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chessolympus.bsky.social
Chess Olympus
@chessolympus.bsky.social
310 followers 100 following 700 posts
A daily celebration of chess marginalia. Author of this book about Alexander Alekhine: https://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/product/Chess-Villain/
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chessolympus.bsky.social
Happy birthday to Bollywood legend Zeenat Aman!🎂 This photo of her playing chess is widely available online, but I couldn't trace it to its source.
In a photo that looks like it dates from the 1970s, Zeenat Aman looks at the camera across a chess board and lifts a piece to make a move.
November 19, 2025 at 2:42 PM
chessolympus.bsky.social
November 18 is Latvian independence day, which is as good a time as any to post some Tal content.
Cover of the March, 1961 issue of Chess Review magazine, featuring a photo of Mikhail Tal concentrating over a chess board. The story inside is about Tal's upcoming attempt to defend his world championship title against Mikhail Botvinnik.
November 18, 2025 at 3:00 PM
chessolympus.bsky.social
Rock Hudson November 17, 1925, competes with Sandra Dee during the making of Come September (1961).
In a Getty Images photo, Sandra Dee and Rock Hudson smile and play chess with a travel set on what looks like a marble bar top.
November 17, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Chess Olympus
60minutes.bsky.social
Brains meet brawn in the world of chess boxing, a sport in which competitors face off on the chess board and also in the boxing ring. 60 Minutes reports, Sunday. 60Minutes.com
November 15, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Reposted by Chess Olympus
oregonthedm.bsky.social
Part 4 of 200 in historically interesting things to inspire your ttrpg

One of Stalin’s pipes, depicting him and FDR playing chess. It was given to him in 1945 by the visiting US chess team
As said in wood?
November 13, 2025 at 4:28 AM
chessolympus.bsky.social
Burgess Meredith, whose incredibly long career included this chess game in Magnificent Doll (1946), was born November 16, 1907.
In a scene from Magnificent Doll, Burgess Meredith and another actor play chess at a table in a grand living room. David Niven stands to one side, gesturing at the board. All wear formal 18th-century clothes.
November 16, 2025 at 3:16 PM
chessolympus.bsky.social
Yaphet Kotto, born November 15, 1939, kept his cool no matter how intense the chess got during the making of Live and Let Die (1973).
Yaphet Kotto reaches to make a move on a travel chess set on the hood of a car while Roger Moore playfully threatens him with a prop revolver. Three other actors watch from the side.
November 15, 2025 at 4:56 PM
chessolympus.bsky.social
“Chess commentator.” The Onion knows how to cite a credible source.
November 15, 2025 at 5:46 AM
chessolympus.bsky.social
Ray Sharkey (left), born November 14, 1952, competed in chess and love with his buddy Michael Ontkean in Willie and Phil (1980).
In a scene from Willie and Phil, Ray Sharkey and Michael Ontkean play chess at a stone table in a park. A game of checkers in progress is visible behind them.
November 14, 2025 at 3:41 PM
chessolympus.bsky.social
Jack Elam (right), born November 13, 1920, is in pretty much every western you've ever seen. Here he is as a rough ranch hand with a secret skill at chess in a 1961 episode of The Rifleman (it's on YouTube! youtu.be/pGWIaoBZmnA?... ).
In a scene from The Rifleman, Charles Reade and Jack Elam sit at a kitchen table playing chess. Behind them, Sean McClory and Lawrence Dobkin shake hands while Chuck Connors watches. Everyone smiles broadly. The surroundings are rustic and everyone wears 19th-century western clothes.
November 13, 2025 at 2:58 PM
chessolympus.bsky.social
Kim Hunter, born November 12, 1922, looked good in uniform and played cafe chess in A Matter of Life and Death (1946).
In a scene from A Matter of Life and Death, Kim Hunter sits at a green felted table and plays chess with a club-style plastic set. She wears a gray military uniform. Roger Livesey sits to the side of the table and leans in to speak to Hunter.
November 12, 2025 at 3:00 PM
chessolympus.bsky.social
When WWI ended, Emanuel Lasker's first instinct was to get out of Europe for a while. "I am rather sick of war, famine, revolution, immorality and violence." From American Chess Bulletin, November 1919.
Item from the November, 1919 issue of American Chess Bulletin under the headline, "Word from Dr. E. Lasker." The text explains that Lasker has written to Walter Penn Shipley asking if some chess clubs would book him for a tour of the U.S.
November 11, 2025 at 2:44 PM
chessolympus.bsky.social
Richard Burton, born November 10, 1925, played some kind of fairy chess with Hazel Penwarden in a 1951 Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Tempest.
In a photo by Angus McBean, Richard Burton and Hazel Penwarden wear elaborate Elizabethan costumes and gaze lovingly at each other across a checkered board. The board is six squares by nine and the pieces on it are exotic shapes that do not resemble traditional chess pieces.
