Pawn to Infinity

The title "Pawn to Infinity" was the name of a Sci-Fi short-story anthology published in June 1982.

As the name suggests, it involves a lot of chess as can be also determined by reading the Table of Content:  The Immortal Game by Poul Anderson, Unsound Variations by George R. R. Martin, A Game of Vlet by Joanna Russ, Without a Thought by Fred Saberhagen, A Board in the Other Direction by Ruth Berman, Von Goom's Gambit by Victor Contoski, Kokomu by Daniel Gilbert, Moxon's Master by Ambrose Bierce, Rendezvous 2062 by Robert Frazier, and Reflections on the Looking-Glass, an Essay by Alfred Stewart.

Ah... but one is missing! 

Midnight by the Morphy Watch by Fritz Leiber.

While it appeared and was widely circulated in this anthology, it first saw publication in the less widely circulated Sci-Fi magazine Worlds of If in it's July-August 1974 issue:

Clicking on the above image will take you to the Internet Archive version

It tells a strange tale of an old man named Stirf Ritter-Rebil who is enticed into purchasing "a squat, tarnished silver chess pawn in the form of a barbarian warrior" ["Ritter knew it was a chess pawn—and what's more, he knew to what fabulous historic set it belonged, because he had seen one of its mates in a rare police photograph given him by a Portuguese chess-playing acquaintance"] and the famous chess-themed watch once owned by Paul Morphy ["a dingy, old-fashioned gold pocket watch with the hours not in Roman numerals as they should have been in so venerable a timepiece, but in the form of dull gold and silver chess pieces as depicted in
game-diagrams"]  from the ancient, thought-dead, Aron Nimzowitsch after which he plays perfect chess.

The watch, at least in this fictional story, had been previously owned by Arnous de Riviere, Wilhelm Steinitz, Alexander Alekhine and the aforementioned Nimzowitsch.

Further on Lieber wrote:

"The outer edge of the dial was circled with a ring or wheel of 24 squares, 12 pale and 12 dark alternating. On the pale squares were the figures of chessmen indicating the hours, placed in the order the old Bait had described. The Black pieces went from midnight to five and were of silver set with tiny emeralds or bright jade, as his magnifying glass confirmed. The White pieces went from six to eleven and were of gold set with minute rubies or amethysts. He recalled that descriptions of the watch always mentioned the figures as being colored.  Inside that came a second circle of 24 pale and dark squares. Finally, inside that, there was a two-thirds circle of 16 squares below the center of the dial.  In the corresponding space above the center was the little window showing PM."

Let's look at Morphy's chess set.

At the May 25, 1859 testimonial banquet given at the chapel of the New York University in Paul Morphy's honor upon his return from Europe, Morphy was presented with a watch and a chess board and pieces. Both were remarkable works of art.

After Morphy's death both the board and pieces were auctioned off and became the property of Walter D. Denegre, a gentleman from New Orleans who acted as a middleman for an unknown client.  For a long time there wasn't any hint of their whereabouts. Then the British Chess Magazine mentioned in it's December 1885 issue that the "gold and silver men were offered for sale to the St. George's Chess Club "at the rather prohibited price of  £1,000."

The board and pieces are unaccounted for to this day.

Leona Querouze, an intimate acquaitance of the Morphy family and fequent visitor to their home described Morphy's chess set and board in great detail in her First and Last Days of Paul Morphy:

The chess-men, which are the conspicuous objects of the - "Morphy Testimonial," are of the purest gold and silver, and with the exception of their cornelian pedestals - of those materials alone. In design and execution, as well as in intrinsic value, the set is, so far as we are informed, unequalled - that in the possession of Queen Victoria, though of similar design, being of inferior proportions. The connoisseur will especially remark the exquisite details of the artist's conception. As chess is a regal game, the pieces in this superb set are appropriately modeled after a study of one of the grandest historic episodes - the contest between Christianity and Barbarism. "The Reds," or the gold pieces, are highly-finished statuettes, reproducing the components of an imperial array in the days when Kings and Queens went forth with their armies, and bishops, exchanging mitre and crosier for battle-ax and sword, transferred the war of proselytism from the sanctuary to the field. The "Whites," or silver pieces, in happy contrast, represent the Northern horde, which disputed the domination of Theodosius, or, at a later period, for a while withstood the march of Clovis and Clothilde.

