Errol Flynn, Henry Fonda, Michael J Fox, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Ava Gardner,
Lorne Greene (Bonanza), Woody Harrelson, Rex Harrison, Katherine Hepburn, Charlton Heston, Alfred Hitchcock, Bob Hope, Anthony Hopkins, Dennis Hopper, John Huston, Kate Jackson (Charlie’s Angels), Don Johnson, Boris Karloff, Ben Kingsley, Stanley Kubrick, Jude Law, David Letterman, Peter Lorre, Myna Loy, Marcel Marceau, Dean Martin, Steve Martin, the Marx brothers, James Mason, Walter Matthau, Ray Milland, Carmen Miranda, Yves Montand, Rick Moranis, Paul Newman, David Niven, Chuck Norris, Maureen O’Sullivan,

Gregory Peck, George Peppard, Walter Pidgeon, Jason Priestley (“90210”), Dennis Quaid, Anthony Quinn, Tony Randall, Basil Rathbone, Keanu Reeves (Matrix), Chris Rock, Jill Saint John, Susan Sarandon, Arnold Schwarzenegger, George C. Scott, Tom Selleck, Peter Sellers, Omar Sharif, Will Smith, Jimmy Stewart, Oliver Stone, Barbra Streisand, Rod Taylor, Shirley Temple Black, Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner, Rudolph Valentino, John Wayne, Orson Welles, Guy Williams (Zorro) and Julia Roberts.

SPORTS AND MUSIC. There are a few sports figures that also play chess.

These include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Boris Becker, Larry Bird, Jim Brown, Kobe Bryant, Jennifer Capriati, Reggie Carter, Bill Cartwright, Michael Chang, Sean Elliot, Roger Federer, Ron Guidry, Evander Holyfield, Bobby Jones, Ivan Lendl, Lennox Lewis, John McEnroe, Latrell Sprewell, Gene Tunney, Bill Walton, and Emil Zatopek.

In the music business, chess players include Ludwig van Beethoven, Bono (U2), Sonny Bono, David Bowie, Enrico Caruso, Pablo Casals, Ray Charles, Frederic Chopin, Bobby Darrin, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Sticky Fingaz (Onyx), Dizzy Gillespie, Gene Kupra, John Lennon, Sean Lennon, LL Cool J, Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie, Moby, Willie Nelson, Yoko Ono, Gregor Piatigorsky, Helen Reddy, Tim Rice, David Lee Roth, Arthur Rubinstein, Schumann, Artie Shaw, Frank Sinatra, Ringo Starr, Isaac Stern and Sting.

WRITERS. Writers who had time for chess include Isaac Asimov (I, Robot), Frank Baum (Wizard of Oz), Art Buchwald, Lewis Carroll, Cervantes, Charles Dickens, Dostoevsky, Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), George Elliot, Goethe, O. Henry, Kipling, Sinclair Lewis, Jack London, Norman Mailer, Hermann Melville, Vladimir Nabokov (Lolita), George Orwell, Edgar Allan Poe, Peter Roget (thesaurus), Salman Rushdie, William Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, Isaac Singer, John Steinbeck, Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe), Tennyson, Tolstoy, Kurt Vonnegut, H.G. Wells, and William Yeats.

Many thanks to Hall of Fame member Bill Wall whose devotion to chess is legendary for this list of celebrities. Bill is probably the most prolific writer of the game (29 chess books and hundreds of articles) and is a confirmed chess addict.

Cepca May tournament. The May tournament of the Cebu Executives and Professionals Chess Assciation is on the 22nd , Sunday, at the Stella Maris Seafarers Center in pier 4 starting at 2:00 p.m. New members are welcome to join. We will also be giving certificates of membership to those who have not yet received them.