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:

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George Airy (July 27, 1801 – January 2, 1892)
Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander (April 19, 1909 – February 15, 1974)
Adolf Anderssen (July 6, 1818 – March 13, 1879)
Henry Ernest Atkins (August 20, 1872 – January 31, 1955)
George Atwood (October 1746 – July 11, 1807)
Charles Babbage (December 26, 1791 – October 18, 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 (born November 29, 1959)
Jacob Bronowski (January 18, 1908 – August 22, 1974)
Sylvain Cappell (born 1946)
Gerolamo Cardano (September 24, 1501 – September 21, 1576)
Lewis Carroll (January 27, 1832 – January 14, 1898)
D. G. Champernowne (July 9, 1912 – August 19, 2000)
Nathan Divinsky (October 25, 1925 – June 17, 2012)
Henry Dudeney (April 10, 1857 – April 24, 1930)
Noam Elkies (born 1966)
Paul Erdős (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 – March 3, 1975)
Edward W. Formanek (born May 6, 1942)
Fred Galvin
Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914 – May 22, 2010)
Carl Friedrich Gauss (April 30, 1777 – February 23, 1855)
J.W.L. Glaisher (November 5, 1848 – December 7, 1928)
Richard K. Guy (born September 30, 1916)
G. H. Hardy (February 7, 1877 – December 1, 1947)
William Hartston
Dagmar R. Henney (born 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 (born 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 (born 1962) Correspondence Grandmaster
Omar Khayyam (May 18, 1048 – December 4, 1131)
Robion Kirby (born 1938)

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

Ľudovít Lačný (born 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 (born 1939)
Sam Loyd (January 31, 1841 – April 10, 1911)
Roberto Magari (December 7, 1934 – March 5, 1994)
Jonathan Mestel (born March 13, 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 (March 24, 1892 – June 22, 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 (born April 25, 1955) Grandmaster
Luca Pacioli (1445–1514 or 1517)
Roger Penrose (born August 8, 1931)
Grigori Perelman (born June 13, 1966)
Ilya Piatetski-Shapiro (March 30, 1929 – February 21, 2009)
Aaron Pixton (born January 13, 1986), a chess and math prodigy
Henri Poincaré (April 29, 1854 – July 17, 1912)
Richard Réti (May 28, 1889 – June 6, 1929)
John Riordan (1902 – August 28, 1988)
Jakob Rosanes (August 16, 1842 – January 6, 1922)
Jan Rusinek (born 1950)
George Salmon (September 25, 1819 – January 22, 1904)
Anthony Santasiere (1904-1977) Strong American Master
Richard Schroeppel (born 1948)
Claude E. Shannon (April 30, 1916 – February 24, 2001)
Raymond Smullyan (born 1919)
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (December 11, 1918 – August 3, 2008)
Kannan Soundararajan
Jonathan Speelman (born October 2, 1956) Grandmaster
Norman Steenrod (April 22, 1910 – October 14, 1971)
Duncan Suttles (born December 21, 1945) Grandmaster and Correspondence Grandmaster
Thorvald Thiele (December 24, 1838 – September 26, 1910)
Leonardo Torres Quevedo (December 28, 1852 – December 18, 1936)
Alan Turing (June 23, 1912 – June 7, 1954)
Alexandre-Théophile Vandermonde (February 28, 1735 – January 1, 1796)
Norbert Wiener (November 26, 1894 – March 18, 1964)
Jean-Christophe Yoccoz (born 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 (March 23, 1842 – March 21, 1909)
Isaac Asimov (January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992)
Hans Berliner (born 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 (August 17, 1911 – May 5, 1995) a World Chess Champion
Francesco Calogero (born 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 (December 9, 1895 – August 22, 1975)
Edward Lasker (December 3, 1885 – March 25, 1981) International Master
Claude Lévi-Strauss (November 28, 1908 – October 30, 2009)
Géza Maróczy (March 3, 1870 – May 29, 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 (born 1971)
Peter Mark Roget (January 18, 1779 – September 12, 1869)
Jonathan Sarfati (born 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)

External links

Math Chess by Mario Velucchi

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List of mathematicians who studied chess

See also

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