Stalemated trying to find fantasy chess story

April 23, 2009 6:49 AM

I'm trying to track down a fantasy short story based around a real life infamous chess game.

Years ago I read a short story in a collection that I borrowed from a library. Details are a little hazy but it was fantasy, was set in some sort of inn and was based around a chess game between a man and some sort of intelligent talking unicorn (I think - it could have been some other fantasy creature) that may have also have had psychic/magic powers. I'm not certain but I think it was by Robert Silverberg.

I can remember reading in an introduction to the story that the writer had three requests for short stories for fantasy collections themed around 'inns', 'unicorns' and 'chess games'... so he wrote one that combined all the elements and sold it to all three. The introduction also said that the moves of the game in the story were taken from an infamous real life chess that involved, I think, cheating, or accusations of cheating or some other notoriety, that the author had taken from some book.

Googling's failed me so if anyone has any idea what the story, and/or the real life chess game itself might be, I'd be grateful.

posted by fearfulsymmetry to media & arts (6 comments total)

Could it be a story from "Pawn to Infinity", edited by Fred and Joan Saberhagen - maybe the story "Unicorn Variation"?

(I haven't read it - this is just from Googling - sorry if it's way off.)
posted by Cygnet at 7:04 AM on April 23

It is Unicorn Variation, by Roger Zelazny, also in his collection Unicorn Variations.


Regards
posted by lockedroomguy at 7:13 AM on April 23

I can look up the chess reference for you tomorrow night if no one else posts it.
posted by lockedroomguy at 7:14 AM on April 23

Here's the story complete with Zelazny's intro and background (background at the end), a link to a whole bunch of other people who had the same question as you, and the answer they found: the chess game.
posted by Cygnet at 7:27 AM on April 23 [1 favorite]

Thanks for the quick response... after lockedroomguy's heads-up I went off googling again and found the story... only to come back to see Cygnet had already done so.

For completeness sake I'll link in the version I found here as it's in txt format
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 7:32 AM on April 23

Semi-related: John Brunner's novel The Squares of the City is based on a famous chess match.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:35 AM on April 23