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Alfred Nobel |
The Nobel Prize is generally recognized as the highest international commendation an individual can receive. It is awarded to people or organizations that have made outstanding contributions to society. The original fields were chemistry, literature, peace, and physiology or medicine, with economics added later. A good number of Nobel Prize winners have played or written about chess.
In 1901, Emil Von Behring (1854-1917) won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of a diphtheria antitoxin. He suffered from depression and played chess to relieve his depression, although he hated losing. In September 1916, he had an operation and he became bedridden for the last 6 months of his life. During that period, he played with his doctor, Georg Magnus until he died. (Source: Emil Von Behring by Derek Linton, 2005, p. 386 and Pioneers of Microbiology and the Nobel Prize by Ulf Lagerkvist, 2003, p. 107) In 1902, Emil Fischer (1852-1919) won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for synthesizing methyl benzoate and caffeine. He was a talented chess player. (Source: Emil Fischer biography at http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/biograph/p3.htm) In 1903, Bjornstjerne Bjornson (1832-1910) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was fond of social games and was an avid chess player. He mentioned chess in some of his books such as Magnhild, The Fisher-Maiden, In God's Way, and Paul Lange and Tora Parsberg. In 1903, Pierre Curie (1859-1906) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in radiation. Growing up, one of his favorite amusements was chess. (Source: Pierre Curie, by Marie Curie, p. 13, 1923) In 1904, Frederic Mistral (1830-1914) shared the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was a chess player. (Source: Ford Madox Ford, France and Provence, by Dominique Lemarchal and Claire Davison-Pegon, 2011, p. 153) In 1904, John William Strutt (Lord Rayleigh) won the Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering argon. He was the president of the Essex County Chess Association from 1898 to 1901. In 1905, Bertha von Suttner (1843-1914) won the Nobel Peace Prize as a leading figure in the peace movement. In 1889, she wrote her pacifist novel, Die Waffen nieder! (Lay Down Your Arms!). She had several chess references in her book and wrote "Austria attacks and gives mate at the fourth move." In 1905, Robert Koch (1843-1910) was the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research in tuberculosis. He was an avid chess player. (Source: biography at http://www.famousscientists.org/robert-koch/ and Robert Koch, by Thomas Brock, 1988, p. 296) In 1905, Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote about chess in several of his works. He played chess in many of the Warsaw cafes. He wrote the historical novel The Knights of the Cross or The Teutonic Knights. The book was first serialized by the magazine Tygodnik Illustrowany, and then printed in book form in 1900. It was the first book to be printed in Poland at the end of World War II in 1945. The knights play chess in the evening. Other works of his where he mentions chess include Hania, Without Dogma, and With Fire and Sword. In 1906, Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the 26th U.S. President from 1901 to 1909. In his diaries of boyhood and youth, he mentions that in 1868, he visited The Crystal Palace and observed Ajeeb playing chess. He once played a game against the automaton Ajeeb when it came to America, and lost. He played chess during his hunting trips. In 1899, as New York governor, he followed the Universities Cable Match between the American and British Universities. He cabled the following message to London: "Executive Mansion, Albany, April 21, 1899. International University Teams, Knickerbocker Athletic club, New York: Gentlemen: As a graduate of one of the universities represented and a warm admirer of all of them, I heartily congratulate the members of the English and American university teams on their first international contest. Chess is, of course, the game of all games, in point of skill, of patience, of strategy and mental darling. May the best team win. Yours very cordially, Theodore Roosevelt." In 1906, he invited the chess players that played at Cambridge Springs to the White House. He kept a chess set at the White House. In 1906, Santiago Ramon y Cajal (1852-1934) shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He was a chess player who played in several tournaments, then lost interest in chess. In his autobiography, Recollections of My Life, we wrote, "In my opinion, far from exercising the intelligence, as many claim, chess warps it and wears it out." In 1907, Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was a chess player. He had a few chess references in some of his works. In 1908, he wrote The Light That Failed, where he wrote"...Nilghia, who had come for chess and remained to talk tactics..." In 1917, he wrote A Diversity of Creatures, in which he wrote: "I wish I'd brought chess, but I can't play chess. What can we do?" He mentioned chess in some of his works, such as Captain Courageous, Actions and Reactions, A Diversity of Creatures, and The Light That Failed. Chess is also mentioned in his short story, The Embroideress of Treviso. In 1907, Albert Michelson (1852-1931) won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the measurement of the speed of light. He listed chess, bridge, billiards, and tennis as his interests outside of physics. He participated in several chess tournaments in California and played a chess game against American champion, Frank Marshall. In 1908, Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915) shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his contributions to immunology. He may have been a chess player. He had a chess reference in his book Studies in Immunity written in 1910. He wrote, "...my position is like that of a chess-player who, even though his game is won, is forced by the obstinacy of his opponent to carry it on move by move until the final mate." In 1909, Selma Lagerlof (1858-1940) won the Nobel Prize in Literature, the first female writer to do so. She mentioned chess in some of her works such as Liliecrona's Home, Charlotte Lowenskold, and Anna Svard. In 1910, Paul Heyse (1830-1914) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He mentions chess in some of his works. In his novel The Children of the World, published in 1890, he wrote, "When the doctor entered, Balder was sitting at his turning lathe, making a set of ivory chess-men." He also wrote, "I vow not to touch knight or bishop for a month, until I have arranged my comedy." He mentioned chess in his book The Romance of the Canoness, about a lady's victory at chess over a baron. Chess is mentioned several times in his book, Barbaroosa and Other Tales. In 1912, Gerhart Hauptmann (1862-1946) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He mentions chess in some of his works. His play, Before Sunset, written in 1931, has a chess scene. A solitary actor seated a t a chess board