   In detail, the pieces are as follows: The golden King is a statuette, four inches in height, and weighing three ounces; royal robes gracefully falling over his armor; the imperial globe upon his martially defended head; the crown and sceptre at his feet; by his side an elegant shield, and in his right-hand the sword of empire. The Queen, arrayed in character, is of proportions slightly inferior to those of her lord. The Bishops, in the full panoply of warriors, three and a half inches in height, stand perceptibly inclined forward, grasping drawn swords with blades advanced. The Knights, on both sides, are admirably-sculptured chargers, prancing nearly upright, and ruby-eyed. In the rooks, or castles, the artist has adopted the Chinese design, and flanked the rear lines by stately elephants, each bearing an eastern houdah, upon which an elegantly-wrought eagle is spreading his pinions, as if to pounce upon his prey.

   The eyes of both bird and beast are brilliant rubies. The finish of this piece is especially admirable, the artist having achieved a manifest triumph in the contrast, which his fine casting has effected between the coarse hide of the elephant and the tiger-skin mantle of the houdah. This elaborate piece is three and three quarter inches in height, and weighs eighty gold dollars, or, more appropriately, five ounces. The silver King is a happy counterpart to his golden adversary.

   As a leader of the Barbarians, his covering is of bull's hide, and only distinguished from that of his followers by the finer dressing it has received. Disputing the empire with the leader of the opposing host, he, too, wears the imperial globe, upon which rest those emblematic wings with which the Norsemen and the Goths adorned their helmets. The royal emblems lie at his feet, while on his left arm depends a shield inscribed with the defiant motto - Liberty - and in his right he grasps a warlike brand. His Queen is arrayed in proper character.

  The Bishops wear winged helmets and drawn swords, considerably longer than the Roman falchions of their Christian adversaries, their panoply otherwise according with that of their posts. In proportion and weight, these pieces correspond with those of the other side.

   The golden Pawns are statuettes, two and a half inches in height, weighing two ounces. In this piece the artist has elaborated the Roman soldiers - the helmet, buckler, and straight, double-edged sword being exact copies of those borne by men-at-arms of the Western Empire. The silver Pawn is similar in proportion, and a correspondingly exact sculpture of the old Visigoth, wearing upon his body the hide, and upon his head, which he has torn from the wild bull of the Germanian forest. His single weapon is a huge and knotty club, promising a rough encounter for the short blade of his adversary.

   The Pedestal of each piece is polished Cornelian - for the Pawns, a circle of one inch in diameter; for the heading pieces, an oval, one inch and a half in diameter. The value of material worked up amounts to nearly $800, and the entire cost of material and labor is but little less than $500. In the elaborate finish of the historic study, the statuesque proportion, and the exquisite mechanical execution of each piece, the resources of Art have contributed most liberally for the honor of Genius.

   The board upon which the gold and silver chess-men are to stand, likewise manufactured by Tiffany and Co., is a square of twenty-six inches. The body of the board is of rosewood, the squares being of ebony and choice mother of pearl. A slightly raised edge, ornamented by a delicate line of inlaid silver, surrounds the board. Just within this edge another similarly fine line, and a third more heavy, form an agreeable contrast with the rich color of the wood. Three inches from the edge, four tournament lances, in silver, enclose the chequered field - a square of twenty inches. In each exterior angle, formed by the overlapping of the lances, circled by a laurel wreath of gold, exquisitely inlaid, are the letters P.M. in decorated cipher. Midway of the border, from which Mr. Morphy is supposed to play, an inlaid oval plate of silver surrounded by a trophy composed of the standards of those nations whose subjects have been obliged to recognize the sovereignty of a republican champion, bears the subjoined inscription:

To
Paul Morphy
A recognition of his genius and a token of regard,
From
His friends and admirers
In New York and Brooklyn.
New York 1859.

