The chess games of Aleister Crowley

A Crowley

Aleister Crowley (left) playing Fernando Pessoa in Lisbon, 1930.

Aleister Crowley
Number of games in database: 1
Years covered: 1894

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ALEISTER CROWLEY
(born Oct-12-1875, died Dec-01-1947) United Kingdom

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Aleister Crowley was born Edward Alexander Crowley in Warwickshire, England. He was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema.

In 1895 Crowley, having then adopted the new name of Aleister, began a three year course at Trinity College, Cambridge. He joined the university's chess club, where he beat the president in his first year (he claims) and practised two hours a day towards becoming a champion. Preoccupied with occultism, he eventually gave this idea up.

Crowley gained widespread notoriety during his lifetime, and was denounced in the popular press of the day as "The Great Beast" and "the wickedest man in the world." Nevertheless, Crowley has remained an influential figure and is widely thought of as the most influential occultist of all time.

Wikipedia Wikipedia article: Aleister Crowley

page 1 of 1; one game

Game		Result	Moves	Year	Event/Locale	Opening
1. Blackburne vs A Crowley		½-½	28	1894	Blackburne simul Eastbourne	B45 Sicilian, Taimanov

Aug-02-11		Benzol: Crowley at one time owned Boleskine House which is on the shores of Loch Ness. It was later owned by Jimmy Page of Led Zepplin fame. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolesk... for more info. Don't know who owns it now though.

Aug-02-11		twinlark: Nowadays it's the likes of philosopher and utilitarian ethicist Peter Singer that have been given the label of the most dangerous man alive.

Aug-02-11		Stonehenge: Is there also a most dangerous dead man?

Aug-02-11		HeMateMe: I wonder if Jimmy Page still has his collection of Crowley momorabilia and other black magic artifacts? He was a collector. Mr. Crowley: (utube disabled comment page for this video. Thats probably a bad reflection on Ozzy fans.) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM9n...> Chipmunks ride the Crazy Train! <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxK7...>

Aug-02-11		twinlark: <Stonehenge> heh Singer's purported danger is to do with his ideas. So my guess is the most dangerous dead men talking are probably Karl Marx or Milton Friedman, depending upon the politics of the beholder.

Aug-02-11		micartouse: I suspect this guy is the real inventor of Enochian chess.

Feb-04-12		wordfunph: according to Gary Lane, Aleister Crowley even appeared on the cover of the Beatles album Sergeant Pepper.

Feb-04-12		Nemesistic: <Wordfunph> He did, he's on the back row, second from the left if you remember the Albums cover..

Feb-04-12		theagenbiteofinwit: No way, when did Crowley get his own page!?! IMHO AC was a very very terrible fiction writer who compensated for it by being a very very savvy PR man. I could see why he and W.B. Yeats (who also took British hocus-pocus clubs seriously) never got along. One was the last great rhyming poet, the other was Crowley.

Feb-04-12		Cibator: <micartouse: I suspect this guy is the real inventor of Enochian chess.> Don't think so. That game was always more associated with AC's fellow-occultist MacGregor Mathers, with whom he had a monumental bust-up.

Feb-04-12		SteinitzLives: Famous for being truly evil, a reality celebrity, before invention by modern culture. Horrifying and revolting, but many cannot turn away, I can. After all, he was just another perversion-addict, masking it in pseduo-intellectual-occultism, but a dirty old man nevertheless. Pathetic Ozzy Osbourne sang about him, they are both at the same level of talent and depth.

Oct-12-12		LoveThatJoker: Aleister Crowley, today you are remembered! LTJ

Oct-12-12		twinlark: Crowley's been reincarnated in a steampunk-sf series called the <Demi-Monde>, which is set in a virtual world created with a quantum computer by the Pentagon for war training purposes. In this place, he's one of a cast of major historical psychopaths like Heydrich, Beria, Torquemada, Robespierre, Shaka Zulu, Matthew Hopkins, Archie Clement and others. Great read!

Nov-07-12		Conrad93: This guy considered himself the next Capablanca, if not better.

Nov-07-12		Conrad93: The most egotistical man in history? I can't think of anyone else.

Nov-07-12		Everyone: Conrad93 comes into <Everyone's> mind.

Nov-07-12		Conrad93: I'm not egotistical, I'm just rational and state my mind.

Nov-07-12		HeMateMe: Was he really the 5th Beatle?

Nov-07-12		Mac3: No the fifth Beatle was Billy Preston!

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Aleister Crowley (left) playing Fernando Pessoa in Lisbon, 1930.