English Chess Forum

When chess friends meet up and play something other than chess together, what is most commonly played? Is it golf?

I know a reasonable number of chess players who also played table tennis. Magnus Carlsen looked pretty good when I saw him play years ago.

Snooker/pool seems quite popular for chessists in these parts at least.

Bowls

Back when I was still an active player, bridge was a pretty common alternative, although I was even worse at that than at chess.

But in Bob Pentecost's circle, it was usually rugby (or his form of it,anyway). Such improbable participants as Tony Swift and Norm Oliver often got roped in for a Sunday afternoon kick-around at the nearby Crystal Palace park.

David Buckley, Andy Gregory and I have gone to board game conventions together many times, but in those, you play a mix of games.

IM Jack Rudd wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 30, 2026 7:44 am

David Buckley, Andy Gregory and I have gone to board game conventions together many times, but in those, you play a mix of games.

Similar to when they had the mind sports olympiad in Kensington?

We play Kriegspiel, but I'm not sure if a chess variant is a legitimate answer, here.

Uno, Rage

MJMcCready wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 30, 2026 10:08 am

IM Jack Rudd wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 30, 2026 7:44 am

David Buckley, Andy Gregory and I have gone to board game conventions together many times, but in those, you play a mix of games.

Similar to when they had the mind sports olympiad in Kensington?

To some extent, although I think the MSO is mainly focused on abstracts, and the games played at board game conventions tend to be thematics. Also, I believe the MSO had tournament structures, and board game conventions are rather more ad hoc.

MJMcCready wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 29, 2026 7:01 pm

When chess friends meet up and play something other than chess together, what is most commonly played? Is it golf?

I think bridge must be one of the most likely, with golf up there too. I am partnering a fellow chess club member at a bridge club this evening though he is not my regular partner. By chance on a bridge holiday with my partner, whom I met through bridge, we encountered Stewart Reuben whom I partnered for the men's and ladies' pairs session. In the past at least two of my chess club members have quit chess for bridge. The bridge grading list of 20,000 to 25,000 active players currently has Paul Littlewood at 53rd, Jonathan Mestel at 68th and Peter Lee at 125th. There are bound to be many other chess names there which I don't recognise. The grades are updated daily. When Tony Miles died he was due to be picked up to go and play bridge.

There are at least two other golfers at my chess club and before Covid we used to have an annual four-ball better ball team match against two golfers from another chess club. I did start a thread here years ago to find the lowest handicap golfing chess player and it came up with the late R P Ross of Hull off 2. Keith Richardson, correspondence GM, reached a respectable 14.

Paul Habershon wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 30, 2026 11:40 am

Keith Richardson, correspondence GM, reached a respectable 14.

I remind you of viewtopic.php?f=27&t=11652&p=263820#p263820.

I used to go the MSO alongside many other chessplayers. I went particularly to play Entropy and there were several chessplayers who were MSO Entropy Champions on more than one occasion including Demis Hassabis, Peter Horlock (Godalming) and Alain Dekker (who used to play at Guildford).

Paul Habershon wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 30, 2026 11:40 am

MJMcCready wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 29, 2026 7:01 pm

When chess friends meet up and play something other than chess together, what is most commonly played? Is it golf?

I think bridge must be one of the most likely

When I was active in Surrey chess there used to be a fair few bridge players. More generally, isn't there a certain amount of poker crossover?

Personally, though I watch quite a lot of sport (mostly football, though before going abroad I also liked to go to cricket and rugby league) I find it very hard to play anything other than chess, for the lamentable reason that having reached a certain standard at our game, I don't much like being a beginner at anything else. (That said, I am trying to learn the Aragonese card game guiñote.)

I remember going to the George Goodwin rapidplays in the 90s when sometimes you got the impression that there was some occasional chess being played in between games of backgammon