playing over a game of chess). Chess is mentioned in some of his works such as Atlantis, Lonely Lives, and Colleague Crampton. In 1913, Alfred Werner (1866-1919) won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in modern coordination chemistry. His recreations included chess and billiards. (Source: https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1913/werner-bio.html) In 1913, Heike Onnes (1853-1926) won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the properties of matter at low temperatures and to the production of liquid helium. He was an avid chess player. In 1913, Charles Richet (1850-1935) won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in anaphylaxis and allergic reactions. He was a chess player. In 1915, Romain Rolland (1866-1944) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He mentions chess in some of his works. In his novel, Liluli, written in 1920, he wrote, "Diplomacy is a game of chess. The rules demand that, to win, one must lose pawns. The pawns are there; we have only to put them on the chess-board." In 1915, William Henry Bragg (1862-1942) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with his son, William Lawrence Bragg. They were awarded for their work in X-rays and crystal structure. Both were chess players. In 1915, William Lawrence Bragg (1890-1971) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in X-rays and crystal structure. He is the son of William Henry Bragg, who also won the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics. Both were chess players. In 1916, Verner von Heidenstam (1859-1940) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He mentions chess in some of his works. In his novel, A King and His Campaigners, written in 1902, he wrote, "This war is like a game of chess, in which all is to protect the King." In 1917, Karl Gjellerup (1857-1919) shared the 1917 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was a Danish poet and novelist. He mentioned that chess was an accomplishment of his hero in his book The Pilgrim Kamanita. In 1918, Fritz Haber (1868-1934) won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the synthesis of ammonia. He relaxed by playing chess. (Source: Prometheans in the Lab, by Sharon McGrayne, 2001, p. 74) In 1918, Max Planck (1858-1947) won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of energy quanta. Max Planck played chess with Emanuel Lasker. In 1919, Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the 28th President of the United States from 1913 to 1921. One of his chess sets is displayed at the Smithsonian. Woodrow Wilson — Salomon Langleben, Buffalo 1898 1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Bf5 3.e3 Nf6 4.c4 e6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.a3 a6 7.b4 dxc4 8.Bxc4 b5 9.Be2Bd6 10.Nh4 Bg6 11.Bf3 Qd7 12.e4 e5 13.d5 Nd4 14.Nxg6 Nxf3+ 15.Qxf3 fxg6 16.Bb2 O-O 17.O-O Nxd5 18.Qg3 Nf4 19.Rad1 Qe7 20.Rd2 c6 21.Rfd1 Rad8 22.f3 Bc7 23.Qf2 Qg5 24.Kh1 Rxd2 25.Rxd2 Rb8 26.Rd7 Bb6 27.Qd2 Be3 28.Qc2 Nh3 29.Nd1 Bb6 30.Qxc6 Nf4 31.Qc2 h6 32.Bc1 Qh4 33.Qd2 Rc8 34.Ne3 Bxe3 35.Qxe3 Rc2 36.Bd2 Rb2 37.g3 Rb1+ 38.Bc1 Qh3 39.Rxg7+ Kxg7 40.Qa7+ Kf6 41.Qb6+ Ne6 42.Qg1 Rb3 43.Qd1 Nd4 44.f4 Rxg3 45.fxe5+ Kxe5 0-1 In 1921, Frederick Soddy (1877-1956) won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research in radioactive decay and his formulation of the theory of isotopes. He was secretary of the Oxford University Chess Club in 1898 and Captain of the Oxford University Chess Club in 1900. Frederick Soddy — Creassey Tattersall, London 1900 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 e6 4. e3 Nf6 5. Bxc4 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 b6 8. Nd2 Bb7 9. Nb3 Nbd7 10. f3 c5 11. e4 cxd4 12. Qxd4 e5 13. Qd1 Qc7 14. Qe2 Rac8 15. Nd5 Nxd5 16. Bxd5 Bxd5 17. exd5 Nf6 18. Rd1 Rfd8 19. f4 exf4 20. Bxf4 Qxf4 21. Qxe7 Re8 22. Qxa7 Ng4 23. Qxb6 Qxh2+ 24. Kf1 Ne3+ 0-1 Franklin Hopkins — Soddy, USA-OK universities cable match, 1900 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. c3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. e5 dxc3 6. exf6 Qxf6 7. Qe2+ Kd8 8. bxc3 Re8 9. Be3 Bxe3 10. fxe3 d6 11. Nf3 Be6 12. Bd3 g6 13. O-O Nd7 14. Nd4 Qe5 15. Nd2 Bg4 16. N2f3 Qxe3+ 17. Qf2 Qxd3 18. Qh4+ f6 19. Qxg4 f5 20. Qh4+ Kc8 21. Rae1 Rxe1 22. Rxe1 b6 23. Qe7 Ne5 24. Nxe5 Qxc3 25. Nef3 Kb7 26. Qf7 Rd8 27. Qd5+ Ka6 28. Nb5 Qb2 29. Re3 Qa1+ 30. Ne1 c5 31. Nc7+ Ka5 32. Ra3+ 1-0 In 1921, Anatole France (1844-1924) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He mentions chess in some of his works. In Anatole's first novel, The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard, published in 1881, he wrote, "Still smiling, he proposed me the 'Regle des Jeux de la Societe' — piquet, bezique, ecarte, whist, dice, draughts, and chess." In Farinata Degli Uberti; or Civil War, published in 1900, he wrote, "The pursuit of such an interest is no mere game played according to rule, like chess or draughts." He mentioned chess in a few of his other works such as At the Sign of the Reine Pedauque and On Life and Letters. In 1921, Albert Einstein (1879-1955) won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect. He was good friends with Emanuel Lasker. Einstein wrote a preface to Hannak's Emanuel Lasker, the Life of a Chess Master. Einstein was an amateur chess player who played with neighbors and friends. He always had a chessboard set up at his home. He was probably most active in chess in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Some sources say that Einstein was so against conflict of any kind that he didn't even like to play chess, bridge, or the new game of Monopoly. In 1922, Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) won the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work. He was an explorer and played chess on his voyages. (Source: Farthest North, by F. Nansen in 1897, p. 131, and Dridtjof Nansen, by Jacob Bull, 1903, p. 94) In 1922, Niels Bohr (1885-1962) won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to understanding atomic structure. He was a chess player. (Source: Betty Schultz interview by Aage Petersen and Paul Foreman, 1963) In 1923, William B. Yeats (1865-1939) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was an Irish poet and an avid chess player. He wrote a chess scene for Time and the Witch Vivien. Yeats often associated chess with death or the life after death. Chess is mentioned in some of his other works such as John Sherman, and Dhoya, and Deirde (about a chess board and a King and Queen who played upon it). His son was Honorary Secretary the chess club at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. In 1925, Austen Chamberlain (1863-1937) shared the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the half-brother of Neville Chamberlain. In 1889, he was President of the West Birmingham Chess and Draughts Club. He played at near master level. In 1925, George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Although he played chess, he wrote that "Chess is a foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are doing something very clever when they are only wasting their time." As a music critic, he