The Chess Board

[MorningLightMountain]

Semi-chess-master Humphrey Bogart:




some of his games:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=65398

Bogart was an excellent chess player, almost of master strength. Before he made any money from acting, he would hustle players for dimes and quarters, playing in New York parks and at Coney Island. The chess scenes in Casablanca had not been in the original script, but were put in at his insistence. A chess position from one of his correspondence games appears in the movie, although the image is a little blurred. He achieved a draw in a simultaneous exhibition given in 1955 at Beverly Hills by the famous chess Grandmaster Samuel Reshevsky and also played against George Koltanowski in San Francisco in 1952 (Koltanowski played blindfolded but still won in 41 moves).[118]
Bogart was a United States Chess Federation tournament director and active in the California State Chess Association, and a frequent visitor to the Hollywood chess club. The cover of the June–July 1945 issue of Chess Review showed Bogart playing with Charles Boyer, as Lauren Bacall (who also played) looks on. In June 1945, in an interview in the magazine Silver Screen, when asked what things in life mattered most to him, he replied that chess was one of his main interests. He added that he played chess almost daily, especially between film shootings. He loved the game all his life.[119]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphrey_Bogart#Chess


But chess was more than a purely intellectual and creative pursuit for Bogie. In his biography 'Bogart and Bacall', Joe Hyams writes, After the Crash of `29 Bogart was reduced to making eating money playing chess at the numerous "sportlands" on Sixth Avenue. For a bet of fifty cents a game he played all comers. Bogart was both a good chess player and hungry, and he won more than he lost. He soon landed a job at an arcade , where he sat in the window playing chess for a dollar a game. Most often he had only a doughnut and coffee for lunch.

http://www.bogieonline.com/chess.htm

Note: I have note been able to pin down any exact ratings for Bogie, but most seem to estimate he would be about a 2100 rated player if he were around today. Very Impressive, as any chess player would attest to.....I've played and studied this game for almost my entire life, and never got that high......yet!!!

(Bogart's rating would probably be equivalent to modern 2100.)

http://www.chesslab.com/bogartchess.htm

PLAY IT (AGAIN) SAM!!!!!