Chess Review Magazine

This was billed as “the picture chess magazine” and was far superior to all other US magazines. What made it unique, really, were the photos. In those days there was no Internet and there were only about a hundred Grandmasters in the entire world. You rarely, if ever, actually saw one. In fact you rarely saw an actual master because the US only had 50 or 60 of them in the entire country and most of them lived in New York City of Califormnia. From Wikipedia:

Chess Review (January 1933 to April 1941: The Chess Review) is a U.S. chess magazine that was published from January 1933 until October 1969 (Volume 37 Number 10). Published in New York, it began on a schedule of at least ten issues a year but later became a monthly. Isaac Kashdan was the editor for the first year, with Al Horowitz and Fred Reinfeld as associate editors. After one year Kashdan left and Al Horowitz became editor, a position he retained for the remainder of the magazine's existence. Chess Review was virtually unchallenged as the premier U.S. chess periodical from its start in 1933 until a rival emerged in 1961 after a major revamp of the official United States Chess Federation magazine, Chess Life. The two magazines remained in competition until November 1969 when Horowitz retired and the magazines were merged to become Chess Life & Review.


The cover of the first issue featured a chess problem composed by Otto Wurzburg (1875–1951), a Grand Rapids, Michigan, postal worker. Kashdan was one of the world's premier problem solvers of the 1920s and 1930s. His interest in compositions influenced the magazine for years after he left, and the cover would feature a chess problem every issue until May 1941. Wurzburg served as problem editor and contributed a monthly column. The magazine staff also included art director Bertram Kadish who contributed cartoons and illustrations. An unusual feature of the first issue was a bridge column written by George Reith. Horowitz and Reinfeld were contract bridge devotees, but the column was dropped after three issues.


Horowitz became the editor in 1934 when Kashdan left the magazine. In the same year it became the first chess periodical to be sold on newsstands and leading department stores. For that reason, no June issue was printed and the magazine dated ahead one month.[1] In December 1935 the magazine began to put "The Official Organ of the American Chess Federation" on the cover. The American Chess Federation was a predecessor of the United States Chess Federation (USCF), established in 1939. Reinfeld would temporarily leave in 1936 to concentrate on his book writing. The August-September 1941 issue featured a new column by Reuben Fine, "Game of the Month". (His rival Samuel Reshevsky would not write for the magazine until some years later.) This column and format would later be continued by Max Euwe and Svetozar Gligorić. In the same issue, Irving Chernev started the column "Chess Quiz". Chernev had begun to contribute to the magazine in its first year but this marked the beginning of a larger role.


Jack Collins and Albert Pinkus joined the staff in 1943. In 1944 Chess Review began billing itself "The Picture Chess Magazine." Reinfeld returned to the magazine in 1945 as Executive Editor, and Horowitz and Kenneth Harkness were listed as Editors and Publishers. Hans Kmoch joined in 1948, contributing coverage of international tournaments, chess opening theory, and eulogies of great chess players. Fine retired from chess and his "Game of the Month" column in November 1949. Euwe resurrected the column in 1952. Savielly Tartakower also joined the magazine that year, providing portions of his memoirs at intermittent intervals.


Contributors later included Walter Korn (1953), Arthur Bisguier (1957), and Petar Trifunovic (1963).


From its beginning in 1933, Chess Review had been the leading U.S. chess periodical. In 1961 Frank Brady redesigned Chess Life, the official USCF publication, changing it from a newspaper format to a glossy magazine. The magazines would compete until November 1969 when Horowitz retired and the USCF purchased Chess Review to merge the magazines to form Chess Life & Review.


In conjunction with the magazine, Horowitz also conducted a number of correspondence tournaments in those days. The premier event was the “Golden Knights” which was billed as the US Open Correspondence Championship. It was conducted in three rounds; prelims, semi-finals and finals. I played in many of these events and if you made it to the finals you got a coveted Golden Knight lapel pin! Several years ago I threw out about a half dozen pins that had been corroding in a desk drawer for years.


The great thing about these events was that because of the scarcity of chess tournaments in those days, there were a lot of really strong OTB players participating. I played a couple of games against a former US Championship competitor (lost) and a player who was at the time a US Senior Master and rated in the top ten in CC (won). One incident stands out: In one game against an opponent I’d never heard of I decided to play the Grob Attack (1.g4). Not too long after we started I learned he was a Canadian master and had recently won a province championship. Needless to say the Grob turned out to be a very bad choice against him.

The USCF has carried on the Golden Knight events and a list of winners can be found HERE. BTW the 1958 winner was from my hometown and the correct spelling of his name was Jack Witeczek.