said this of England, "This unhappy country would be as prolific of musical as of literary composers were it not for our schools of music, where they seize the young musician, turn his attention forcibly away from the artistic element in his art, and make him morbidly conscious of its mechanical conditions, especially the obsolete ones, until he at last becomes, not a composer, but an adept in a horribly dull sort of chess played with lines and dots, each player having different notions of what the right rules are, and playing his game so as to flourish his view under the noses of those who differ from him. Then he offers his insufferable gambits to the public as music, and is outraged because I criticize it as music and not as chess." In his book, Back to Methuselah, he mentioned that the newspapers were occupied by the exploits of Sammy Reshevsky at age 8 defeating 20 adult players simultaneously. He also mentioned chess in his book, The Irrational Knot. In 1925, James Franck (1882-1964) shared the Nobel Prize on Physics for his studies of the impact of an electron on an atom. He was a chess player. In 1927, Henri Bergson (1859-1941) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. As a French philosopher, he mentions chess in a few of his works. In 1920, he wrote Mind-Energy: Lectures and Essays. On page 196-197, he discussed the memory of chess players and how they play blindfold chess. In 1927, Julius Wagner-Jauregg (1857-1940) won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on malaria inoculation. He was an avid chess player in Vienna. One night in September, a Berlin reporter woke him from a sound sleep around 1 a.m. to tell him that he won the Nobel Prize. After that news, he could not sleep: he got up and played chess against himself. (Source: http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/2753.html and The Malaria Project, by Karen Masterson, 2014) In 1928, Sigrid Undset (1882-1949) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. She mentions chess in several of her works. In her 1921 book, Kristin Lavransdatter II: The Wife, she describes chess play between Erlend and his father-in-law. She mentioned chess in some of her works such as The Son Avenger, The Mistress of Husaby, and The Cross. In 1929, Thomas Mann won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He included a brief chess playing scene in a sanitarium in The Magic Mountain, published in 1924. Chess is also mentioned in his book Buddenbrooks, as well as some of his short stories. In 1930, Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote Main Street, Babbitt, Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry, and Cass Timberlane. During the last period of his life, he would hire secretaries to play chess with him and keep him company. He would pay them a month to learn the game, then paid them as his secretary to play chess. He secretaries included San Francisco writer Barnaby Conrad and John Hershey. Other friends that visited Sinclair Lewis to play chess included Bennett Cerf, Carl Van Doren, and John Gunther. He took chess lessons from Al Horowitz. In 1931, Jane Addams (1860-1935) shared the Nobel Peace Prize for her social work. She was a chess player. (Source: Jane Addams by Judith Fradin, p. 24; The Selected Papers of Jane Addams, vol 2, p. 178) In 1932, Irving Langmuir (1881-1957) won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in surface chemistry. He was an avid chess player. (Source: The Quintessence of Irving Langmuir by Albert Rosenfeld, 1966, p. 78) In 1932, John Galsworthy (1867-1933) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Chess is mentioned in several of his books, such as The Island Pharisees, The Country House, Five Tales, and The First and Last. He played chess with several ship passengers as he crossed the Atlantic a few times. In 1932, Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976) won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in quantum mechanics. He was a strong chess player and was probably taught chess by his father. He spent his free time in the evenings playing chess, which he always won. He often held chess matches under his desk at school and could give Queen odds and still win. He would often play blindfold chess with his father while hiking. He was able to reconstruct entire games from memory. After he entered the university in Munich, his obsession with chess became so obvious that Professor Arnold Sommerfeld (1868-1951) finally had to forbid him to play, claiming it was a waste of his time and talents. Wolfgang Pauli (1900-1958) also told Heisenberg to give up chess and save whatever intellectual effort he could muster for physics. Heisenberg continued to play chess, however. During World War II, Heisenberg was convinced Germany would lose the war. He once said, "Hitler has a chess endgame with one rook less than the others, so he will lose — it will take a year." According to his wife, Heisenberg saw politics as a "game of chess, in which the feelings and passions of people are subordinated to the charted course of political events, just as the chess figures to the rules of the game." In 1933, Paul Dirac (1902-1984) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in quantum mechanics. He was a chess player, probably taught by his father, who gave him a chess set for Christmas. In his biography, The Strangest Man — The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius, by Graham Farmelo, it stated that Dirac worked all day long and took time off only for his Sunday walk and to play chess. He beat most students in the college chess club, sometimes several at the same time. He served for many years as president of the chess club of St. John's College, Cambridge. With his stepson, he would go over chess problems that they found in newspapers. He played chess with friends such as Peter Kapitza (1894-1984), a Russian physicist, who taught Dirac how to play tennis. When he lectured, he sometime linked subatomic particles to chess. In 1929, Dirac discussed chess problems with Heisenberg on their tour to Japan. After his return to Leipzig, Heisenberg wrote to Dirac: "You are wrong...in the question of mating a King and a Knight with a King and Rook; this is not possible according to the edition of 1926 of Dufresne's handbook of chess (the best book about theory of chess)." (source: Dirac: A Scientific Biography, by Helge Kragh, 1990, p. 259) In 1933, Erwin Schrodinger (1887-1961) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in quantum mechanics. He once wrote "I do like chess, but it has turned out to be not the appropriate relaxation from the work I am doing." In 1934, Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was an Italian dramatist and novelist. Chess is mentioned in some of his works, such as Tales of Suicide and Berecche and the War. In 1935, James Chadwick (1891-1974) won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the neutron. He played chess in college at the University of Manchester. (Source: interview by Charles Weiner in 1969 https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/3974-1) In 1936, Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was