Some great players have been first-class musicians. For example Taimanov (1926-) was an International Grandmaster (1952) and one of the world's best ten from about 1950-1956 at the same time as being a concert pianist.
Conversely Adolf Brodsky (1851-1929), a first-class chessplayer, gave the first performance of Tchaikovsky's violin concerto after its dedicatee declared it unplayable, and later became conductor of the Halle Orchestra and then the Principal of Manchester Collegue of Music.
Those who have reached the top in both fields include Philidor (1726-1795), reputedly the best player of his time and a talented composer, and Rudolf Heinrich Willmers (1921-78) who played music and composed chess problems. While playing Schumann's 'Carnival' in a piano recital in Copenhagen, Willmers stopped suddenly, wrote on his cuff, and then continued. He explained afterwards that he had been struggling for a week to solve a difficult problem when the solution came to him in a flash. 'I had to jot it down to get it out of my head and let me concentrate entirely on my playing.'
If you look through your games collections you may come across.
plus Prokofiev against
Other musicians of chess playing note include Yehudi Menuhin, Frederic Chopin, Ludwig van Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn, Aram Katchaturian, the pianist Paul Badura-Skoda, Paul Hewson (Bono from U2), while Gregor Piatigorsky (1903-1976), a russian cellist sponsored two important chess cups. Richard Reti made his mark in chess, his brother Rudulph was a musician. The composer John Cage played, among others, Marcel Duchamp (Toronto 1968.)
It appears that Bob Dylan was also a keen chess player. In the Bob Spitz biography, there are several paragraphs describing how Dylan used to try to psyche his opponent out by talking during the game. He also was known to do the same wild, nervous leg shaking motion while playing that he does when he is singing. There is also a report that Dylan's manager paid Bobby Fischer so Dylan could play chess with him.
In the Bob Dylan art gallery online, one of the artists has done a sketch called "Only a Pawn in their Game" with Dylan playing chess, the title being taken from a song in the album "The Times They Are A-Changin' (Jan. 1964). Also, if you have the issue of MOJO with Dylan on the cover there is a beautiful picture of him playing chess.
The reason for the apparent connection between music and chess is unknown. However, composer Ernest Irving "said that the ability to read a full score helped a player to play blindfold, since instrumental complexities resemble chess combinations".
Sources:
From: "Monte L. Rogneby"
Date: Fri, May 29, 1998 11:09 AM EDT
From: Juan.Solare@Uni-Koeln.DE (Juan Marķa Solare)
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 1997 16:18:25 GMT
The Oxford Companion to Chess