In the long, fluctuating history of chess, since it was first discovered in India some time around 6 AD, the number of heads-of-state who are familiar with the game becomes noticeable. That chess has been called the “royal” game, is, perhaps, not a coincidence. At times, heads are imitated by their foreign and defence ministers in recognition of the game and its limitless possibilities. Such a scenario is understandable since chess has embedded itself into the world’s culture and vocabulary. Ideas, terms and images have long been used as proxies for intelligence.
At various points in history, chess became a powerful analogy for, and featured prominently in, global politics. Bobby Fischer is the most famous example of this occurrence. While he became a hero and legend for his chess-playing abilities, and reanimated chess with new courage and radical ideas, Fischer simultaneously became valuable to American politics. At the pinnacle of the cold war, when the ignominious Berlin Wall was still in place, Fischer’s defeat of Soviet world chess champion Boris Spassky demonstrated to the world that the idea of the American free market system was more than likely superior to Soviet communism.
Supposedly, whether playing chess is important to world politics or not, its adherents seem to be deep political thinkers. Consider a few examples: in Guyana Forbes Burnham and David Granger both played chess at Queen’s College and both were accomplished, staying with the game long after their formative chess-playing years. Both placed their mark on the structure of local chess. And both became heads-of-state and government. Further afield, some of the most influential politicians in history played chess. A random selection includes Willy Brandt, Germany’s fourth Chancellor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate; Angela Merkel, Germany’s first female Chancellor, who collects large wooden chess pieces; Fidel Castro, former Cuban President who actually played against Fischer; Boris Yeltsin, Russian President who founded the Sverdlosk Chess Club with Anatoly Karpov; and Jacques Chirac, France’s president from 1995 to 2007.
In the US government chess players include: Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States who signed the Declaration of Independence (in 1768 he published an essay about checkmate that is still considered one of the two most popular publications about chess in America); George Washington, the first US president, who owned a set of ivory chess pieces that is on display at the National Museum in Washington, DC; John Adams, who has his chess set on display at the Smithsonian Museum; Thomas Jefferson; Abraham Lincoln; Theodore Roosevelt; Franklin D Roosevelt, who enjoyed duelling Henry Ford; John F Kennedy; Jimmy Carter, who wanted to be a chess master after he left the White House; Bill Clinton, who still supports chess lessons in schools and Barack Obama, who plays chess with his wife Michelle.
if you take my Queen, you’ll have to keep her!!!
The world leaders mentioned would have been referred to as ‘kings’ in ancient times. The list is tiny, far from complete, and naturally does not cover the number of world leaders who encountered chess, and were enamoured by its eternal flame.
In addition to the leaders, there were and are others of influence, especially foreign and defence ministers, who played chess, and who influenced policy in a significant manner. Emperor Napoleon’s famous foreign minister Perigord Talleyrand comes immediately to mind although there are hosts of others who successfully influenced the thinking of their kings, queens and their bosses. Their leaders would say: ‘Left or right?’ And sometimes, ultimately, the Minister would determine whether the bishop, or alternatively, the knight, would be moved.
There is a story in the 48 Laws of Power about Talleyrand which is as directly amusing as it is insane. At the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), he blurted out what seemed to be a secret (actually it was something he had made up) and then examined his listeners’ reactions. Allow me to quote the lines: “He might tell a gathering of diplomats, for instance, that a reliable source had revealed to him that the czar of Russia was planning to arrest his top generals for treason. By watching the diplomats’ reactions to this made-up story, he would know which ones were most excited by the weakening of the Russian army; perhaps their governments had designs on Russia?” A Baron von Stetten described Talleyrand’s brilliant manoeuvre at the Vienna Congress in this way: “Monsieur Talleyrand fires a pistol into the air to see who will jump out the window.”
Chess players like Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Judah P Benjamin, Henry Clay, Cyrus Vance, Ernesto Che Guevara, et al, intentionally, or unintentionally, had a hand in shaping the manner in which we exist today. One would recall it was Kissinger who paved the way for president Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China in 1972 moving the US and China toward a détente, popularly called ‘Ping Pong Diplomacy.’ Brzezinski named his book discussing foreign policy The Grand Chessboard. These ministers were all consummate courtiers representing their kings, queens and bosses deftly and with aplomb. Perhaps it’s just a coincidence that they and their leaders were, and are, well versed in the complexities of playing chess. The problem is, I never believed in coincidences.
Chess games
The games have been taken from the 2015 Norway Grand Chess Tour which is ongoing and features a collection of eight of the top ten chess players in the world: Magnus Carlsen 1, Viswanathan Anand 2, Fabiano Caruana 3, Hikaru Nakamura 4, Veselin Topalov 5, Alexander Grischuk 6, Anish Giri 9, Levon Aronian 10, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 12 and Jon Ludvig Hammer 75. Notable absentees are Vladimir Kramnik and Wesley So who had other commitments.
