Pawn to Infinity, edited by Fred Saberhagen with Joan Saberhagen (Ace Books,
June 1982), and Unicorn Variations by Roger Zelazny (Timescape Books,
February 1984). Cover artists: unknown, and Gerry Daly

Pawn to Infinity: Ace Books, 1982, cover artist unknown, though this is a very cool cover. Although not Sword & Planet specifically, this is definitely the greatest collection of fantasy and SF stories to involve chess or a chess like game ever published.

There are many great stories in here, and at least two masterpieces: “The Immortal Game” by Poul Anderson, and “Unicorn Variation” by Roger Zelazny. There are other fine stories by Fritz Leiber, Fred Saberhagen (who also edited the collection) and George R. R. Martin. There’s a great old Ambrose Bierce story in it called “Moxon’s Master.”

Back cover and contents of Pawn to Infinity

“The Immortal Game” is a “storyfication” of an actual chess game played in 1851 between Adolf Anderssen, who was at the time considered one of the greatest players in the world, and Lionel Kieseritzky. It was a casual game that Anderssen won through a series of brilliant sacrifices.

I find it difficult to talk about chess without referencing the aesthetics of the game. It’s just a beautifully played game, and Poul Anderson does it justice in his story while telling the tale from the point of view of Rogard the Bishop on the board. I wonder if he chose that game because the winner had a very similar last name to his.

Unicorn Variations paperback reprint (Avon, April 1987). Cover by James Warhola

“Unicorn Variation” by Zelazny is also from a real game, played in 1900 between Alexander Halprin and Harry Pillsbury. It ended in a draw. In Zelazny’s story, a human and a unicorn play chess with humanity’s existence at stake. It won a Hugo Award, well deservedly. It was also featured in Zelazny’s collection of short stories of that title.

I once wrote a flash fiction story inspired by Zelazny’s tale called “Unicorn Lost.” I also have a chess in SF story that I work on off and on, though who knows if I’ll ever finish it. It’s called The Morphy Machine, after the great American chess player Paul Morphy, who was from New Orleans. I also wrote an essay about why I decided to give up playing formal chess called “Listening.” But that’s another story.

See the previous installments of Chess in Sword & Planet Fiction:

The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Dray Prescot and Gor

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Charles Gramlich administers The Swords & Planet League group on Facebook, where this post first appeared. His last article for Black Gate was Part II of his look at Chess in Sword & Planet Fiction, Dray Prescot and Gor.