an American playwright. Chess is mentioned in some of his plays. He compared card players to mechanical chess players in Long Day's Journey into Night. In 1937, Clinton Davisson (1881-1958) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of electron diffraction. He was fond of chess, bridge, and the piano. (Source: The Pantagraph, Oct 27, 2013 - https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/73414796/) In 1937, Albert Szent-Gyorgyi (1893-1986) won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering vitamin C. He was president of the Szeged chess circle in Hungary. In 1938, Richard Kuhn (1900-1967) won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on vitamins. He was an excellent chess player. (Source: Selected Topics in the History of Biochemistry, vol 38, by G. Semenza,1995, p. 39) In 1938, Pearl Buck (1892-1973) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. She was a chess player. She mentions chess in some of her works. In her last novel The Eternal Wonder, written in 1973, there are several references to chess. In 1938, Enrico Fermi (1901-1954) won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on induced radioactivity. He was a chess player, but a poor one at that. (Source: Fermi Remembered by James Cronin, 2004, p. 180) In 1944, Isidor Rabi (1898-1988) won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance. He was an avid chess player who started playing chess before high school. (Source: Interview by Thomas Kuhn in 1963 - https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4836) In 1945, Wolfgang Pauli (1900-1958) won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his exclusion principle in quantum physics. He may not have been a chess player. He told Werner Heisenberg to give up chess and save whatever intellectual effort he could muster for physics. In 1946, Herman Karl Hesse (1877-1972) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote Steppenwolf in 1926 and had it published in 1927. One of the chapters is called "The Chess Player." The novel mentions a gifted chess player who offers to show Harry Haller how to assemble his life. The novel was translated into English in 1929. In 1946, Percy Williams Bridgman (1882-1961) won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the physics of high pressures. He played on the Harvard varsity chess team and represented his school in many college events and the beginning of the 20th century. In 1946, Hermann Joseph Muller (1890-1967) won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on genetic effects of radiation. He may have not been a chess player, but he is the one that persuaded Regina Wender to move to Moscow to study medicine in 1933. Regina moved to Moscow, enrolled in the Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, where she met and married Hans-Gerhardt Fischer. In 1943, Robert James Fischer was born in Chicago. In 1947, Robert Robinson (1886-1975) won the Nobel Prize on Chemistry for his work on plant dyestuffs and alkaloids. He was president of the British Chess Federation (1950-1953) and played correspondence chess while in his 80s. He co-wrote a book called The Art and Science of Chess. In 1947, Andre Gide won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was an ardent lover of chess. Her wrote about chess in some of his works. In 1948, T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote the Waste Land in 1922. One of the chapters (chapter 2) is called "A Game of Chess." The title comes from the plays of the early 17th-century playwright Thomas Middleton, in which the moves in a game of chess denote stages in seduction. Eliot portrays a wealthy, high-class woman planning for an excursion and a game of chess. In 1949, William Faulkner (1897-1962), won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote a book called Knight's Gambit, with six mystery stories, written in 1949. The metaphor is that when a knight simultaneously attacks the opposing queen and rook, to save the queen, you must let the rook go. The main character must make difficult and painful decisions, often between the lesser of two evils, saving the queen but losing the rook. In 1950, Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He played chess with his family and said he lost friends to one of three addictions: alcohol or religion or chess. In 1950, Edward Kendall (1886-1972) shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He discovered the hormone cortisone. He was a doctor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and an ardent chess player and a correspondence chess player. In 1951, John Cockroft (1897-1967) shared the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics for splitting the atomic nucleus. He was a chess player. In 1952, Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was an avid chess player. In 1953, Winston Churchill (1874-1965) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, and from 1951 to 1955.He was taught chess by his father, Lord Randolph Churchill (1849-1895), who was vice-president of the British Chess Association. As a young war correspondent, he spent his afternoons playing chess. (Source: Winston Churchill Reporting: Adventures of a Young War Correspondent, by Simon Read, 2015, p. 45) In 1955, Halldor Laxness (1902-1998) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He mentions chess in a few of his works. In 1948, he wrote The Atom Station, which has a few references to chess. In 1955, Willis Eugene Lamb (1913-2008) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discoveries concerning the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum. He played in a few chess tournaments in California. In high school, he was one of about 30 students who played simultaneously against world champion Alexander Alekhine. Lamb won his game against Alekhine. In 1933, Lamb took 2nd place at an intercollegiate chess tournament held at the World's Fair in Chicago. He then won the rapid-transit tournament. (Source: Willis E. Lamb, Jr. 1913-2008, a Biographical Memoir by Leon Cohen, M. Scully, and R. Scully, 2009, p. 4) In 1956, John Bardeen (1908-1991) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention of the transistor. He is the only person to have won the Nobel Prize in Physics twice (he won it again in 1972). He was a chess player. In 1958, Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote Dr. Zhivago. He was an avid chess player. His love for chess was second only to his devotion to literature. He was an enthusiastic spectator at the great international tournaments in Moscow in 1935 and 1936. Alexander Bek — Boris Pasternak, Moscow 1947 1.e4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.exd5 Nxd5 4.Nxd5 Qxd5 5.d3 e5 6.c4 Qa5+ 7.Bd2 Bb4 8.Bxb4 Qxb4+ 9.Qd2 Nc6 10.Qxb4 Nxb4 11.Kd2 Bf5 12.a3 Nxd3 13.Bxd3 O-O-O 14.Nf3 Rxd3+ 15.Ke2 Rb3 16.Rhd1 Rxb2+ 17.Kf1 f6 18.Rac1 Rd8 19.Rxd8+ Kxd8 20.Rc3 Rc2 21.Rb3 b6 22.Rb4 Rxc4 23.Rxc4 Bd3+ 0-1 In 1958, Igor Tamm (1895-1971) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of Cherenkov radiation. He was a chess player. He liked very much to play chess but was not a first-rate player. (Source: