Lord Dunsany comes to mind. Note quite the same, but he was a national chess and pistol-shooting champion in Ireland. Also, he was a really good fantasy author.

Lord Dunsany comes to mind. Note quite the same, but he was a national chess and pistol-shooting champion in Ireland. Also, he was a really good fantasy author. He's from the pre-Tolkien era, which is somewhat rare and very distinctive. I hear that chess champions have to have a surprising amount of physical stamina to play chess for so long.