 

Al Horowitz

     There was no such thing as a rating list back in old days, but thanks to Chessmetrics the strongest tournaments and matches of all time have been rated. In those days people just played and let others figure out how strong they were.
     In 1943 the top players in the world were Samuel Reshevsky, Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Botvinnik, Max Euwe, Paul Keres, Vassily Smyslov, Gideon Stahlberg and Miguel Najdorf. The two players that rounded out the top 10 seem a little surprising: Paul Schmidt and Al Horowitz. 
     Paul Schmidt (1916 – 1984) was originally from Estonia, emigrated to Germany in the autumn of 1939. In 1951, he earned a PhD in chemistry from Heidelberg University, moved first to Canada and then to the United States, settling in Philadelphia, where he took a job as a professor. Later, he and his wife Eva moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he made contributions to electrochemistry and anodic oxidation of silicon, was expert in neutron activation analysis, and published many papers, until his retirement in 1982. He continued playing occasional games of chess, regularly visiting Reuben Fine in New York. 
     Israel Albert Horowitz (November 15, 1907 – January 18, 1973) is better known but mostly as an author and the man behind Chess Review magazine. Little is known of his childhood, but he used to tell how rabbis frequently visited his home and would sit around debating the Talmud and nobody seems to know exactly when or how he learned to play chess. 

     If you look in Wikipedia you won’t find much information. It tells us Horowitz was the chess columnist for The New York Times, writing three columns a week for ten years. He was the owner and editor of Chess Review magazine from 1933 until it was bought out and taken over by the United States Chess Federation in 1969 and merged into Chess Life. 
     Chess Review was founded in 1933 as a partnership between Horowitz and Isaac Kashdan. Kashdan dropped out after just a few issues and Horowitz became sole owner. Before that, Horowitz had been a securities trader on Wall Street. He had been partners with chess masters Maurice Shapiro, Mickey Pauley, Albert Pinkus and Maurice Wertheim, but when the depression years struck and he couldn’t make a living he quit Wall Street and began hustling chess. According to Arnold Denker, Horowitz returned to chess on the theory that he could always win a quarter and that was enough to buy a meal. 

Today apples cost 10 times as much

     During the depression for those lucky enough to be working, the average wage was about $100 a month and a quarter was worth almost $5.00 these days.  I remember my dad, who was one of the lucky few to remain employed on the railroad during the Great Depression, telling me that he and my mother bought a house from the bank for $600.  The banker told them he had repossessed the house three times and didn't want to see it again.
     It was in 1933 that he got the idea for a chess magazine filed with interesting articles and photographs and Chess Review was born. To keep the magazine afloat Horowitz wrote a lot of books, mostly aimed at beginners, and toured the country, sometimes for months at a time, giving exhibitions and free simultaneous exhibitions in return for subscribers.  It was on one such tour in 1940 that he and Harold Morton were involved in a car accident in which Morton was killed and Horowitz seriously injured. 
     Denker described how Horowitz “burned the candle at both ends.” In a typical day he would put in a full day at Chess Review then pop in at the Marshall Chess Club around 7pm. At about 11pm he would be at the Manhattan Chess Club playing skittles. When the chess was over he would head to his favorite delicatessen for a hot dog and beans or a hot pastrami sandwich “to chase the one he ate for lunch” as Denker put it. After that, he go to bead around 4am. 

     A review of more than 7,000 clinical studies examining the connection between diet and health came to a stark conclusion that no one should eat processed meats. This includes bacon and hot dogs, cold cuts like pastrami, salami, ham and corned beef which are high in high-calorie saturated fat and bad for your heart. Add to this life style the fact that he smoked three packs of cigarettes a day and one wonder how he lived to be 65 years old. 
     He retired in 1969 after he sold Chess Review to the USCF and with the exception of correspondence chess, all vestiges of Chess Review disappeared.  His heath deteriorated rapidly after that and he left this world in 1973. 
     It’s said Reshevsky never studied chess or prepared for games, but I always found that hard to believe. His wife, Norma, said he did not have a chess set except for a small magnetic set that he might occasionally take out to look at a game and that he had no chess books in his library except the ones he wrote, or at least had his name on them. It’s believed his books were actually ghosted by Fred Reinfeld. 
     I know he did study openings early in his career and he prepared for his 1942 match with Kashdan. Also, in his book The Bobby Fischer I Knew, Denker gave a game between Horowitz and Reshevsky from a training match to prepare Reshevsky for the upcoming 1948 world championship tournament and as far as I know, it’s only known game from that match. But, clearly Reshevsky did, at least to some extent, occasionally prepare for matches and tournaments.  It seems one would need more than a pocket set to do that.

