“Ray Charles and Willie (Nelson) used to play chess together,” (Paul) English (drummer for the Zac Brown Band) said. “Ray was pretty good.”
Source: Daily Times in Farmington, New Mexico
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Chess playing musicians
I saw Willie Nelson twice in concert but I never saw Ray Charles. Heard that he’s about 1600-1700.
Here’s a link to a photo of some Ray Charles items including a chess set and board of his:
Link
Two photo of music legend Ray Charles playing chess with great saxophonist Plas Johnson (remember Plas’ Pink Panther Theme lead sax part?) during an airplane flight:
Link 1
Link 2
I played chess with Ray once while on the road with his band in 1987 or 1988 (can’t remember) in Las Vegas. He was a very good player.
If you look closely at the pictures, you’ll see that the white squares are raised, the black squares lowered, and there’s a hole in each square. The pieces had pegs on the bottom to keep them from tipping over.
Ray would feel around the board to check the positions of the pieces.
Ray would routinely play a game or two each night before a show in his dressing room with the music director. He’d also occassionally play while travelling or waiting on a flight (as in the photo).
Chess was a popular pastime amongst the band members on long bus trips.