The Queen’s Gambit is Inspiring Women to Play Chess. These Famous Women Loved Chess Too.

The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix is experiencing a ton of popularity, but it is having an unintended effect. It is inspiring an uptick of women chess players.

Classic actresses were ahead of their time, I guess. They had to spend a lot of time waiting between scenes. So what did they do? Became women chess players and mastered the Queen’s gambit (and other chess moves, I am sure).

Since quarantine has got us all home a bit more, I thought we could revisit a popular classic actress favorite, chess.

Famous Actresses Who Played Chess

Ava Gardner

I once read a story about Ava Gardner and bandleader Artie Shaw. It seems that Artie was incredibly good at chess, and he gave Ava a hard time about it. But he met his match when Ava took lessons from Russian grandmaster Stepan Vronksy.

After a bit of practice, she was ready for a rematch with Artie. She beat him on their first game, and he never requested a rematch. Shall we say, Queen’s Gambit declined?

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn may, to some, be the quintessential “dumb blonde” but she was far from that. Amongst her many brainy abilities was chess.

Her psychiatrist, Ralph Greenson, stated that the game had even improved her peace of mind in her last months. “It was not some insight, not a new personal relationship,” he wrote. “It was a chess piece. The young woman had recently been given a gift of a carved ivory chess set.”

Vivien Leigh

Vivien Leigh claimed chess was one of her favorite games. Check out this set from the Vivien Leigh collection.

Lauren Bacall

Lauren played the game well enough to go up against husband Humphrey Bogart, who had made money on it at one time. They even appeared on the cover of Chess Review together. But watching them play together? That’s something I would have liked to see!!!

Marlene Dietrich

Marlene Dietrich loved the game so much that she carried a tiny set on flights to pass the time.

Bette Davis

Bette Davis reportedly played with husband Harmon O. Nelson, who is perhaps better known for being the inspiration behind the Academy Award’s statuette name of Oscar.

Hedy Lamarr

As if the inventor of a frequency-hopping communications technology wasn’t enough (she is called the mother of WiFi), Hedy was also a brilliant chess player. She reportedly played chess with Man Ray, the famous surrealist photographer (his artwork, some believe, inspired the Black Dahlia murder but that’s another story for another day).

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