I.E. Tamm: Selected Papers, edited by B. Bolotovskii and V. Frenkel, 1991, p 19-20 and The Physics of a Lifetime, by Vitaly Ginzburg, 2013, p. 357) In 1962, John Steinbeck (1902-1968) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. He was a chess player and mentioned chess in some of his works, such as Sweet Tuesday, written in 1954. A character says that you cannot rig a game of chess. Someone else responds, "There must be some way to kind of bend the odds in chess." In 1963, Eugene Wigner (1902-1995) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles. He was a chess player. In 1965, Richard Feynman (1918-1988) shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on quantum electrodynamics. He also discovered superfluidity and developed the first quark theory. He used rules of chess to illustrate the laws of physics. He was a member of his high school chess club. In 1965, Julian Schwinger (1918-1994) shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in quantum electrodynamics. He played chess while in college. (Source: Climbing the Mountain: The Scientific Biography of Julian Schwinger, by Jagdish Mehra and K. Milton, 2000, p. 47) In 1966, Shmuel Yosef Agnon (1888-1970) shared the Nobel Prize in Literature. He mentions chess in a few of his works. In A Simple Story, first published in Hebrew in 1935, there are several references to chess. In 1938, he published A Guest for the Night, which has several references. He wrote that in the house of a Zion Group, "We play chess and talk politics, and we exhaust every subject." In 1967, Hans Bethe (1906-2005) won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis. He was a chess player who could play chess by memory and without a chess board. (Source: Nuclear Forces: The Making of the Physicist Hans Bethe, by Silvan Schweber, 2012, p. 47) In 1968, Lars Onsager (1903-1976) won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on superfluid properties. He was a chess player who regarded chess as too much like ral-problem solving to spend too much time on it. (Source: Lars Onsager, A Biographical Memoir, by C. Longuet-Higgins and M. Fisher, 1991, p. 190) In 1969, Ragnar Frisch (1895-1973) shared the Nobel Prize in Economics. He was a chess player and was often seen playing chess with his students. In 1969, Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was an Irish writer, dramatist and poet. He wrote Waiting for Godot. He wrote a one-act play called Endgame. He often played chess with Marcel Duchamp. During his student years, he played on the chess team at Trinity College in Dublin. In 1935, he wrote Murphy, his first published novel. In the novel, the protagonist Murphy takes a job as a male nurse in a mental hospital (the Magdalen Mental Mercyseat) where he plays chess with Mr. Endon, a schizophrenic patient there. Chess is Endons one frivolity. All the moves are in the novel, which lasts 43 moves. Murphy was written at a time when Beckett was undergoing psychoanalysis in London and playing a lot of chess. Beckett himself was an avid chess player who often played chess with Marcel Duchamp. In 1969, Max Delbruck (1906-1981) shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in the genetic structure of viruses. He was a chess player. He invited many people to his home and play chess at no more than one minute per move. (Source: Max Delbruck by Edward Lewis, Oral History, http://library.cshl.edu/oralhistory/interview/cshl/memories/edward-lewis-max-delbruck/ and Max Delbruck and the New Perception of Biology, 1906-1981, by Walter Shropshire, 2006, p. 144) In 1970, Alekandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He has made several chess references in his works. In 1970, Bernard Katz (1911-2003) shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on neurophysiology of the synapse. He was born in Leipzig. He chose to learn Latin and Greek rather than mathematics because, he said, it game him more time to play chess in the cafes of Leipzig. He developed a lifelong passion for chess. In 1971, Willy Brandt (1913-1992) won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was Chancellor of West Germany from 1969 to 1974. He was a chess player. In 1971, Gerhard Herzberg (1904-1999) won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to the knowledge of electronic structure. He was a chess player who relaxed at home by playing chess. (Source: Gerhard Herzberg: An Illustrious Life in Science, by Boris Stoicheff, 2002, p. 207) In 1971, Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He once said, "To me [chess] is poetry, the poetry of fight, intelligence and will." In 1972, Heinrich Boll (1917-1985) won the 1972 Nobel Prize in Literature. He mentions chess in some of his works. In 1956, he wrote Like a Bad Dream where one of his characters is at the Gaffel Club playing chess, as he does every Wednesday. In 1963 he wrote The Clown and had this chess reference: "I even managed to get Marie, who prefers chess, addicted to this game [parchesi]." In 1973, Henry Kissinger (1923- ) shared the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State in the Richard Nixon administration. Kissinger called Bobby Fischer several times during the 1972 World Chess Championship match to encourage Fischer to play on and defeat Spassky. In 1973, Ivar Giaever (1929- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the tunneling phenomena in solids. He learned chess from his father and used chess to illustrate the science of Nature. He played a lot of chess as a university student and wanted to be a chess champion. (Source: Superconductivity: Discoveries and Discoverers, by Kristian Fossheim, 2013, p. 56) In 1974, Sean MacBride (1904-1988) shared the Nobel Peace Prize. He was a chess player. (Source: Sean MacBride, A Life: From IRA Revolutionary to International Statesman, by Elizabeth Keane, 2007, p. 39) In 1974, Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992) shared the Nobel Prize in Economics. He was a chess player. In 1975, Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989) won the Nobel Peace Prize. He and his wife were chess players. (Source: Andrei Sakharov: Facets of a Life, 1991, Lebedev Physics Institute, p. 522-523) In 1975, John Cornforth (1917-2013) shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalyzed reactions. He has played chess all his life. He was a strong county and correspondence chess player. He competed in the New South Wales Chess Championship in 1937 at the age of 20. He was perhaps the strongest chess player of all Nobel Prize winners. John Cornforth — F. Kelly, Perth 1937 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f6 3. Nxe5 Qe7 4. Nf3 d5 5. d3 Bf5 6. Be2 dxe4 7. dxe4 Qxe4 8. O-O Bd6 9. Bb5+ Kf8 10. Re1 Qg4 11. h3 Qh5 12. Re8+ Qxe8 13. Bxe8 Kxe8 14. Nc3 a6 15. Qd5 Bc8 16. Bd2 Ne7 17. Re1 Nd7 18. Ne4 Rf8 19. Nxd6+ cxd6 20. Qxd6 1-0 John Cornforth — Cecil Purdy, Australian Correspondence Ch 1937 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd3 c6 8. Ne2 Re8 9. Bd2 Nbd7 10. Ng3 Nf8 11. O-O a6 12. Na4 Bd6 13. Rfc1 Ng4 14. Be1 Qh4 15. h3 Nxe3 16. Qd2 Nxg2 17. Kxg2 Bxh3+ 0-1 In 1975, Aage Bohr (1922- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the