Play Online Chess

[Event "Training Game"]
[Site "New York City"]
[Date "1948.2.8"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Samuel Reshevsky"]
[Black "I.A. Horowitz"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Reti Opening} 1. Nf3 {Reshevsky used to play this on occasion, but he almost
always followed it up with a quick d4. One gets the impression here that
Reshevsky was experimenting in the opening.} 1... d5 2. c4 d4 {The classic
Reti in which white plans to bring the P on d5 under attack from the flank, or
entice it to advance to d4 and undermine it later. White will combine this
with a K-side fianchetto to create pressure on the light squares in the
center. However, in this game Reshevsky takes a slightly different approach in
an immediate Q-side expansion.} 3. e3 {Rarely played. Black can play 3...dxe3
but after 4.fxe3 and 5.d4 white has more space in the center but at the cost
of slightly weakening his K-side.} 3... c5 4. exd4 cxd4 5. b4 {Reshevsky aims
for Q-side play immediately which is a good plan if black chooses a K-Indian
setup. But, whta if he doesn't? Is white's setup was effective?} 5... g6
{Black often plays 5...f6 here which white meets by continuing his Q-side
expansion with 6. c5. There is not a lot of experience with this line.} 6. d3
Bg7 7. g3 a5 8. b5 Nd7 9. Ba3 {A most unusual place for the B! From here it
hinders the advance of black's e-Pawn which never does move.} 9... b6 10. Bg2
Bb7 11. Nbd2 {Reshevsky's strategy has paid off because if black plays
11...Ngf6 the B is blocked from defending the d-Pawn and after 12.O-O white's
B on g2 is defended and he threatens Nxd4.} 11... Nh6 {Black has to play this
rather awkward move so he can castle.} 12. O-O O-O 13. Ng5 {Here Reshevsky
seems to head down the wrong path as establishing a N on e4 does not yield him
anything. Stepping up the pressure on the d-Pawn with 13.Nb3 seems like a
better idea. Also, the disappearance of his light squared B is going to be
felt.} 13... Bxg2 14. Kxg2 Rc8 15. Re1 Nf5 16. Nge4 {Denker suggested the
interesting 16.g4 and thought white may be better. Actually, after 17.Kh3 Ne5
the Ns get traded off and the chances are about equal.} 16... h5 {Horowitz is
preparing to play an eventual ...h4 in an attempt to weaken white's K-side.}
17. Rc1 Re8 18. Qb3 Qc7 {This doesn't seem to be an especially good
idea...placing the Q opposite white' R. He probably should have played
18...Ne5.} 19. c5 bxc5 20. Nxc5 Nxc5 {It's hard to see what's wrong with
Reshevsky's next move. He enjoys a slight advantage here owing to his play on
the Q-side, but his next move allows Horowitz to turn the tables.} 21. Bxc5 {A
surprising oversight. Reshevsky made a few of these little tactcal oversight
in his career which is surprising because in spite of the perception many had
of him, he was not unskilled in tactics. He should have taken with the R.
After 21.Rxc5 Qb7 22.Kg1 he would have been better.} 21... Bh6 {Attacking the
undefended and pinned N suddenly puts white on the defensive.} 22. Re2 {Yet
another mistake. It leaves the N pinned and the R on c1 undefended. Better
would have been 22.f4 but after 22...Ne3 black is suddenly much better.}
22... Qb7+ {Launching a winning attack seemingly out of nowhere.} 23. Kg1 h4
{Now if 24.Ba3 Bxd2 25.Rxd2 h3 25.f4 e5 and black has a winning attack.} 24.
g4 h3 25. f4 Bxf4 26. gxf5 Be3+ {and mates next move. Reshevsky's sudden and
total collapse must have come as a real shock.} 0-1

Bobby Fischer’s Correspondence Career

      If you didn’t know he had one, neither did I until I came into possession of the out of print The Unknown Bobby Fischer by Donaldson and Tangborn.  I love this book! Published in 1999 the book chapters describe his career: The Early Years, 1956-The Big One, 1957-The Big Breakthrough, 1960-1965, Fischer’s 1965 Transcontinental Tour, Articles 70s Simuls-Blitz, Fischer’s Originality-Analysis-Suggestions-Interviews plus 24 photos.  If you can find this book used don't hesitate...buy it!

      Bobby's career as a correspondence player is a bit of a mystery. His mentor, John W. Collins, who was a strong postal master and wrote a correspondence chess column for Chess Review, writes in My Seven Chess Prodigies: Bobby never played correspondence chess. Probably the pace was too slow and the dramatic personal confrontation, which is such a large part of the excitement of the game, was lacking. Consulting books while the game was in progress would not be his idea of legitimate chess either. In fact, very few grandmasters, and potential grandmasters, with the notable exception of Paul Keres in his formative years, have cottoned to correspondence chess. This is in contrast to its popularity with experts and lower-rated players who delight in it. Possibly the difference of appeal is due to the reasons just mentioned, to preference for public or private competition, or to causes which are psychological in nature.

Here’s the real story from The Unknown Bobby Fischer:

      Actually, Bobby did play in at least one correspondence tournament. The reason Collins didn't know about it is because he first met Bobby on Memorial Day Weekend in 1 956.  By then Bobby's short-lived postal career appears to have either finished or been winding down.

      The first indication that Bobby played correspondence chess appears in Legend on the Road. There, on page 12, Donald P. Reithel, who played Bobby during his 1964 simul tour, writes: In 1955 I played Bobby in postal chess - a prize tourney in Chess Review. I remember him as a typical American kid: Brooklyn Dodger fan, somewhat opinionated about school and somewhat desirous to exchange ideas and thoughts. He printed his name in lower case letters, "bobby fischer." He didn't finish the event because he was starting to play over-the-board tournaments.

