Writers playing Chess…
Writers playing Chess Part I
Aleister Crowley and Fernando Pessoa playing chess in Lisbon, 1930
Neal Cassady playing chess with Al Hinkle, 1955
Vladimir Nabokov playing chess with his wife Vera
What is it about writers and chess? There is a natural symmetry in choosing the right word and choosing the right move. But there is more: both writing and chess is the business of ideas.
Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan playing chess, 1899
The Georgian writers, Ilia Chavchavadze and Ivane Machabeli playing chess in Saint Petersburg, 1873
The French writer Lucie Delarue-Mardrus, L’Echiquier, 1927. A prolific writer who penned more than 70 books.
Lucie Delarue-Mardrus (1874 – 1945) even participated in the 1927 French Women’s Championship. Here she is seen standing, sporting a black hat. (Melle Frigard and Me Pape can be seen playing on the extreme left) Lucie did not hide her lesbian tendencies and wrote extensively about the subject.
Lucie Delarue-Mardrus, 1914