connection between collective motion and particle motion in atomic nuclei. His father was Niels Bohr, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Aage Bohr and his father were chess players. (Source: Betty Schultz interview by Aage Petersen and Paul Foreman, 1963) In 1976, William Lipscomb (1919-2011) won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on chemical bonds. He was a chess player. (Source: http://wlipscomb.tripod.com/wnl_life.html) In 1976, Milton Friedman (1912-2006) won the Nobel Prize in Economics. He was a chess player. He played on his high school chess team in Rathway, New Jersey. (Source: Milton Friedman: A Biography, by Lanny Ebenstein, 2007, p. 10) In 1976, Saul Bellow (1915-2005) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He learned how to play chess as a boy. (Source: The Life of Saul Bellow: To Fame and Fortune, 1915-1964, by Zachary Leader, 2015). He had a few chess references in his novel, The Adventures of Augie March, published in 1953. In 1978, Menachem Begin (1913-1992) shared the Nobel Peace Prize together with Anwar Sadat. He was the sixth prime minister of the State of Israel. He played Zbigniew Brzezinski at Camp David and won. In 1940 he was playing a game of chess with his wife when Russian soldiers burst into his home to arrest him. As they dragged him away, he shouted to Mrs. Begin, "I resign." In 1978, Anwar Sadat (1918-1981 shared the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the third President of Egypt, serving from 1970 until his assassination in 1981. He was a chess player. In 1978, Herbert Simon (1916-2001) won the Nobel Prize in Economics. He was an American psychologist and made a study of chess players. In 1957, he predicted a digital computer would beat the world chess champion by 1967. He developed a chess program in the 1950s and co-invented the alpha-beta algorithm in chess. In 1978, Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-1991) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was a chess player. In an interview, he said, "I consider chess the fairest of games because the opponents can hide nothing from each other." He had a chess prodigy character in his book Shadows of the Hudson, written in 1997. Singer is also quoted as saying, "We all play chess with Fate as partner. He makes a move, we make a move. He tries to checkmate us in three moves, we try to prevent it. We know we can't win, but we're driven to give him a good fight." In 1968, he wrote 'A Friend of Kafka' for The New Yorker. He mentions chess being played by Kafka and Jacques Kohn. In 1978, Pyotr Kapitsa (1894-1984) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in low-temperature physics. He was a first category chess player in the USSR, rated about 2000. He played chess with Paul Dirac at Cambridge in 1928. When he was living in Paris at one time, he used to make a living by playing chess in the small cafes for some stake. He pretended he was just a beginner and, in the end, he would usually win. He was frequently Stalin's chess partner. In 1979, Abdus Salam (1926-1996) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the electro-weak theory. He played chess in college and spent many hours at the game before being reprimanded by his father for wasting valuable study time. In 1979, Allan McLeod Cormack (1924-1998) shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on X-ray computer tomography (CT). He was a chess player. (Source: Imagining the Elephant: Biography of Allan MacLeod Cormack, by Christopher Vaughan, 2008, p. 18) In 1981, Elias Canetti (1905-1994) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 1935, he wrote Auto-da-Fe (meaning "act of faith" in Portuguese), his only work of fiction. The original title was Die Blendung, "The Blinding." The title refers to the burning of heretics by the Inquisition. Canetti finished the manuscript in 1931 and had it published in his home town at that time, Vienna, 1935. It is Canetti's first publication. It was published in English in 1946. The main character, Peter Klein, meets a hunched back dwarf called Fischerle who fancies himself as a world chess champion. Fischerle spends his time fantasizing about becoming wealthy and winning the world chess championship in America, then building himself a palace. He then fantasizes that he will become an American citizen, drop the —le from his name, and become Fischer. How ironic that Canetti predicted the first official American world chess champion would be named Fischer before Fischer was born in 1943. In 1982, Aaron Klug (1926- ) won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his development of electron microscopy. He was a chess player, but gave it up, saying "It wasn't work remembering all those things in the game." (Source: oral interview - http://library.cshl.edu/oralhistory/interview/scientific-experience/becoming-scientist/what-it-takes-be-scientist/) In 1982, Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1927-2014) won the Nobel Prize in Literature and is the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude. He mentioned chess in several of his works, such as Love in the Time of Cholera where the doctor, Dr. Urbino, and his friend, Jeremiah de Saint-Amour, plays chess until his friend commits suicide with a cyanide capsule. He also wrote The Long Chess Night of Paul Badura-Skoda. In 1982, John Vane (1927-2004) shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on ACE inhibitors and on how aspirin works. He was a chess player. (Source: Blindfold Chess, by Eliot Hearst and John Knott, 2009, p. 4) In 1983, Gerard Debreu (1921-2004) won the Nobel Prize in Economics. He was a chess player. In 1983, William Golding (1911-1993) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 1954, he wrote Lord of the Flies. One of the quotes from that novel is "The only trouble was that he would never be a very good chess player." Golding listed chess as one of his hobbies and he used to play correspondence chess. He included a chess theme in his 1979 book Darkness Visible. He was playing a game of chess when he heard that he had won the Nobel Prize. In 1984, Niels Kaj Jerne (1911-1994) shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on understanding the immune system. During his youth he developed a strong interest in chess. He listed chess as one of his favorite pastimes. (Source: encyclopedia.com - http://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/jerne-niels-kaj) In 1986, Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) won the Nobel Peace Prize. Chess was the one game he enjoyed as a child. (Source: Elie Wiesel: Spokesman for Remembrance, by Linda Bayer, 2000, p. 10) In 1986, Dudley Herschbach (1932- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work concerning the dynamics of chemical elementary processes. He was a chess player. In 1986, Wole Soyinka (1934- ) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He is an avid chess player. He is good friends with Boris Spassky. In 1987, Karl Alexander Mueller (1927- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in superconductivity in ceramic materials. He was a chess player. (Source: Oral history of Alex Mueller - http://ethw.org/Oral-History:K._Alex_M%C3%BCller) In 1988, Johann Deisenhofer (1943- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on crystal structure of an integral membrane protein. He was also a chess player. (Source: Johann Deisenhofer — encyclopedia.com) In 1989, Trygve Haavelmo (1911-1999) won the Nobel Prize in Economics for his study of probability theory in economics. He was a chess player. He played chess as a form of relaxation. (Source: Norwegian Nobel Prize Laureates, by Olav Bjerkholt, 1989) In 1989, Camilo Jose Cela (1916-2002) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He mentioned chess in some of his works. In Mazurka for Two Dead Men, written in 1983, he wrote, "The Casandulfe Raimundo plays chess with Robin Lebozan, he always beats him." In The Hive, written in 1951, he wrote, "After lunch Don Pablo goes to a quiet cafe on the Calle de San Bernardo to have his game of chess with Don Francisco Robles y Lopez-Paton..." In 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev (1931- ) won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, serving from 1985 to 1991. He has been involved with the Chess for Peace initiative with former world chess champion Anatoly Karpov. In 1990, Harry Markowitz (1927- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Economics. He is a chess player and speaks about the similarities in chess and investing. In 1991, Ronald Coase (1910-2013) won the Nobel Prize in Economics. He was a chess player. (Source: Ronald H. Coase — Biographical at nobelprize.org) In 1992, Rudolph A. Marcus (1923- ) won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to the theory of electron transfer reactions in chemical systems. He was a chess player. (Source: Rudolph A. Marcus interview by Shirley Cohen, 1993 - http://oralhistories.library.caltech.edu/139/1/Marcus_OHO.pdf) In 1992, Derek Walcott (1930- ) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He had a few chess references in his works. He mentions chess in some of his poems, such as in his poem White Egrets, written in 2010. In 1993, Nelson Mandella shared the Nobel Peace Prize after 27 years in prison. He played chess while in prison. (Source: Nelson Mandela — a man for the ages, at Chessbase - https://en.chessbase.com/post/nelson-mandela-a-man-for-the-ages) In 1993, Douglass North shared the Nobel Prize in Economics. He was a chess player. (Source: Douglass North — Biographical at nobelprize.org) In 1993, Richard J. Roberts (1943- ) shared the Nobel Peace Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of introns in eukaryotic DNA. He is a chess player. (Source: Richard J. Roberts — Biographical at nobelprize.org). In 1994, Yasser Arafat (1929-2004) shared the Nobel Peace Prize. He was a chess player. Source: (http://www.guardian.co.uk/gall/0,8542,1344540,00.html) In 1994, Shimon Peres (1923-2016) shared the Nobel Peace Prize. He was a chess player and took interest in visiting chess clubs and chess academies in Israel. In 1994, Yitzhak Rabin (1922-1995) shared the Nobel Peace Prize. He taught his children and grandchildren how to play chess. (Source: Yitzhak Rabin: From Soldier to Peacemaker, by Libby Hughes, 2001, p. 88) In 1994, John Harsanyi (1920-2001) shared the Nobel Prize in Economics. Chess was once his passion but gave it up later in life. He said, "At one point I lost most of my chess games. Then I realized many of my competitors were memorizing the best moves and I was unwilling to do this." In 1994, John Forbes Nash (1928-2015) shared the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in game theory, where he called chess a "zero-sum" game. He played chess in his younger years. Just before his death, Nash traveled to Europe and met Magnus Carlsen in Norway. In 1994, Reinhard Selten (1930-2016) shared the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in game theory. He was a chess player. He said that his economic theory and acknowledging hostile takeovers was like playing chess. "You have to think hard about what you think your opponent will do, and then you plan your own strategy based on that. You may not always be right, but such thinking probably makes you play better and keeps you from making many dumb moves." In 1994, Kenzaburo Oe (1935- ) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He has mentioned chess in some of his works. In The Crazy Iris, written in 1985, he wrote, "In the evening I played chess with my friend but soon became tired and went to bed..." In 1995, Paul J. Crutzen (1933- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on climate change research. He is a chess player. (Source: Paul J. Crutzen — Biographical at nobelprize.org) In 1995, Edward B. Lewis (1918-2004) shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on genetics. He was an avid chess player. (Source: Genes, Development and Cancer: The Life of Edward B. Lewis, by Howard Lipshitz, 2007, p. 10) In 1996, Harry Kroto (1939-2016) shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of fullerenes, molecules of carbon. He learned how to play chess as a kid but said he was pretty awful at chess. (Source: Times Higher Education - https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/harry-kroto/179157.article) In 1998, Ferid Murad (1936- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He is a chess player. (Source: Ferid Murad — Biographical at nobelprize.org) In 1999, Robert Mundell (1932- ) won the Nobel Prize in Economics. He laid the groundwork for the introduction of the euro. He sponsored a major chess tournament in China (Pearl Spring in Nanjing), saying that the best way for Chinese cities to show openness to the outside world is to host world-class chess tournaments. For relaxation, he plays chess and played chess in high school. In 2000, James Heckman (1944- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Economics. He is an economics professor at the University of Chicago. He is a chess player. His son, Jonathan, also plays chess. In 2000, Gao Xingjian (1940- ) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He mentions chess in some of his works. In his play The Bus Stop, written in 1981, and old man announces that he is going into town to play the chess champion Li Moshreng, the most famous chess player in China. In 2000, Zhores Alferov (1930- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for developing semiconductor heterostructures used in electronics. He invented the heterotransister. He contributed to the popularity of chess at his Academic University in St. Petersburg. He is a good friend of Boris Spassky. In 2016, he was awarded a golden badge of FIDE for his personal contribution to the development of chess. In 2000, Arvid Carlsson (1923- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He was a chess player. (Source: The History of Neuroscience in Autobiography, Vol 2, by Larry Squire, 1998, p. 31) In 2001, Michael Spence (1943- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Economics. He is a chess player. In 2001, Eric Allin Cornell (1961- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the Bose-Einstein condensate. He played chess in high