In a later communication, Reithal added:  A. W. Conger was one of my opponents in [a] Chess Review Prize Tourney . . . [a player named Fisher played in 54-P 38-100] . . . That is the event Bobby Fischer competed in . .
      For myself, I discarded many of my early tournament results and no longer have my scorepads covering that period of time. I did have several of Bobby's cards, but they too were tossed out in Spring cleanups. What was interesting about them was that Bobby had notes on all of them covering various subjects.
       Our individual game was a King's Indian Defense (I was White) and the game lasted 1 2- 1 5 moves when he wrote me that he was withdrawing from the tourney to pursue a lengthy cross-country trip and series of over-the-board tournaments, which, he said, was his entry toward capturing the world chess title - build skills, gain exposure, make results and earn a reputation. A year or two later he won the U.S. Championship for the first time and he was true to his word.
       I did not find his comments to be egotistic, but rather showing youthful optimism and self confidence as to his talent and ability. We shared considerable note exchanges, as I was only a teen myself and I think he related to that, as we had similar interests outside of just chess. I recall responding to his direct statement that he intended to win the world championship and return it to the USA, advising him to complete his education which he would need to handle his affairs during his adulthood.
      His response was that I sounded just like his sister and teachers. His follow-up card listed only the moves. But then he responded in a more friendly way to my comments about his note . . .
       In all, I found him to be a rather lonesome kid who was trying to find himself and purpose. He no doubt caught the chess bug early and it was a burning fire inside him. Who exactly contributed toward his maturity, I cannot say.
       He told me he studying the Bible and I wrote that he might find Rev. Rice and Herbert W. Armstrong and Garner Ted Armstrong's religious broadcasts informative, which he apparently checked out, as he later became interested in the latter's Worldwide Church of God.
       . . . I found him to be a nice, normal kid with a lot of dedication to chess, but also having interests that all kids seem to share. He was a Dodger fan and I a Yankee fan. Maybe that it is why we hit it off. Anyway, I followed his career and was most pleased that his youthful dream was fulfilled.

      AI Horowitz's Chess Review was one of the major organizers of correspondence tournaments in the 1950s. The record is spotty, but it appears Bobby played in a Prize Tourney section during 1955 and 1 956. The May 1955 issue of Chess Review, on page
159, lists an R. Fischer under new postalites, assigning him a Class B (1200) rating. The piece mentions that newcomers to postal chess are "rated" on their estimated ability with Class A running from 1300 on up.  Class B was from 1000-1298. Note that the postal ratings were about 500-600 points lower than over-the-board USCF ratings at the time.
       Postal ratings appeared in Chess Review approximately twice a year. The August 1955 issue (p. 252) lists a B. Fischer at 1198. Later he drops to 1082 in March 1 956. The August 1956 issue again lists him at 1082 which suggests that he was no longer active.
       The following game is the only correspondence effort of Bobby's that we have discovered.  A.W Conger of Pennsylvania was rated 1274 in the August 1955 issue of Chess Review. It first appeared in Zugzwang, the newsletter of the King of Prussia Chess Club which is located in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia.
       Fischer resigned on move 12 after dropping a Pawn, but engine analysis shows his game was still playable but despite what the engine says, it would have been difficult and we know Fischer did not like passive positions.  It’s just a guess, but I suspect he resigned in disgust, being ruled by his emotions rather than hard analysis.

Moore Mauled by Newlander

     There used to be and still are many players who prefer to avoid or are unable to play in over the board tournaments. 

     For some correspondence chess is just enjoyable or it may be that they are theorists who enjoy searching for objective truth no matter where it leads. Finding the right move in the allotted time of over-the-board play can be difficult and it may spoil the enjoyment of their quest for perfection. A few have excelled in both OTB and correspondence play though. 

     According to Harry Golombek in his Encyclopedia of Chess, the earliest correspondence game was reputedly played between Henry I of England and Louis VI of France. He also lists Catherine the Great of Russia, Frederick the Great of Prussia, and Voltaire as other famous correspondence players. However, the earliest correspondence games for which the moves were recorded took place in 1804 and were between F. W. de Mauvillion of Breda and an officer at The Hague. 

     In correspondence play assistance including books, databases and sometimes chess programs are often allowed. Books and databases are almost universally acceptable, but organizations (and players!) vary as to whether chess engine use is acceptable..

     Most OTB players have never taken correspondence players very seriously. I remember one incident in pre-engine days in which free entry into an OTB tournament was offered to masters and when a correspondence master tried to enter he was denied the free entry. The tournament director's opinion, correct I think even before engines, was that an OTB master and a correspondence master are not the same thing. 

     And, some time in the late 1960s I had a correspondence game published in Chess Review that was annotated by John W. Collins. Ego deflation came when I went to the chess club and only one guy out of about 40 had seen it. "Nice game," he said. 

      I started postal play in the Correspondence Chess League of America, but eventually switched to Al Horowitz' Chess Review. It's amusing how Horowitz posted the results of the tournaments in the magazine. In Chess Review's reporting of postal game results players didn't just win, lose or draw or get a coldblooded 1, 0 or 1/2. No, players got beat, topped, hit, downed, halted, jolted, felled, ripped, licked, mauled, overcome, etc. Often the result rhymed with one of the players' names. 

     Here's a sharp postal game from a Chess Review tournament that was played back in 1952. When looking over those old games it must be remembered that most of them were played by non-masters and the only assistance available in the early days was Reuben Fine's Practical Chess Openings and later Modern Chess Openings. These books were so popular that almost all the published games had the PCO or MCO page, column and note reference listed at the beginning of the game. In the following game enjoy watching Moore get mauled by Newlander.

