Sex, Murder, and Chess: Fiction Predicts Truth?

According to news stories in the mainstream media, including NBC, ABC, Newsweek, and USA Today, Amina Abakarova allegedly smeared poison on chessmen that would be touched by her rival, Umayganat Osmanova. Security cameras captured the August 2 incident, which occurred about 20 minutes before a round of the Russian Republic of Dagestan Chess Championship. That same month, New in Chess published The Sponsor: Murder at the North Sea Chess Tournament.

Fiction Predicts Truth?

Fred Das and Jeroen Terlingen, authors of The Sponsor: Murder at the North Sea Chess Tournament, must have finished their book well before August 2, as New in Chess published it on August 20. In their book, a chess competitor is poisoned with an odorless liquid. Abakarova used an odorless substance containing mercury to allegedly poison Osmanova. After the poisoning, fiction and truth diverge. The poisoned player in The Sponsor dies, while Osmanova lived.

Sex

Besides murder, The Sponsor features sex and chess. The titular sponsor is propositioned by one player’s second. On the tournament’s rest day, the sponsor meets with his mistress. Later, the sponsor daydreams about her on top of him. The North Korean player, a woman, and the American male player flirt with their eyes.  

I learned two new words. One player is called a finocchio, which in context means a derogatory term for a homosexual. Another player’s second is called an eahira, which in context means whore.

Chess

Endnotes of the form “See Game …” refer to 13 games or game fragments annotated in a separate chapter called “The games.” That chapter is about what moves the characters play in the North Sea Chess Tournament. Their moves are from real games.

Authors Das and Terlingen are Dutch, and the “North Sea Chess Tournament” is based on the Hoogovens-Corus-Tata Steel chess tournament held in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. Therefore, it’s not surprising that Dutch #1 player GM Anish Giri appears three times in the games chapter. Can you find the chess move that Giri (as Black) played against GM Alexander Donchenko (Reykjavik 2017)?

Evaluation

Characters in The Sponsor: Murder at the North Sea Chess Tournament each have their plusses and minuses. It’s hard to know who to root for, though picking a Dutchman is a smart choice.

I finished The Sponsor within 24 hours of starting it and enjoyed it immensely. Its ending left me guessing. Maybe, as with Tata Steel, there will be a sequel next year.

Alexey Root is a Woman International Master and the 1989 U.S. Women's chess champion. Her peak US Chess rating was 2260. She has a PhD in education from UCLA. You can find her books on chess on Amazon.com.