All the celebrities going wild for a basic board sport – and it might shock you
They are the celebrity pawn addicts – stars obsessed with playing chess. And no doubt they will have been out in force celebrating International Chess Day, which took place on Monday (July 20).
And despite its perhaps nerdy image, we can reveal that the pastime has some surprisingly famous fans. Here are some of the big-name players…
Humphrey Bogart: As a young man the Casablanca star hustled for cash in parks playing chess and later played the game between takes on movie sets. He taught wife Lauren Bacall to play and even achieved a draw against grandmaster Samuel Reshevsky in 1955.
Director Stanley Kubrick was into his chess(Image: Getty Images)
Stanley Kubrick: Director of films like The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut, the American used to play chess for up to 12 hours a day. He included a famous chess scene in his classic 1968 sci-fi flick 2001: A Space Odyssey in which the supercomputer HAL plays a game with the astronaut Frank.
Sting: The ex-Police frontman is known to play chess backstage with other musicians before concerts. In 2000 the singer, who once crooned ‘every move you make’, played Russian grandmaster Garry Kasparov at a charity event. He joked: “Of course he beat me, but you know, he can’t sing!”
Arnold Schwarzenegger: During the Covid pandemic the Terminator star suggested people stayed at home and played chess. The action movie hero was taught by his father and used to play at the gym during his bodybuilding days. He also played a match against Kasparov, in 2002, and lost.
Arnold Schwarzenegger challenges Mike Tyson to a game(Image: Grab)
Woody Harrelson: The Hunger Games actor has been playing chess since the age of 11 and in 1999 pulled off a draw with Kasparov in an exhibition match. In 2024 he even visited West London’s Wormwood Scrubs prison to play against inmates.
Madonna: Having featured a chess set in her music video for her 1998 track The Power of Goodbye, the singer’s passion for the game was sparked during her marriage to fellow fan, director Guy Ritchie. She even took lessons from a former chess champ.
Madonna gets ready to play in The Power of Good-Bye music video (1998)
Lily Cole: The British model is a chess enthusiast and once played a match against World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen. She says: “The thing I love about chess is that you never really know who’s winning until the game ends.”
Mo Salah: The Liverpool football ace says he is “addicted” to online chess and plays every day. He said of his teammates: “Trent (Alexander-Arnold) plays , but I’m the best by far. There’s no-one in the team who can be close.”
Eberechi Eze: Watching videos of opening moves on YouTube helped the England and Arsenal midfielder learn to play chess. In 2025 he even pocketed £15,000 winning Chess.com’s PogChamps tournament.
Other football fans include Norway’s Erling Haaland who says it “sharpens your mind”.
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