Just curious...

If you could pick anyone out history (or modern times)  to play a game of chess with, who would it be (and why)?

It could be anybody (whether we know they could play chess or not).

Of course, there can be more than one...

Jesus. Why? Insight... broadcasting rights ($$$$$$$$)...

I'd like to play against Napoleon. He even played chess, didn't he? As for the why, it's because I'd like to see if I could beat the man who (almost) conquered Europe.

I'd like to play the inventor of chess (if there is one) and beat him with the sicilian :)

I would play against myself. Why? I want to see if I can beat myself...Seriously though, I would want to see how the game would turn out if I played against an exact clone of me.

Famke Janssen.  I'm not sure whether or not she actually plays, but whatev.  Also, HAL-9000.  (Oh sorry - that's a fictional character...)

Natasha Kaplinski

I'm gonna go similar to efour, and I think I'll say Adolf Hitler. I don't know if he played or not, but if he was anywhere near as good at chess as he was at being brutally ruthless and unafraid to kill an entire race for what he believed, well... I would get beat pretty easily.

Other people I would consider playing against would be British F1 driver Lewis Hamilton or NASCAR driver Carl Edwards, just because they're cool.

---

 Your dream is very much alive. If we're keeping it local - I'll go for Konnie Huq.

If I win I might get a Blue Peter badge.

Yes, yes, I know she's left but everybody pinches stuff from work.

Larry David. Pretty, pretty good.

thought provoking

i think to kick ghengis khan under the table while you put a rook on his back rank would get the party going

---

 Fair enough - I would find it quite interesting playing me. It would be nice knowing your opponent would be exactly as good as you.

I would, however, probably have to play someone like Morphy. I'd get destroyed, but I'd learn lots in the process

I'd brush up my German and ask W.A. Mozart for a game. Beethoven would be too impatient and wouldn't be able to hear me say "Check" (grand assumption on my part that I'd get a piece in position to put him in check). I would like to play some of the great conductors like Toscanini and Szell, too.

I would play Robert Fischer!

ADK

Odysseus... lol The Great Tactician

---

he invented en passant

---

serously? (He also invented an opening (1.e4 e5 2.Qf3?!).)

Non chess player - Laozi or Buddha

Chess player - Capablanca or Fischer

i would play the dutch GM donner in his prime! a very good player. but also funny witty, and pulls no punches! i think i would enjoy the chat as much as the game!

Do you mean resurrecting them from the dead with all their life memories? Or do I get to go back in time to a particular moment?

It would be cool to go back in time to right before the Opera game between Morphy and Issouard. Then you could take white against Issouard and beat Morphy to the punch.

Or go back to right before one of Fischer's losses and take down possibly the greatest player who ever lived. Assuming Fischer would play the same against me that he played against whoever I'm replacing. Hmm, perhaps we could catch him when he's really young and not too good yet.