Shakespeare and Chess!

Which of Shakespeare's characters would have made the best chess player and why?

Richard III was a cunning strategist but too greedy for material.

MacBeth would go on risky rampages with his queen.

Henry V plays foolish openings and blunders in the early endgame, though his middle-game performance is quite good.

Ok let me start...not King Lear, too senile , probably would confuse value of the pieces, not Macbeth cos he would let his wife tell him which moves to make( never a good idea, fellas!); I'm going for Cassius in Julius Caesar: a cunning, conniving ruthless son of a bitch who was quite cynical and manipulative; in short, an ideal chess player!

I think the only time chess appears on stage in Shakespeare is in The Tempest, so I'd have to say Miranda and Ferdinand.

Oh what about the clergy at the beginning of Hank Cinq? They are willing to start a war to keep their revenues, surely they are cold-blooded and devious enough to make it big...

Mmmmmm Hamlet? Interesting suggestion...he did encapsulate so much sexual ambivalence in relation to the King and the Queen that he must be on a shortlist..

' Do you know me, sir?'

'You are a fishmonger.. 

As I recall Othello ends with a famous instance of a smothered mate.

And Othello also tell us that it's best to remember if you have got the white or black pieces and not to get them mixed up ( Oh my God, that sounds racist!) 

i think this thread should be called edward de vere and chess.

I vote for Julius Cesar.

He would have tactics, strategy, patience and cunning.

There's no way that one dude wrote all those plays and sonnets.  De Vere is the darling of conspiracy theorists.

Shakespeare, you see, had a split personality so he was able to do twice as much work as any ordinary man.

I suppose that's how Anne was able to put up with him then..

have you seen they've made a movie about ol' de vere?  haha...  he's finally getting his due!  haha...  half of middle america is gonna walk out of the cinema with a new shakespeare.  grapple, line, and sinker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBmnkk0QW3Q

(can't embed, sorry)

somehow they got derek jocobi in this movie...  is he an oxfordian or a mercenary?

Well the Bard was not all about tolerance, e.g. The Merchant of Venice.

Hamlet would have trouble making his mind on which move to make: "Bb2 or not b2, that is the question..."

Perhaps Iago. His strategic manipulation of Othello et al was as masterful as it was evil. He would also have the drive of a Fischer to crush the soul of his enemy and do anything and everything to improve his game.

Falstaff would sooner use the pieces to clean his nose than clean the board.

Most of Shakespeares characters would fit I think.

What about the taming of the shrew?

yeah it has to be Iago, after all; ability to improvise, thinking ahead, manipulative skills, deviousness, ruthlessness, cold bloodedness, patience, strategical awareness, and a nice end game!