The Chess Games of Humphrey Bogart

Humphrey Bogart not only played chess, but was very good at it. His rating was around 1900, but is said to have been the equivalent of the modern 2100. That's really good, nearly master strength. When asked what things were important to him he replied that chess was one of the most important things in his life. He was a certified tournament director, and played frequently at the Hollywood chess club. There are many scenes of him playing chess in his movies, one particularly famous one is from Casablanca. That game was an actual correspondence game he was playing at the time. He drew Reshevsky in a simul played in 1955 in Hollywood, and played Koltanowski in 1952. (Koltanowski was blindfolded and still won.) It is common knowledge that Humphrey Bogart, before he made money acting, used to play for money in Coney Island in New York, hustling patzers. Let's take a look at some of the games of this well known and beloved actor.

I see that this opening is called the Gibbons-Weidenhagen Gambit... ok, I had to switch tabs three times to remember how to spell that. I'm sure whatever that name comes from can't possibly be as memorable or as interesting as the Bogie Gambit, don't you agree? So let's just call it that from now on. I like it, the Bogie Gambit. It looks just a little bit like the Canard. Of course, as with any gambit you give up a pawn for piece play, development, or as in this case, two pawns in the center. Actually a gambit fits perfectly with Bogart's screen persona.

Bogart got his start in gangster films. True to form, he rips into his opponent's kingside pretty fearlessly. The pawn storm up the h-file and the rook sac coming up soon are the kinds of things you often see in Fischer games. Humphrey Bogart died in 1957, Bobby Fischer played in his first tournament in 1955. You can't help but wonder if Bogart might have been a great admirer of Fischer's, had he lived to see him play. After all, Bogart loved to play chess greats like Koltanowski, and had the status, and allure to make it happen.

Yep, turns out the love of his life was a chess player. So that's why this marriage finally took. I think he had three failed marriages before he met his match. She was twenty five years younger than him, but you gotta admit, they looked like a matched set, her with her cool looks and aloof manner--and she plays chess too? Perfect. Let's see how well she plays.