THE GAME OF CHESS by Kenneth Sawyer Goodman

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THE GAME OF CHESS by Kenneth Sawyer Goodman

Kenneth Sawyer Goodman was born in Chicago on 1883. He has written many plays and short stories. The Goodman Theater was named after him. His “The Game of Chess” is a well known play and has appeared in several anthologies.

“The Game of Chess” is an indirect comment on life and forces in it. A Chess game requires skill, cunning and anticipation of rival’s hostile moves. Just as the game requires smart moves, life also demands one to be cunning to outsmart one’s competitors.

The play begins with Alexis Alexandrovitch playing Chess with his officer in charge, Constantine. Alexis loves playing the game and never gets tired of it. Alexis is a governor. In order to keep up his competency power, he plays with Constantine. He thinks that he can improve his mental strength by playing Chess. According to him, Chess game is far more superior in measuring a man’s mental strength than love, war, politics or any other game.

Alexis and Constantine have a conversation about a person named Boris Ivanovitch Shamrayeff. Alexis’ arranges for an interview with him. He orders his guards not to search Boris before he is allowed into Alexis’ presence.

Alexis is a noble man. He belongs to a royal line whereas Boris is a peasant, and he belongs to the revolutionary party who are seeking for an opportunity to kill Alexis. It is a matter of centuries of oppression and violence. For centuries together there existed a conflict between the nobles and the peasants.

The conflict stirred up anger and the revolutionaries chose Boris as an agent to kill Alexis. Boris feels lucky since Alexis has granted him an interview. He stands amazed in Alexis’ room. He never thought that his mission of killing Alexis’ would be so easy. Boris takes his pistol to shot Alexis, but Alexis tells to Boris that they both are foster brother. He says that they both were separated in childhood and he was made a noble. Alexis even tells that, Alexis is Boris and Boris is Alexis.

Boris could not believe in Alexis’ words. He feared that leaving Alexis alive may end up in the death of Boris himself by his revolutionary party. He feels guilty to kill Alexis. Boris stands confused on what to do.

Alexis tells him that both of them can die and so they can use the poison, a Chinese concoction and die. Both of them drink the poisoned wine. It is then Alexis reveals that they are not brothers. Though Boris is shocked for a moment, he is glad that Alexis’ would die since he too had taken the poison. He is more shocked when he learnt that Alexis used an oriental trick of taking small amount of poison to accustom his body and so that the poison will not kill him. But unfortunately Boris dies.

The game of chess can be can be related to the real life. A person focus on the play to get one’s mind equipped to the comfort and to overcome all the difficulties with success, Alexis proves it through his wit.

-----HAPPY LEARNING-----

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