The following persons have been cited in either the UK New Years Honours List or the Queen’s Birthday Honours List or the King’s Birthday Honours List for “Services to Chess” or similar:

Key:

KBH = King’s Birthday Honours
QBH = Queen’s Birthday Honours
NYH = New Years Honours

Harry Golombek, OBE, 1966, Civil Division, QBH, “For services to Chess”
Jonathan Penrose, OBE, 1971, NYH, “For services to Chess”
Nancy Conchar Elder, MBE, 1974, Civil Division, QBH, “For services to chess in Scotland”
Comins Mansfield, MBE, 1976, Civil Division, NYH, “For services to Chess”
David William Anderton, OBE, 1977, NYH, “For services to Chess”
Robert Graham Wade, OBE, 1979, Civil Division, QBH, “For services to Chess”
Baruch Harold Wood, OBE, 1984, Civil Division, NYH, “For services to Chess”
Raymond Denis Keene, OBE, 1985, Civil Division, QBH, “For services to Chess”
Nigel David Short, MBE, 1999, QBH, “For services to Chess”
Stephen Taylor, MBE, 2011, QBH, “teacher, Greenwood Academy, North Ayrshire. For services to Schools Chess.”
Brian Adam Hugh Callaghan, OBE, 2012, NYH, “Chairman, Callaghan Group, Gibraltar. For services to chess and tourism in Gibraltar.”
Mario Garcia, BEM, 2014, NYH, Vice president, Gibraltar Chess Association. “For services to promoting chess in Gibraltar”
Larry Ebbin, MBE, 2016, NYH, “For services to the community”
Kevin Charles Staveley, BEM, 2020, QBH, “For services to Chess in Wales”
Dr. Gerald Edward Lobley,  MBE, 2024, KBH, “For Services to chess in Scotland”

Other notable chess players have been honoured in non-chess ways:

Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander, CBE, 1946, Civil Division, NYH, “employed in a Department of the Foreign Office”
Sir Philip Stuart Milner-Barry, OBE, 1946, Civil Division, NYH, “employed in a Department of the Foreign Office”
Graham Russell Mitchell, OBE, 1951, CB, 1957, “For Services to the the Security Services”
Gerald Frank Anderson DFC, MBE, 1959, NYH, “Second Secretary, Her Majesty’s Embassy, Washington”
William Albert Fairhurst, CBE, 1961, Civil Division, QBH, “Senior Partner, F. A. Macdonald & Partners, Consulting Engineers”
Reginald Walter Bonham, MBE, 1970, Civil Division, “Services to the blind”
Robin CO Matthews FBA, CBE, 1975, Civil Division, “Chairman, Social Science Research Council”
Kenneth Charles Messere, OBE, 1991, QBH, Civil Division, “lately Head of Fiscal Affairs Division, OECD, Paris.”
Sir Jeremy Morse,
Michael Cyril Truran, OBE, 2013, NYH, “For voluntary services to Bioscience. (Witney, Oxfordshire)”
Sir Demis Hassabis CBE FRS FREng FRSA, 2018, NYH, “For Services to Artificial Intelligence”

Other notable chess players honoured in non-UK honours lists:

Murray Graham Chandler, MNZM, NZ NYH, “For services to chess”