 

[Event "Chess Review Postal Tmt"] [Site "?"] [Date "1952.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Robert Moore"] [Black "Roger Newlander"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C55"] [Annotator "Stockfish 14.1 "] [PlyCount "34"] [EventDate "1952.??.??"] {Two Knights Defense} 1. e4 {Chess Review noted that this opening line was given in Fine's Practical Chess Openings on page 456, column 39, note j.} e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 {Inviting white to attack f7 with 4.Ng5. If white accepts the offer, the game quickly takes on a tactical character:} 4. O-O {4.Ng5 leads to more interesting play.} Nxe4 {While not as popular as the much more common 4...Bc5 this move has result in considerably more success for black. Also playable is the somewhat drawish 4...Be7} 5. Re1 {The main book line is 5. Nc3, but the best move is 5.Bd5. The logical looking move played is inferior.} (5. Bd5 {is better.} Nf6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. Nxe5 {with equal chances.}) 5... d5 6. Bb5 Bc5 7. d4 exd4 8. Nxd4 O-O {This has all been played many times and black is, according to the engines, winning by a wide margin. Even so, white's next move is very bad.} 9. Bxc6 {Unlike in checkers, in chess capture are not obligatory.} (9. c3 {was his best move, but black gets a terrific position after} Qh4 10. Rf1 Bd6 11. g3 Qh3 12. Be2 Nf6 13. Nd2 Ng4 14. Bxg4 Bxg4 15. f3 Bd7 {White, in addition to being a P down, has a very passive position.}) 9... Nxf2 {Collins comment sums it up - Real sharp! It wins.} 10. Qd2 (10. Kxf2 { is refuted by} Qf6+ {Equally good was 10...Qh5+} 11. Kg1 Qxd4+ (11... Bxd4+ 12. Kh1 bxc6 13. Rf1 Bg4 14. Qd3 Qe5 {Here, too, black has a won position, but it's not quite so good as capturing with the Q.}) 12. Qxd4 Bxd4+ 13. Kh1 bxc6 14. Nd2 Bf5 15. c3 Bb6 {Black has a strategically won position.}) 10... Ne4 11. Qd3 (11. Rxe4 {Sacrificing the exchange won't do.} dxe4 12. c3 bxc6 {Black is winning.}) 11... Qh4 {This is even stronger than taking the B.} 12. g3 (12. Rf1 {This isn't really any better.} bxc6 13. Be3 Bd6 14. Nf3 Qh5 15. Nc3 Re8 { and here, too, black has a strategically won position.}) 12... Nxg3 {Of course! } 13. Bxd5 (13. Qxg3 Qxg3+ 14. hxg3 Bxd4+ 15. Be3 Bxb2 {wraps it up.}) (13. hxg3 Bxd4+ 14. Be3 Qxg3+ 15. Kf1 Qf3+ 16. Kg1 Bh3 17. Qd2 Rfe8 18. Bxe8 Rxe8 19. Qf2 Qg4+ 20. Kh1 Bg2+ 21. Qxg2 Qh4+ 22. Qh2 Qxe1+ {wins. It's mate in 16!}) 13... Bxd4+ 14. Be3 (14. Kg2 Bh3+ 15. Kf3 Qg4#) 14... Nf5 {Threatening ... Qxe1+ and the B on e3. White has no hope.} 15. Nc3 Nxe3 16. Rxe3 Qg4+ 17. Kh1 ( 17. Kf2 Qf4+ {also wins.}) 17... Bxe3 {White resigned. Black's R and 2 Ps are just too much to fight against. Moore got mauled.} 0-1

If you play chess, you are in fast company

Ben Affleck plays chess at the Bel Air Chess Club.

