There are many world class athletes who play chess. And of course there are many world class chess players who love to compete in other sports. But a question was asked of me recently.
Who is the strongest tennis player who is also at least a master (NM, FM, IM, or GM, WIM, WGM) in chess?
Of course here are some of the obvious names of strong chess players (still living) who love to play tennis: GMs Spassky, Karpov, Anand, Carlsen, Portisch, Nakamura, Seirawan, Kavalek, Byrne, Moseenko, Robson, Dominguez, J. Friedel, etc. However, I am not sure what level of tennis do they play.
Are there any chess masters who also play tennis at a 4.5 – 5.5 or higher in tennis?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
My OTB chess rating is about 2000 and slightly higher online. I also play tennis at 5.0 USTA level, (thanks to moving to the US for grad school from a poor non-tennis-playing nation and taking advantage of free courts, stronger opponents, and modern rackets). I’m not a master yet. A tennis pro neither. But at least I can hold my own against chess masters and most tennis players :-).
Carlsen, I hear, plays decent tennis… maybe 3.0level. Serbian tennis pro Janko Tipsarevic is a big reader and avid intellectual and plays okay chess.
I’d however be curious to know the chess strengths of Soviet pro tennis players like Davydenko, Safin, Youzhny, Andreev, Tursunov, etc.
http://www.chess-tennis.de/
Check it out. There is a strong tennis-chess tournament in Germany. List of registered players includes GM Fridman, WGM Reizniece-Ozola and WGM Borulya.
http://www.chess-tennis.de/teilnehmerliste/index.html
Marc Esserman serves the ball 130mph.