school. (Source: Eric A. Cornell — Biographical at nobelprize.org). In 2001, Carl Wieman (1951- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the Bose-Einstein condensate. He was a strong chess player in his younger years and was an inter-state chess player. (Source: Nobel Faces, by Peter Badge, 2008, p. 48 and Wieman biography at nobelprize.com) In 2002, Jimmy Carter (1924- ) won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was 39th President of the United States. He wanted to become a chess expert after he left the White House. He bought numerous chess books and a computer chess program. He finally gave up on chess around 1997, saying: "I found that I don't have any particular talent for chess. I hate to admit it, but that's a fact." (Source; Chessbase - https://en.chessbase.com/post/which-us-presidents-played-the-royal-game--1) In 2002, John Fenn (1917-2010) shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work or mass spectrometry. He was a chess player. (Source: A Conversation with John B. Fenn, by M. Samy El-Shall, 2009, http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-anchem-060908-155216) In 2002, Sydney Brenner (1927- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He is a chess player. (Source: Oral History - http://library.cshl.edu/oralhistory/interview/cshl/memories/sydney-brenner-babysitter/) In 2002, H. Robert Horvitz (1947- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He is a chess player. (Source: H. Robert Horvitz — Biographical at nobelprize.org) In 2003, John Maxwell Coetzee (1940- ) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He mentioned chess in some of his works. He was also a chess player and was deeply involved in chess in his early twenties. (Source: 'The Better Player,' by Paul Auster and J,M. Coetzee, The New Yorker, March 7, 2013) In 2003, Anthony James Leggett (1938- ) won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on superfuidity. He was an avid chess player, making the England under-16 team. (Source: Nobel Faces, by Peter Badge, 2008, p. 372 and nobelprize.org) In 2003, Paul Lauterbur (1929-2007) won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work which made the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) possible. He was a chess player and took up chess when he was a freshman in high school. (Source: Nobel Faces, by Peter Badge, 2008, p. 420 and nobelprize.org) In 2004, Edward Prescott (1940- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Economics. He learned chess from his father and taught his son to play chess. (Source: Edward C. Prescott biographical at nobelprize.org) In 2004, Frank Wilczek (1951- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of strong interaction. He is a chess player. (Source: Mathematical Apocrypha, by Steven Krantz, 2002, p. 53 and National Academy of Sciences - http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/46075.html) In 2005, Robert Aumann (1930- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Economics. He is a chess player. (Source: An Interview with Robert Aumann, by Sergiu Hart - http://www.ma.huji.ac.il/hart/papers/md-publ-aumann.pdf) In 2006, Orhan Pamuk (1952- ) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He mentions chess in some of his works. In The Black Book, published in 2014, chapter 27 is called "A Lengthy Chess Game." He has been quoted as saying that writing a novel is a lot like playing a game of chess. He said that most writers attempt to guess how a reader will respond to their writing, just as a chess player makes his moves in anticipation of his opponent's nest move in a chess game. In 2007, Al Gore (1948- ) shared the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the 45th Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He is a chess player. In 2008, Martti Ahtisaari (1937- ) won the Nobel Peace Prize. When not travelling around the world, he was at home and liked to retreat to his small library to play chess with his son, Marko. (Source: The Mediator: A Biography of Martti Ahtisaari, by Katri Merikallio and T. Ruokanen, 2011, p. 88) In 2008, J.M.G. Le Clezio won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He mentions chess in some of his works. In his novel, Tera Amata, written in 1969, he wrote, "A pawn — you were no more than a pawn on the giant chess-board, a disc that the expert invisible hand moved about in order to win the incomprehensible game." In 2008, Harald zur Hausen (1936- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of papilloma viruses. He is a chess player. (Source: The Nation, Nov 28, 2012 - http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/aec/30195177) In 2009, Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. He is a chess player. He learned the game from his grandfather and his Indonesian stepfather. In the past, he has met former world chess champion Viswanathan Anand. (Source: Chessbase article on the US Presidents - https://en.chessbase.com/post/which-us-presidents-played-the-royal-game--1) In 2009, Venkatraman Ramakrishman (1952- ) shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the structure and function of the ribosome. He was on his college chess team. (Source: nobelprize.org and Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, by Arun Anand) In 2009, Hera Mueller (1953- ) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. She mentions chess in some of her works. She writes about the friends and family on whom some of her characters are base, such as her chess-playing grandfather who carved chess pieces by hand. In her novel The Land of Green Plums, written in 1996, there are many chess references. (Source: Herta Mueller, by Brigid Haines and Lyn Marven, 2013, p. 214) In 2011, Tomas Transtromer (1931-2015) won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He has mentioned chess in some of his works. From one of his poems in Den Stora Gatan (The Great Enigma), written in 2004, he wrote this haiku: Death stoops over me. I'm a problem in chess. He has the solution. In 2015, the Nobel Banquet started with 'Anthem' from the musical Chess by former ABBA members Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus. In 2016, Bob Dylan (1941- ) won the Nobel Prize in Literature for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition. He is the first songwriter to win a Nobel Prize. He has been a chess player all his life. In the Bob Spitz biography on Dylan, there are several paragraphs describing how Dylan used to psyche out his opponent out by talking during a game of chess. There is also a report that Dylan's manager paid Bobby Fischer so Dylan could play a game of chess with him. When Rolling Stone interviews Dylan about winning the Nobel Prize, will they ask, "How does it feel?" International Master (Grandmaster in Chess Problem Composition) Milan Vukcevich (1937-2003) was considered for a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was Chief Scientist at General Electric and professor of metallurgy. Please report broken or duplicate links to the Webmaster. Official Website Copyright 2016 by William D. Wall All Rights Reserved |
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