White Magnus Carlsen]
Black Veselin Topalov
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 Nd7 8.Rc1 g6 9.Be2 Bg7 10.cxd5 exd5 11.b4 a6 12.a4 O-O 13.b5 axb5 14.axb5 Qd6 15.O-O Nb6 16.Qb3 Rb8 17.Nd1 Bf5 18.Nb2 Rfc8 19.Nd3 Bxd3 20.Qxd3 c5 21.dxc5 Rxc5 22.h4 Na4 23.h5 Rbc8 24.Rxc5 Nxc5 25.Qc2 gxh5 26.Nd4 Qg6 27.Nf5 Bf8 28.Rd1 Qe6 29.Rc1 Nb3 30.Qxc8 Nxc1 31.Qxc1 Qxf5 32.Qc7 Qb1+ 33.Bf1 d4 34.exd4 Qd1 35.Qe5 Bg7 36.Qe8+ Bf8 37.Qd8 Kg7 38.Qd5 b6 39.Qe5+ Kg8 40.Qf6 Bg7 41.Qxb6 Bxd4 42.Qxh6 Qg4 43.Qd6 Qd1 44.Qd8+ Kh7 45.Qc7 Kg7 46.b6 Qg4 47.b7 Qh4 48.g3 Qf6 49.Qc2 Qe5 50.Qd3 Ba7 51.Qf3 Qf6 52.Qe2 Qc3 53.Kh2 Qd4 54.Qf3 Bb8 55.Kh3 Bc7 56.Be2 Bb8 57.Bd1 f5 58.Be2 f4 59.Qxh5 Qxf2 60.Qg5+ Kf7 0-1.
White Fabiano Caruana
Black Magnus Carlsen
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. h3 h6 10. Rd1+ Ke8 11. Nc3 Ne7 12. b3 Bf5 13. Nd4 Bh7 14. Bb2 Rd8 15. Nce2 Nd5 16. c4 Nb4 17. Nf4 Rg8 18. g4 Na6 19. Nf5 Nc5 20. Rxd8+ Kxd8 21. Rd1+ Kc8 22. Ba3 Ne6 23. Nxe6 Bxa3 24. Nexg7 Bf8 25. e6 Bxf5 26. Nxf5 fxe6 27. Ng3 Be7 28. Kg2 Rf8 29. Rd3 Rf7 30. Nh5 Bd6 31. Rf3 Rh7 32. Re3 Re7 33. f4 Ba3 34. Kf3 Bb2 35. Re2 Bc3 36. g5 Kd7 37. Kg4 Re8 38. Ng3 Rh8 39. h4 b6 40. h5 c5 41. g6 Re8 42. f5 exf5+ 43. Kf4 Rh8 44. Nxf5 Bf6 45. Rg2 1-0.
White Viswanathan Anand
Black Fabiano Caruana
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Nbd2 O-O 6. Bxc6 bxc6 7. Nxe5 Re8 8. Nef3 d5 9. O-O Bg4 10. h3 Bh5 11. Qe2 dxe4 12. Nxe4 h6 13. Be3 Nxe4 14. dxe4 Rxe4 15. Qd3 Bxf3 16. Qxd8+ Rxd8 17. Bxc5 Be2 18. Rfc1 a5 19. b3 a4 20. Re1 Rd2 21. Rac1 axb3 22. axb3 Rd5 23. Be3 Bh5 24. Ra1 Bg6 25. Ra7 Re7 26. c4 Rd8 27. Rea1 Bc2 28. b4 Rd1+ 29. Rxd1 Bxd1 30. b5 cxb5 31. cxb5 Re5 32. Rxc7 Rxb5 33. Rc5 Rxc5 34. Bxc5 Bc2 35. Bd6 Bd1 36. Bc5 Bc2 37. Bd6 Bd1 1/2-1/2.
White Anish Giri
Black Alexander Grischuk
1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. O-O Bg7 6. Re1 Rb8 7. h3 Qc7 8. c3 Nf6 9. e5 Nd5 10. c4 Nb4 11. d4 cxd4 12. a3 Na6 13. Qxd4 O-O 14. c5 d6 15. cxd6 exd6 16. exd6 Qb6 17. Qh4 Nc5 18. Be3 Qxb2 19. Nbd2 Nd7 20. Rab1 Qxa3 21. Rxb8 Nxb8 22. Bh6 Nd7 23. Bxg7 Kxg7 24. Qd4+ Kg8 25. Ne4 Re8 26. Kh2 a5 27. Nfg5 Rf8 28. Nf6+ Nxf6 29. Qxf6 Qa2 30. Re7 Bf5 31. Nxf7 Qxf7 32. Rxf7 Rxf7 33. Qd8+ Kg7 34. Qxa5 Bd7 35. Qc5 Rf5 36. Qa7 Rf7 37. g4 Kf6 38. f4 Kg7 39. Kg3 Kg8 40. Qe3 Kg7 41. h4 Kg8 42. Qe5 1-0.
