Q. The actor Woody Harrelson made the first move for Magnus Carlsen in the World Chess Championship that ended Wednesday in Manhattan. Wasn’t Humphrey Bogart supposed to have earned drinking money hustling chess games in New York?

A. Indeed. Humphrey Bogart, who was taught the game by his father, a prominent New York City doctor, later became known as one of the best players among the many actors devoted to chess. But long before “Casablanca,” he had developed a reputation on the chessboard.

When Bogart was working as an office boy for a theatrical office, he “dove headfirst into the Jazz Age lifestyle, always up for late night revels, ” Frank Kelly Rich wrote on the website Drunkard.com.

“When his meager wages were exhausted, he’d play chess against all comers in arcades for a dollar a match (he was a brilliant player) to fund his outings,” Mr. Rich wrote.