Did Shakespeare play chess?

Did he? This question popped into my mind when I was studying Merchant Of Venice.

no......i don't think 

An interesting essay is here: http://www.chessmaniac.com/chess-and-shakespeare/

Considering no TV, no Internet, not even radio. Minimal publically available printed material - no public libraries, etc. and minimal professional sports, I would thing tha Shakespeare played chess, at least as something to pass the time.

He might have played some, but if he had been a real chess player "Hamlet" would have been called "The Danish Gambit".

More seriously, interesting link, Mick.

b2 or not b2? That is the question.

Tecnically that would be, QKt2 or not QKt2.

I thought you were @CrystalMoon because of your picture

Seems he did! http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/shakespeare.html

I gotta say, those links are very interesting. Especially the first one.

Umm, what does that mean?

To be or not to be!... shakespeare's famous words in the tempest or whatever.

Oh right.

Nothing gets past you.

It's from Hamlet.

Thanks for the info,did'nt know that..now i can score a point more in a literature quiz!

No clue about Shakespeare, but I have heard, Beethoven was that deaf, that all his life he thought he is painting...

'Knowledge is power.' For a bonus point in the literature quiz, this quote is attributed to Sir Francis Bacon and appeared in 'Meditationes Sacre' wriitten in 1597 in Latin. 'Ipsa scientia potestas est' - 'Knowledge itself is power'.

Been hearing those word's all my life...nice to know where it came from.

Apropos "To be or not to be!" ...

Socrates:   "To be is to do."

Sartre:       "To do is to be."

Sinatra:      "Do Be Do Be Dooo..."

No evidence of chess in any of his plays, but he was familiar with tennis (Henry V).