Richard Peyton - Sinister Gambits

[dem bones]

RICHARD PEYTON was prompted to put together this anthology by the chess terminology used by the media during the Gulf Crisis, followed by a bomb threat during the World Chess Championship in New York. He was reminded of the many strange and sinister short stories he had read in which chess appeared as the theme or as a metaphor.
He has compiled two previous anthologies for Souvenir Press—Deadly Odds: Crime and Mystery Stories of the Turf and The Ghost Now Standing on Platform One: Phantoms of the Railway in Fact and Fiction. Both have enjoyed a huge international success.

Richard Peyton (Peter Haining) [ed.] - Sinister Gambits: Murder & Mystery At The Chessboard. An Anthology (Souvenir Press, 1991)

Hugh Gilmour

Richard Peyton - Introduction

I. GRANDPLAYER’S NIGHTMARES
Fritz Leiber - The Dreams of Albert Moreland
Lord Dunsany - The Three Sailors’ Gambit
Gerald Kersh - The Devil That Troubled the Chessboard
Stephen Leacock - Pawn to King’s Four
Stefan Zweig - The Royal Game
J. G. Ballard - End-Game

II. BIZARRE CHESSMEN
Lucretia P. Hale - The Queen of the Red Chessmen
Robert Barr - A Game of Chess
Richard Marsh - A Set of Chessmen
E. R. Punshon - The Haunted Chessmen
Stephen Grendon [August Derleth] - Bishop’s Gambit
Poul Anderson - The Immortal Game

III. BLOOD CHESS
Agatha Christie - A Chess Problem
Alfred Noyes - Checkmate
H. Russell Wakefield - Professor Pownall’s Oversight
Fredric Brown - The Cat from Siam
Stanley Ellin - Fool’s Mate
Kenneth Gavrell - A Better Chess-Player

Blurb:

A condemned man pits his wits against his executioner...
A murderer meets his match on a deadly, electrified chessboard ...
And a set of haunted chessmen wreak a ghastly, self-perpetuating revenge ....

The game of chess has acquired a mystique all its own. Its origins shrouded in mystery, it has been seen as a symbol of human life, as an attempt to control chaos. Even those who do not play are captivated by the drama of the opposing ranks of chessmen, by the skill of the opponents seeking to outwit each other by strategy and deception, by the mounting tension as the victor prepares for his winning move. Small wonder that some of the best stories of crime, mystery and suspense have been inspired by chess, or that the writers have themselves been ardent chess-players.

Sinister Gambits brings together the cream of those stories, drawn from more than a hundred years of crime and mystery writing. Including such masters and mistresses of the genre as Fritz Leiber, Stefan Zweig, Agatha Christie, J. G. Ballard and Kenneth Gavrell, they range in mood and theme from the bizarre and intriguing to the macabre and horrific. A feast of varied and gripping reading, they make an absorbing and often spine-chilling anthology that needs no knowledge of chess to weave its fascinating spell. The atmospheric engravings add spice to a collection that will puzzle and sharpen the most jaded of minds.

Hugh Rankin

E. R. Punshon - The Haunted Chessmen: (Weird Tales, 1930. Originally The Novel Magazine, March 1916, reprinted in More Uncanny Stories, Pearson, 1918). A strange, gripping tale of a weird game played against an invisible antagonist, with terror and dread for referees. The set dates from the Middle Ages, the pride and joy of a sadistic Indian prince, who reputedly carved the pieces from the bones of a despised enemy. As several enthusiastic sportsmen have since learned to their cost, there is no "reputedly" about it. The undead Raja is a master of the dark arts, and those he defeats, by fair means or foul, are compelled to take their own lives.

Stephen Grendon [August Derleth] - Bishop's Gambit: (Avon Fantasy Reader, # 3, 1947). "Giddy and foolish" widow, Mrs Verna Valliant, falls for Perry Cross, a gold-digging lady-killer in the literal meaning of the term. Much to the disgust of Albert, her seven-year-old son, Mrs. Valliant and Cross are to wed. Albert confides in the ghost of his grandpa during one of their chess games in the attic. When Cross comes snooping up top of the house, grandpa, talking through the boy, challenge him to a game to be played for the highest stake.

Richard Marsh - A Set of Chessmen: (Cornhill Magazine, April 1890). Monsieur Funichon, Parisian recluse, lived, and ultimately died only for chess. So obsessed was he with chronicling his right hand versus left hand contests, that he frequently forgot to eat. Funichon starved to death, still clutching a white rook in his bony hand, whereupon his effects went to auction. Eventually Bonineau, proprietor of a Grand Rue junk shop, was paid to dispose of the lot. Now Bonineau has offloaded the ivory pieces to the author for 100 francs. It is only when he challenges neighbour St. Servan to a game that he discovers Funichon is not yet ready to let go his prize possession.

[andydecker]

This is an interesting compilation. August Derleth and Stefan Zweig in the same book? Bold choices.

[dem bones]

Robert Barr - A Game of Chess: (Pearson's Magazine, March 1900). Schwikoff, editor of influential daily, The Boukrah Gazette, got rich off the back of a cash-for-good-press extortion racket. When Henri Drumont, looking after his uncle, Count Ferrand's affairs in Budapest, successfully negotiates a deal for the Electric Company without making further payment to the blackmailer, Schwikoff, feigning graciousness in defeat, challenges the young man to a game of chess. Drumont wins whereupon Schwikoff accuses him of cheating, and challenges him to a duel. The Bulgar is both champion fencer and marksman. Henri never stood a chance.

Count Ferrand takes over the Budapest operation. Among the first projects is to install a huge electrified chessboard in his private quarters. With this accomplished, he looks forward to a visit from Mr. Schwikoff.

[dem bones]

Lucretia P. Hale - The Queen of the Red Chessmen: (Atlantic Monthly, Feb. 1858). Each night the two sets of beautifully carved pieces climb from the box to take their places on the board to battle once again. Fair Isabella, Queen of the Red Chessmen, is at a disadvantage. Her father, the King, is too imbecile to command, and the White Prince, instructed by his domineering, hugely unpopular mother, triumphs over and over. One night the set is left out on the porch. The desperate Princess makes a break for it. Taken in by Dr. Lester, who first suspects she is an escaped lunatic, Isabella quickly settles to life in New England, and even falls in love with Otto Blanchard, very much as strange an outsider as herself. It is only when his formidable mother reveals their true identity that the three decide it is time to return to their own world.