Actor Claude Akins (1918-1994) was an enthusiastic chess player.
Actor Alan Alda (MASH)
Actor Mike Farrell (MASH)
Lew Ayers (1908-1996) played chess.
Lauren Bacall, who was age 20 when she married 45-year old Humphrey Bogart, played chess. She was on the cover of the June-July 1945 issue of Chess Review, along with Bogart, Charles Boyer, and Herman Steiner.
John and Lionel Barrymore (brothers) played.
Actress Polly Bergen plays chess. She said that Gregory Peck taught her chess between scenes when they both starred in Cape Fear in 1962.
Humphrey Bogart. His most famous chess scene was studying a chess position in Casablanca. Bogart was a very active member of Herman Steiner's Chess Club. He was a USCF tournament director and active in the California State Chess Association. During WW2 Bogart played correspondence chess with troops stations overseas.  His rating was estimated to be somewhere between expert and master.
Charles Boyer (1899-1978) was a chess and checker player. A picture of him playing chess appeared several times in chess magazines such as Chess Review and Chess.
Marlon Brando (1924-2004) played chess for relaxation at home and while on the set of most of his movies.
Producer Mel Brooks took some lessons from US Senior Master Kim Commons.  Commons also had the entire Jefferson Airplane among his students. Brooks had a few chess scenes in some of his movies such as Blazing Saddles and History of the World: Part I.
Nicholas Cage. In 1999, Cage started having his son Weston, age 9, take chess lessons from Robert Snyder.  Snyder was arrested and convicted for multiple sexual assaults involving children dating back to 1983 and was featured on America's Most Wanted  after fleeing Colorado while still on supervised probation in 2008.  He was found in Belize, and on March 30, 2010 after pleading guilty, he was given an open (up to life) sentence. Cage is a member of the Internet Chess Club. Little known fact: Cage is the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola.
NBA basketball player Wilt Chamberlain (1936-1999) played chess and backgammon. He lived in Bel Air, California and once invited Fischer to dinner at his house, but Fischer didn't want to meet any other people, so declined.
Charlie Chaplin (1899-1977) played chess and in 1921, he met with Sammy Reshevsky when Reshevsky giving a simultaneous exhibition at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. Chaplin mentioned his meeting in his autobiography.
TV radio and talk show host Les Crane played chess and sponsored chess tournaments.   In the 1980s, he became chairman of The Software Toolworks , creators of Chessmaster 2000 in 1986. Software Toolworks was sold and renamed Mindscape in the early 1990s.
Bobby Darin (1936-1973) was about to sponsor the richest tournament ever, the Bobby Darin International Chess Classic, but he died during a heart operation in Los Angeles. He was playing chess just before he went into surgery.  His wife, Sandra Dee, was also a chess player. Bobby Darin's son, Dodd, runs a chess publishing house
Actor Henry Darrow (starred in the western, High Chaparral) was a good player. He played and won a few chess tournaments. He claimed to have played Fischer and drew a game with Boris Spassky.
Olivia de Havilland plays both chess and Go.  Her father was one of the first non-Japanese persons to be a Go master.
Actor Dustin Diamond (Screech in Saved by the Bell) has a USCF rating around 1400.  In 2001, he made a 4-hour chess video called Dustin Diamond Teaches Chess. He took a few chess lessons from Grandmaster Roman Dzindzihashvili.
Marlene Dietrich (1904-1992) played chess. She played several games against John Wayne during lulls in film shooting. She was a spectator at the 1945 Hollywood Pan-American Chess Tournament.
Tony Dow, film producer, director, sculptor and television star (Leavbe it to Beaver) plays chess.
Jerry  Mathers, Television (Leave it ti Beaver), film and stage actor.
Erik Estrada plays chess and is rated about 1400 by the USCF.
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (1909-2000) played.
Morgan Fairchild plays. She once hosted a charity chess event in Mexico.
Peter Falk was a spectator at chess events such as the American Open in Santa Monica. He used chess in some of his scenes in Columbo. In 1973, an episode called "The Most Dangerous Match" was about an American chess champion who murders the Russian champion.
Jose Ferrer (1909-1992) was an enthusiastic player. He took lessons and played chess at Herman Steiner's chess club (which became the Hollywood Chess Club).
Heidi Fleiss, Hollywood madam who went to prison in 1993 played chess and spent much of her time playing chess and teaching others. She claimed she won two city championships when she was younger.
Henry Fonda (1905-1982) played chess.
Zsa Zsa Gabor said she played chess on her honeymoon with George Sanders.
Ava Gardner (1922-1990) was married to Artie Shaw, and they both played chess. When she started beating him in chess, he stopped playing her.
Woody Harrelson (Cheers) played a consultation game with Gary Kasparov in Prague, drawing in 30 moves.
Ted Danson (Cheers) also played but said but said Harrelson was stronger.
Katharine Hepburn (1909-2003) played chess, often with Humphrey Bogart.
Kate Jackson (Charlie's Angels). She owns a chess computer and plays against it rather than watch television.
Actress Myrna Loy (1905-1993) played and was mentioned in Chess Life and Chess Review magazines and was a member of Herman Steiner's chess club.
Anthony Quinn (1915-2001) was an avid player who played between movie takes with anyone who was interested. Quinn claims that the only person to constantly beat him in chess was David Niven.
Basil Rathbone (1892-1967) played.
Man Ray (1890-1996), famous photographer and painter, played chess. He designed several chess sets and hoped one of his designs would become the standard for the World Chess Federation.
Keanu Reeves was a chess hustler in Toronto and played on his high school team.
Julia Roberts plays chess and has requested chess sets available in her trailer when making a movie.
Actor and restaurant owner Mike Romanoff (1890-1971) was a strong player. He played many games against Humphrey Bogart and in 1946 won $100 from Bogart in a chess game played at Romanoff's restaurant. That evening, Bogart went home, then called Romanoff to play one more game over the phone for another $100. Romanoff agreed, then lost the game. Bogart just happened to have Herman Steiner over his house, and Bogart's moves were really made by Steiner.
Arnold Schwarzenegger plays chess and in 2002 he played a friendly game with Kasparov. His wife, Maria Shriver, and their four children all play chess. He says that he relied on chess to keep him awake on movie sets.
George C. Scott (1927-1999). During the filming of Dr. Strangelove, he played chess constantly with director Stanly Kubrick. Kubrick won most of the games.
Will Smith is an avid chess player. In 1998, he began taking chess lessons from Robert Snyder.  Smith wrote the forward to Grandmaster Maurice Ashley's Chess for Success.
Actor Jesse Vint plays chess and in 1987 he won First Runner-Up in the World Celebrity Chess Championship held in Mazatlan, Mexico. In 1988, he won the World Celebrity Chess Championship at the Century Plaza in Los Angeles.
John Wayne (1907-1979) played chess between shots while making movies.
Director Billy Wilder (1906-2002) played chess.
Actor Guy Williams (1924-1999) who played swashbuckling action heroes in the 1950s and 1960s was a chess player. When he lived in New York, he spent his time at the Manhattan Chess Club and was a member. He lived near Central Park and went to the park often to play chess. He later played chess against a variety of computer chess programs.
Actor William Windom (September 28, 1923 - August 16, 2012) was an active player who was rated in the mid-1600's by the USCF.

