Strongest chess-playing politicians?

[Matt Mackenzie]

On the subject of Lithuanians, not mentioned yet is their former president Vytautas Landsbergis - strong enough to play in a few Lithuanian SSR championships in the 1950s (where he *may* have played a very young Tal, though I'm not sure about that one)

EDIT: post altered since he is still alive according to Wikipedia!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Worth adding Irish Chess Champion Sir Richard W. Barnett who was an MP in the UK parliament between 1916 and 1929. He was Irish Chess Champion from 1886 to 1889 and also "president of the Oxford University Chess Club, competing in a number of varsity matches against Cambridge in the 1880s".

Thank you Matt, for Vytautas Landsbergis. ("In 1952 he placed third in the Lithuanian chess championship").

[James Pratt]

Course there's always
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmaduke ... ss_player)
Or better
p 80-81 in 'The Even More Complete Chess Addict' by Mike Fox and Richard James (Faber 1993) - naturally where else would be worth looking-?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Course there's always
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmaduke ... ss_player)
Or better
p 80-81 in 'The Even More Complete Chess Addict' by Mike Fox and Richard James (Faber 1993) - naturally where else would be worth looking-?

Yes, that is an excellent starting point (Marmaduke Wyvill has been mentioned here before). Has it really been 26 years since that was published!

[Matt Mackenzie]

The "original" book was out in 1987/88 and I bought it not long after it was published - now that makes me feel old!

[Paul McKeown]

Carmen Kass, stood as a candidate for the European Parliament representing the Estonian Res Publica Erakond (conservative) at the time its leader, Juhan Parts was the republic's Prime Minister. Besides being a top-earning fashion model and politician, she was President of the national chess federation from 2004 to 2011. Her father, Viktor Kass is a chess teacher in Kohtla-Järve, with a FIDE rating. She's a club standard player herself.