--- title: TIME 100 Gala: Bob Ferguson on Chess and Trump Travel Ban description: Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said his experience as an expert chess player helped his office successfully file the first state lawsuit against President Donald Trump's travel ban canonical: https://time.com/4754958/bob-ferguson-trump-travel-ban-time-100/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-26T02:25:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:38:14.426Z article:section: Politics og:title: How Chess Helped the Washington Attorney General File the First Lawsuit Against Trump's Travel Ban og:description: "We anticipated he was going to introduce a travel ban, so we were prepared for it" og:url: https://time.com/4754958/bob-ferguson-trump-travel-ban-time-100/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02e3ad16dac7277f/6988caa0fb4eacf013891b1f/bob-ferguson-time-100-gala-2017.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Landon Nordeman for TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Chess Helped the Washington Attorney General File the First Lawsuit Against Trump's Travel Ban twitter:description: "We anticipated he was going to introduce a travel ban, so we were prepared for it" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02e3ad16dac7277f/6988caa0fb4eacf013891b1f/bob-ferguson-time-100-gala-2017.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Chess Helped the Washington Attorney General File the First Lawsuit Against Trump's Travel Ban > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=5d5f4988-a6d6-47e5-a20f-2a847c106664&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: See All the TIME 100 Honorees in One Minute [Watch (HLS stream): See All the TIME 100 Honorees in One Minute](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zZCdrcRA.m3u8) (0:56)  _Published 2017-04-20. The TIME 100 honorees include actors, musicians, politicians, business leaders, activists and scientists, and together make a portrait of influence in 2017._  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Apr 26, 2017 2:25 AM UTC  Bob Ferguson at the Time 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 25, 2017 in New York City. Bob Ferguson at the Time 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 25, 2017 in New York City. Landon Nordeman for TIME  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Apr 26, 2017 2:25 AM UTC Washington State Attorney General [Bob Ferguson](http://time.com/collection-post/4742678/bob-ferguson/) said his experience as an expert chess player helped his office successfully file the first state lawsuit against [President Donald Trump’s travel ban](http://time.com/4724168/trump-travel-ban-court-hearing/). “Chess teaches you many things. It teaches you how to anticipate your opponent’s move. It teaches you to think ahead. It teaches you how to take a calculated risk,” Ferguson, who once considered a career as a professional chess player, said at the TIME 100 Gala on Tuesday. “We anticipated he was going to introduce a travel ban, so we were prepared for it. We anticipated that move, so to speak, from the President.” In January, Ferguson’s office filed a lawsuit within 72 hours of Trump signing an executive order barring immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. [Federal judge James Robart](http://time.com/4660428/donald-trump-federal-judge-blocks-immigration-order/) sided with the state of Washington in a February ruling, putting a temporary halt on Trump’s travel ban. “There was a lot of uncertainty in the decision, but often in chess, you have to make decisions where the position’s complicated, but in order to win the game, you have to take a calculated risk,” Ferguson said. “It required a calculated risk to file that lawsuit when, at that time, most legal experts thought we were going to lose. That was the conventional wisdom at that point.” Trump issued a revised travel ban in March, which was [put on temporary hold](http://time.com/4703207/travel-ban-hawaii-court-ruling-advocates/?iid=sr-link6) after a federal judge in Hawaii ruled to block the executive order. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to [review the order in May](http://time.com/4724168/trump-travel-ban-court-hearing/). ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4754958/bob-ferguson-trump-travel-ban-time-100/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4754958/bob-ferguson-trump-travel-ban-time-100/"},"headline":"How Chess Helped the Washington Attorney General File the First Lawsuit Against Trump's Travel Ban","datePublished":"2017-04-26T02:25:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:38:14.426Z","description":"\"We anticipated he was going to introduce a travel ban, so we were prepared for it\"","url":"https://time.com/4754958/bob-ferguson-trump-travel-ban-time-100/","keywords":["TIME 100","TIME 100","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02e3ad16dac7277f/6988caa0fb4eacf013891b1f/bob-ferguson-time-100-gala-2017.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02e3ad16dac7277f/6988caa0fb4eacf013891b1f/bob-ferguson-time-100-gala-2017.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Landon Nordeman for TIME","caption":"Landon Nordeman for TIME","creditText":"Landon Nordeman for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-100/","name":"TIME 100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4754958/bob-ferguson-trump-travel-ban-time-100/","name":"How Chess Helped the Washington Attorney General File the First Lawsuit Against Trump's Travel Ban"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"See All the TIME 100 Honorees in One Minute","description":"The TIME 100 honorees include actors, musicians, politicians, business leaders, activists and scientists, and together make a portrait of influence in 2017.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/zZCdrcRA/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-04-20T10:30:45.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zZCdrcRA.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4754958/bob-ferguson-trump-travel-ban-time-100/","duration":"PT56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4754958/bob-ferguson-trump-travel-ban-time-100/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```