November 10, 2025 at 3:14 PM
chessolympus.bsky.social
Happy birthday to Lou Ferrigno!🎂 He's turning 74, but I still wouldn't challenge him to chess boxing. The picture is from his local newspaper: bit.ly/4hEQRcu
In a photo by Jayson Mellom for the Santa Maria Sun, Lou Ferrigno poses at his kitchen table wearing a plaid shirt and smiling across a large wooden chess set.
November 9, 2025 at 3:28 PM
chessolympus.bsky.social
Alain Delon, born November 8, 1935, challenges Anthony Quinn during the making of The Lost Command (1966).
Alain Delon and Anthony Quinn, both wearing camouflage fatigues, play chess at a table in a cramped trailer. A third actor, also in fatigues, sits next to Delon and studies another chess board. Several men are visible milling around outside the windows in the background.
November 8, 2025 at 3:20 PM
chessolympus.bsky.social
Happy birthday to Christopher Knight! Based solely on his attire, I assume he was acting as arbiter for Greg and Marsha's game in this 1971 episode of The Brady Bunch.
In a scene from The Brady Bunch, Barry Williams and Maureen McCormick sit at a dining-room table playing chess. They both wear blue t-shirts and look up from the game at Christopher Knight, who is approaching the table wearing a gray suit and tie.
November 7, 2025 at 4:15 PM
chessolympus.bsky.social
Jacques Charrier (left), born November 6, 1933, played chess in the modern style in The Third Lover (1962).
In a scene from The Third Lover, Jacques Charrier and Walther Reyer sit at a table in a well-appointed living room smoking cigars, drinking wine, and playing chess with a Max Ernst-designed modernist chess set. Stéphane Audran watches from a sofa in the background.
November 6, 2025 at 4:18 PM
chessolympus.bsky.social
Character actor Herb Edelman, born November 5, 1933, liked chess, cats and wine in The Yakuza (1974). Hat tip to catsonfilm.net for posting this screenshot (we all have that thing we clock immediately when it shows up in a movie).
In a scene from The Yakuza, Herb Edelman sits on a sofa and smiles. He holds a glass of wine in one hand and holds a cat on his lap with the other. A polished stone chess set is set up on the coffee table in front of him.
November 5, 2025 at 3:04 PM
chessolympus.bsky.social
Happy birthday to Matthew McConaughey, who unrealistically preferred drinking margaritas with Camila Alves to chess in an ad for his tequila brand.
In a 2024 commercial for Pantalones Tequila, Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves lounge on a sofa drinking from cocktail glasses. A wooden chess set sits on the coffee table in front of them.
November 4, 2025 at 3:17 PM
chessolympus.bsky.social
Jeremy Brett, the Holmes I grew up with, was born November 3, 1933.
In a scene from an episode of Sherlock Holmes, Jeremy Brett leans on a table in a library where a chess game is in progress. Brett wears a top coat and gloves and holds a hat.
November 3, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Chess Olympus
jazwiseman.bsky.social
Patrick McGoohan and Don Chaffey playing chess - they formed a strong working relationship between 1964-66, with Don directing 14 episodes of the 50 minute Danger Man series. He also directed four episodes of The Prisoner including Checkmate. I wonder who won this game?
November 2, 2025 at 9:34 PM
chessolympus.bsky.social
Happy birthday to Jason Cerbone!🎂 Losing at chess was the last thing he ever did in The Sopranos.
In a scene from Season 3, Episode 13 of The Sopranos, Jason Cerbone plays chess with a child of about twelve at a kitchen table while Michael K. Williams watches from the side.
November 2, 2025 at 2:45 PM
chessolympus.bsky.social
November 1 is Hello Kitty's canonical birthday. If you want to celebrate with a themed chess game, Sanrio has you covered.
The red king and queen from a Hello Kitty chess set stand side by side on a pink and white chess board. Other pieces are visible in the background.
November 1, 2025 at 3:20 PM
chessolympus.bsky.social
Happy Halloween, everybody!
Alexander Alekhine stands in a doorway wearing a suit and a homemade jumper with the image of a black cat on it.
October 31, 2025 at 2:13 PM
chessolympus.bsky.social
Roseanne Murray, born October 31, 1920, takes an intense interest in Reshevsky's game at the 1945 Pan-American Championship. From Chess Review, October 1945.
Sammy Reshevsky and Weaver Adams play chess in a tournament setting while a crowd of about ten people watch from behind a rope barrier. Front and center in the crowd is Roseanne Murray, seated. The caption reads, "Pretty, redheaded Rosanne Murray, who has an important role in Universal's 'A Night in Paradise,' was one of the most frequent visitors to the Pan-American Championship. Chess Review's photographer catches her twice--at Herman Steiner's table, and later during the tense game between Reshevsky (left) and Adams."
October 31, 2025 at 2:11 PM