Others known to dabble in chess: Woody Allen, Sarah Bernhardt, Richard Boone (Have Gun, Will Travel), Shirley Booth (Hazel)  Marlon Brando, Mel Brooks, Sid Caesar, Cher, Lee J Cobb, Charles Coburn, Bill Cosby, Macaulay Culkin (Home Alone), Timothy Dalton (James Bond), James Darren, Dustin Diamond, Marlene Dietrich, Hugh Downs, Mia Farrow, Jose Ferrer, Errol Flynn, Henry Fonda, Michael J Fox, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Ava Gardner, Lorne Greene (Bonanza), Sydney Greenstreet, Rex Harrison, Katherine Hepburn, Charlton Heston, Alfred Hitchcock, Bob Hope, Anthony Hopkins, Dennis Hopper, John Huston, Sam Jaffe (Dr. Zorba on Ben Casey), Don Johnson, Boris Karloff, Ben Kingsley, Stanley Kubrick, Jude Law, David Letterman, Peter Lorre, Myna Loy, Bela Lugosi, Marcel Marceau, Dean Martin, Steve Martin, the Marx brothers, James Mason, Walter Matthau, Patrick McGoohan, Ray Milland, Carmen Miranda, Yves Montand, Rick Moranis, Frank Morgan (Oz in Wizard of Oz), Paul Neuman, David Niven, Chuck Norris, Maureen O'Sullivan, Gregory Peck, George Peppard, Walter Pidgeon, Jason Priestley (90210), Dennis Quiad, Tony Randall, Chris Rock, Cesar Romaro, Jill Saint John, Susan Sarandon, Tom Selleck, Peter Sellers, Omar Sharif, Jimmy Stewart, Oliver Stone, Barbra Streisand, Rod Taylor, Shirley Temple Black, Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner, Rudolph Valentino, Ray Walston (My Favorite Martian), Orson Welles and James Whitmore.

Sports figures: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Boris Becker, Larry Bird, Jim Bouton, Jim Brown, Kobe Bryant, Jennifer Capriati, Reggie Carter, Bill Cartwright, Michael Chang, Sean Elliot, Roger Federer, Ron Guidry, Evander Holyfield, Bobby Jones, Chuck Knox, Ivan Lendl, Lennox Lewis, John McEnroe, Thurman Munson, Dale Murphy, Barry Sanders, Latrell Sprewell, Gene Tunney, Bill Walsh, Bill Walton, and Emil Zatopek.

Musicians: Bono (U-2), Sonny Bono, David Bowie, Enrico Caruso, Pablo Casals, Ray Charles, Chopin, Bobby Darrin, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Sticky Fingaz (Onyx), Dizzy Gillespie, the entire group in Jefferson Airplane,  Grace Slick, Gene Kupra, Lohn Lennon, Sean Lennon, LL COOL J, Madonna, Johnny Marks (wrote several famous Christmas songs) Yehudi Menuin, Moby, Grahan Nash (Crosby, Stills, and Nash), Willie Nelson, Yoko Ono, Louis Persinger, Gregor Piatigorsky, Helen Reddy, Tim Rice, David Lee Roth, Arthur Rubinstein, Artie Shaw, Frank Sinatra, Ringo Starr, Isaac Stern, and Sting.

Writers:  Cleveland Amory, Isaac Asimov, Frank Baum (Wizard of Oz), Art Buchwald, Lewis Carroll, Cervantes, Charles Dickens, Dostoevsky, Arthur Conan Doyle, George Elliot, Goethe, O. Henry, Ibsen, Ben Jonson, Kipling, Sinclair Lewis, Jack London, Norman Mailer, Hermann Melville, Vladimir Nobokov, George Orwell, Edgar Allen Poe, Pushkin, Peter Roget (of thesaurus fame), Salman Rushdie, William Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, Isaac Singer, John Steinbeck, Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe), Tennyson, Walter Tevis (The Hustler), Tolstoy, Kurt Vonnegut, H.G. Wells, William Yeats, and Stefan Zweig.

