LEO Williams, a former champion of Montreal, traded the chessboard for the ballot box this week when he ran for parliament in the Canadian elections – and got crushed.
Williams, 55, holds the record for most blindfold simultaneous games in Canada. This didn’t help him much as candidate of the Green Party.
The record of chess-playing pols is decidedly mixed:
Garry Kasparov, who left chess for politics, hasn’t been faring well. But his old rival Anatoly Karpov got to the Kremlin this week, as a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation.
Barry Popik, a New York master, was the Republican candidate for Manhattan Borough President last November. International Master Eugene Meyer, who competes in the District of Columbia League, is head of the Federalist Society.
There are some chess and political skills that overlap, such as foresight. But both of these are obsessive games that crowd out other interests.
William Weld, who is seeking to succeed Gov. Pataki this year, recalled how he hurt his chances to defeat John Kerry in the 1996 Senate race in Massachusetts.
On the night he prepared for a crucial debate, GOP nominee Weld was worried about a postal chess game. He lost a pawn – and eventually the election. “And I really hated losing that pawn,” he said.