The chronicle descriptions of Edward suggest chess-playing and
hunting as his leisure pursuits. Household accounts confirm that
he played chess, for there are records of his financial losses at
the game in 1278, and of the gift of a board to him.
The losses do not occur in later accounts - perhaps his game improved, or possibly no one dared to beat him - but his continued interest is shown by an inventory of his possessions from 1300, which includes one ebony chess set, and one of crystal and jasper. His second queen, Margaret of France, had two splendid sets worth forty pounds each.
A lucky escape occured when a stone fell from the vaulted ceiling onto the seat from which he had just moved, when playing chess. This was attributed by the king to the intervention of the Virgin Mary.
Edward does not, however, have a major place in the history
of chess, unlike his brother-in-law Alphonso of Castile, who
commissioned an important manual about the game.
Source English Monarchs - Edward I by M.Prestwich; pg
111-115