Politicians:John Quincy Adams, Spiro Agnew, Yasser Arafat, Menachem Begin, Napoleon Bonaparte, Willy Brandt, Zbigniew Brzesinski, Aaron Burr, Jimmy Carter, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Grover Cleveland, Francisco Franco, Benjamin Franklin, Muammar Gadaffi, James Garfield, Joseph Goebbels, Ulysses S Grant, H.R. Halderman, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ivan the Terrible, Thomas Jefferson, John F Kennedy Jr, Henry Kissinger, Lenin, Abraham Lincoln, James Madison, Ferdinand Marcos, Karl Marx, Juan Peron, Richard Riordan (former mayor of Los Angeles), Theodore Roosevelt, Anwar Sadat, Pierre Salinger, Josip Tito, Leon Trotsky, and Woodrow Wilson.

Miscellaneous: Bill Gates, Bob Guccione (publisher of Penthouse), George Custer, Robert E. Lee, John Pershing, P.T. Barnum, Al Capone, Casanova, John Hinkley (tried to assassinate President Reagan), Harry Houdini, Timothy Leary, Lee Harvey Oswald, Willie Sutton (bank robber), Sigmond Freud, Voltaire, Billy Graham, Stephen Hawking, Robert Oppenheimer, Charles Kuralt, Hernando De Soto, Francisco Pizarro, Atahualpa, and Auguste Piccard.

Tearing Down A Tattered Ensign

     When I grew up almost all chess literature was in descriptive notation and that’s the way I recorded my games. And, because I learned chess mostly by reading books, I used "Kt" for Knight because that’s the way it appeared in books. I didn’t know there was another way to do it...namely using an "N" for the Knight. My games were recorded thus: 

1.P-K4 P-K4 
2.Kt-KB3 Kt-QB3 
3.B-Kt5 etc. 

    And, it was many years before I changed. But, I wasn’t alone. Looking at the letters to the editor in the January 1944 issue of Chess Review, there was a debate raging over whether or not the Knight should be recorded as Kt or N. Here is just a sampling of the letters published: 

John P. Scott of California wrote, “I think the only reason N isn’t used...is because enough courageous pioneers have not raised their voice in protest against an outmoded custom. I raise mine now! N for Knight!” 

A.W. Liger of Massachusetts said, “Since chess is a logical game, any shortening of notation is also logical...including clarity, time, ink saving, paper saving, reduction of eye strain.” But not all wanted change. 

C. Rosenfeld of Texas asked, “Would you tear down the tattered ensign Kt? Many an eye has danced to see that banner a-flutter on fields wet with heroes’ blood, where fought the glorious armies of Morphy, Pillsbury, Marshall, Lasker, Capablanca, Horowitz and others of the host of the mighty.” and added, “Chess is as much tradtion as a game. Let us keep all the lore and trappings.” 

G. Englehardt of Connecticut said, “This chess is an old game. Let’s keep it a-going as it is. The Kt has been used for hundreds of years; why change?” 

     Chess Review editor Al Horowitz issued a rather long reply, “Readers have expressed themselves fully and with much freedom on this subject. Those who prefer N believe that the use of this symbol...prevents typographical errors, makes it easier to read and write game scores, avoids confusion between King and Knight (pieces or squares) and other reasons. For these and other reason, 121 readers voted for N.” 

     “Opposed were 29 readers who voted to retain Kt. Main reason given: that a change would be breaking tradition. Secondary reason: that confusion would exist if two symbols if two symbols were used in publication.” 

     Horowitz then went on to explain, “To the editors of Chess Review, the arguments of the large majority in favor of N seem logical and convincing. The contrary argument that two symbols would cause confusion bears some weight, but a simple announcement would acquaint readers accustomed to Kt with the change and enable them to readily follow game scores...It is our belief and experience that most chess players in this country use the symbol N in their own recording. Practically all postal players use N. Some magazines and newspaper columnists have long since adopted N. However, most books are published with the symbol Kt, although at least one (Comparative Chess by Frank J. Marshall) has used the letter N.” 

     “As to tradition, some readers seem to be under a misapprehension in this respect. The traditional name of the piece would not be changed in any way. The Knight would remain a Knight, it would not be referred to as Nite. It is merely a symbol...” 

    “No iconoclasts, the Editors...have no desire to break tradition just to see the pieces fly. It should be realized that descriptive notation has been changed many times in the past, that tradition in this respect is one of constant change.”

    Horowitz then devoted a couple of paragraphs chronicling the changes in descriptive notation. He then concluded, “Prior commitments prevent the immediate adoption of the symbol N by Chess Review. However, when serials now appearing in the magazine are completed, the change will be made. Announcement will appear at that time.” 
     Chess games appearing in newspapers and magazines of the day were a mixed bag; the West Virginia Chess Bulletin used N while the New York Times used Kt. The Australian magazine Check! used N as did Purdy's Chess World, but The Australasian Chess Review preferred Kt as did the British Chess Magazine.  Eventually we all, in the words of C. Rosenfeld, tore down the tattered ensign Kt.
     Later there was to be another big brouhaha when publications switched over to algebraic notation, but by that time I had become owner of a number of European chess books that used it, so it was no mystery. The only problem was that when I began recording my games they were often a mix of both descriptive and algebraic, but I eventually got it straight. 
   
     While on the subject of recording games, Viktor Korchnoi recorded his games in what appears to be Martian: