List of mathematicians who studied chess

Chess and mathematics have been pursued intellectually for centuries by many researchers and scientists, especially mathematicians. Naturally, the logic and symmetry in chess appeal to mathematicians. The following mathematicians either played or studied chess in their life:

Euler, Legendre, de Moivre, and Vandermonde studied the knight's tour.

• George Airy (July 27, 1801 – January 2, 1892)
• Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander (19 April 1909 – 15 February 1974)
• Adolf Anderssen (July 6, 1818 – March 13, 1879)
• Henry Ernest Atkins (20 August 1872 – 31 January 1955)
• George Atwood (October, 1746 – July 11, 1807)
• Charles Babbage (26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871)
• Walter William Rouse Ball (August 14, 1850 – April 4, 1925)
• Harry Bateman (May 29, 1882 – January 21, 1946)
• Max Black (February 24, 1909 – August 27, 1988)
• Ludwig Bledow (July 27, 1795, Berlin – August 6, 1846)
• Richard Borcherds (b. November 29, 1959)
• Jacob Bronowski (January 18, 1908 – August 22, 1974)
• Sylvain Cappell (b. 1946)
• Gerolamo Cardano (September 24, 1501 – September 21, 1576)
• Lewis Carroll (January 27, 1832 – January 14, 1898)
• D. G. Champernowne (9 July 1912 – 19 August 2000)
• Nathan Divinsky (October 25, 1925 – June 17, 2012)
• Henry Dudeney (April 10, 1857 – 24 April 1930)
• Noam Elkies (b. 1966)
• Pal Erdos (1913-1996)
• Leonhard Euler (April 15, 1707 – September 18, 1783)
• Max Euwe (May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981) a World Chess Champion
• Karl Fabel (October 20, 1905 – 3 March 1975)
• Edward W. Formanek (born May 6, 1942)
• Fred Galvin
• Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914 – May 22, 2010)
• Carl Friedrich Gauss (30 April 1777 – 23 February 1855)
• J.W.L. Glaisher (5 November 1848 – 7 December 1928)
• Richard K. Guy (b. September 30, 1916)
• G. H. Hardy (February 7, 1877 – December 1, 1947)
• Dagmar R. Henney (b. May 6, 1931)
• David Hilbert (January 23, 1862 – February 14, 1943)

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Ball, Gauss, and Glaisher studied the n-queens problem.

• Kurt Hirsch (January 12, 1906 – November 4, 1986)
• Charles Kalme (November 15, 1939 – March 20, 2002)
• Andrew Kalotay (b. 1941)
• Miroslav Katětov (March 17, 1918 – December 15, 1995)
• Maurice Kendall (September 6, 1907 – March 29, 1983)
• Paul Keres (January 7, 1916 – June 5, 1975) Grandmaster of world class
• Martin Kreuzer (b. 1962) Correspondence Grandmaster
• Omar Khayyám (May 18, 1048 – December 4, 1131)
• Robion Kirby (b. 1938)

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Many mathematicians became chess composers. Here's a chess problem called 'Excelsior' by Loyd.

• Ľudovít Lačný (b. December 8, 1926)
• Edmund Landau (February 14, 1877 – February 19, 1938)
• Emanuel Lasker (December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) A World Chess Champion
• Adrien-Marie Legendre (September 18, 1752 – January 10, 1833)
• François Le Lionnais (October 3, 1901 – March 13, 1984)
• Barbara Liskov (b. 1939)
• Sam Loyd (January 31, 1841 – April 10, 1911)
• Roberto Magari (December 7, 1934 – March 5, 1994)
• Jonathan Mestel (b. 13 March 1957) Grandmaster
• Abraham de Moivre (May 26, 1667 – November 27, 1754)
• Theodor Molien (September 10, 1861 – December 25, 1941)
• Frank Morley (September 9, 1860 – October 17, 1937)
• Marston Morse (24 March 1892 – 22 June 1977)
• H. J. R. Murray (June 24, 1868 – May 16, 1955)

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Some mathematicians composed endgame studies. One of the most famous studies of all time is by Réti.

• John Forbes Nash, Jr. (June 13, 1928 - May 23, 2015)
• Crispin St. J. A. Nash-Williams (December 19, 1932 - January 20, 2001)
• John von Neumann (December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957)
• Simon Newcomb (March 12, 1835 – July 11, 1909)
• Maxwell Newman (February 7, 1897 – February 22, 1984)
• Emmy Noether (March 23, 1882 – April 14, 1935)
• John Nunn (b. April 25, 1955) Grandmaster
• Luca Pacioli (1445–1514 or 1517)
• Roger Penrose (b. 8 August 1931)
• Grigori Perelman (b. 13 June 1966)
• Ilya Piatetski-Shapiro (30 Mar 1929 – 21 Feb 2009)
• Aaron Pixton (b. January 13, 1986), a chess and math prodigy
• Henri Poincaré (April 29, 1854 – July 17, 1912)
• Richard Réti (28 May 1889 – 6 June 1929)
• John Riordan (mathematician) (1902 – August 28, 1988)
• Jakob Rosanes (August 16, 1842 – January 6, 1922)
• Jan Rusinek (b. 1950)
• George Salmon (September 25, 1819 – January 22, 1904)
• Anthony Santasiere (1904-1977) Strong American Master
• Richard Schroeppel (b. 1948)
• Claude E. Shannon (April 30, 1916 – February 24, 2001)
• Raymond Smullyan (b. 1919)
• Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (December 11, 1918 – August 3, 2008)
• Kannan Soundararajan
• Jonathan Speelman (b. 2 October 1956) Grandmaster
• Norman Steenrod (April 22, 1910–October 14, 1971)
• Duncan Suttles (b. 21 December 1945) Grandmaster and Correspondence Grandmaster
• Thorvald Thiele (December 24, 1838 – September 26, 1910)
• Leonardo Torres y Quevedo (December 28, 1852 – December 18, 1936)
• Alan Turing (June 23, 1912 – June 7, 1954)
• Alexandre-Théophile Vandermonde (28 February 1735 – 1 January 1796)
• Norbert Wiener (November 26, 1894 – March 18, 1964)
• Jean-Christophe Yoccoz (b. May 29, 1957)
• Ernst Zermelo (July 27, 1871 – May 21, 1953)

Many researchers who had some interest in chess did not have formal training in mathematics. However, they either contributed to mathematics or used mathematics in their profession. They were philosophers, physicists, chemists, engineers, etc. Here is a partial list:

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Einstein and Oppenheimer played the Ruy Lopez, Morphy Defence 3...a6

• Friedrich Amelung (23 March 1842 – 21 March 1909)
• Isaac Asimov (c. January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992)
• Hans Berliner (b. January 27, 1929) World Correspondence Chess Champion
• Ottó Bláthy (August 11, 1860 – September 26, 1939)
• Eero Böök (February 9, 1910 – January 7, 1990)
• Mikhail Botvinnik (17 August 1911 – May 5, 1995) a World Chess Champion
• Francesco Calogero (b. February 6, 1935)
• Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879 – April 18, 1955)
• Arpad Elo (August 25, 1903 – November 5, 1992)
• Richard Feynman (May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988)
• Reuben Fine (October 11, 1914 – March 26, 1993) world-class Grandmaster
• Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790)
• George Gamow (March 4, 1904 – August 19, 1968)
• Werner Heisenberg (December 5, 1901 – February 1, 1976)
• Lancelot Hogben (9 December 1895 – 22 August 1975)
• Edward Lasker (December 3, 1885 – March 25, 1981) International Master
• Claude Lévi-Strauss (28 November 1908 – 30 October 2009)
• Géza Maróczy (3 March 1870 — 29 May 1951) world-class Grandmaster
• Vladimir Nabokov (April 22, 1899 — July 2, 1977)
• Robert Oppenheimer (April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967)
• William Pollock (February 21, 1859 – October 5, 1896) Strong Master
• Vasik Rajlich (b. 1971)
• Peter Mark Roget (January 18, 1779 – September 12, 1869)
• Jonathan Sarfati (b. October 1, 1964)
• Milan Vidmar (June 22, 1885 – October 9, 1962) Grandmaster
• Milan Vukcevich (March 11, 1937 – May 10, 2003) Master and World-class chess problemist
• Ludwig Wittgenstein (April 26, 1889 – April 29, 1951)
• Erich Zepler (January 27, 1898 – May 13, 1980)
• Konrad Zuse (June 22, 1910 – December 18, 1995)

See also

• José Capablanca (November 19, 1888 – March 8, 1942) attended engineering school
• Che Guevara (June 14, 1928 – October 9, 1967) medical doctor
• Oscar Panno (b. March 17, 1935) civil engineer
• Gata Kamsky (b. June 2, 1974) attended medical school

External links

• Math Chess by Mario Velucchi