Chess again crossed paths with politics in 2011, with the most remarkable moment occurring in Tripoli, Libya, during the NATO bombing campaign against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the World Chess Federation president, flew to Libya in June and played Qaddafi. Ilyumzhinov had known the Libyan leader since at least 2004, and there was speculation that he was on a mission to try to end the war. The game ended in a draw, but the war continued. (Tripoli fell to the rebels two months later, and Qaddafi was killed in October.)

Politics also shadowed an achievement by Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, an Iranian grandmaster who set a record in February by playing 614 people at the same time. It had been held by Alik Gershon of Israel, and the record holder before Gershon was Morteza Mahjoob, also of Iran.

“Iran is great and deserves the best,” Maghami was quoted as saying after reclaiming the record for Iran. “Let’s not talk politics.” But in October he was expelled from a tournament in Corsica for refusing to play an Israeli.