Surmounting this plate is a laurel crown in silver, and beneath it a ribbon of the same metal inscribed with "Proeliis ex sanguinatis facile princeps." In the opposite border another plate, oval inlaid silver, and edged by a trophy of lances, battle-axes, spears, and pieces of armor, incloses an engraved sphynx, around which are grouped the name of the committee of presentation, as follows:

Similarly situated, on the left hand border, is a third silver plate, circular, supported by sphinxes, ornamented with the armorial bearings of the city of New York. In the opposite border, a fourth plate, of the same metal, emblematically delineates the pyramids, three in number, likewise supported in sphinxes. The centre pyramid, in sections, commemorates the chess champions of all ages, that of the last, and greatest filling the apex, as follows:

Morphy.
La Bourdonnais - MacDonnell
Lopez - Philidor - Salvia
Von der Lasa - Hanstein - Anderssen - Bilgeur
Löwenthal - Szen - Petroff - Kieseritzky - Lange.

The board is paneled and dove-tailed in construction, that no influence of climate or position can possibly affect the integrity of the squares. As a specimen of workmanship, in addition to the felicity of it's design, the fact that the most skillful artisans consumed six weeks in it's manufacture, and another week in polishing it, is pertinent proof of it's superlative excellence. It's cost is not far from $200.

The testimonial, as furnished by Messrs. Tiffany and Co., includes, besides the chess-men and board, a case of rosewood, fitted with artistically-shaped, velvet-lined niches, for the reception of the set when not in use.

Below is an artist's depiction of the Christian vs Barbarian chess set:

and this is Morphy's board:

But the focus of the story was on the Morphy Watch. (For greater detail see: https://www.chess.com/article/view/morphy-time )

Morphy Gleanings 1932 by Philip W. Sergeant, p.23-4

Today the watch itself is gone, probably melted down for the gold, but miraculously the dial survived intact.  The beautiful round double-sunk Grand Feu enamel watch face was designed by John Webb, Jr., head of the American Waltham Watch Company dial department. 

Jay Score, by Eric Frank Russell

He almost beat the Martians in chess!

"Chess and fantastic fiction began an enthusiastic encounter with each other at least as far back as Lewis Carroll, and the mating is still in progress. Both contain strong elements of conflict and both are set in worlds where time and space are subject to transformation; the ordinary rules of human existence do not apply. Therefore both tend to appeal to the same kind of mind; an interest in the fantastic is very often a sign of interest in chess, and vice versa…"
—Fred & Joan Saberhagen, Pawn to Infinity.

... and of course, there's that wonderful classic by Lord Dunsany, "The Three Sailors' Gambit".

Tales of Wonder: The Three Sailors' Gambit (sacred-texts.com)

Fantasy rather than Sci-Fi, of course... but back in 1916 there was no clear demarcation between the genres.

"INTRODUCTION [to Pawn to Infinity]
Chess and fantastic fiction (I use the term here to include science fiction) began an enthusiastic encounter with each other at least as far back as Lewis Carroll, and the mating is still in progress. Both contain strong elements of conflict—Emanuel Lasker, one of the great players of all time, defined chess as a struggle—and both are set in worlds where time and space are subject to transformation, the ordinary rules of human existence do not apply. Therefore both tend to appeal to the same kind of mind; an interest in the fantastic is very often a sign of interest in chess, and vice versa.

The games in the stories in this book are not always chess, if we define chess by a certain precise set of rules, and configurations of pieces which are to be moved on a flat board eight squares by eight. But by Lasker's definition the fit is good, because each story in this book recounts a struggle. The opponents are not always the humanity we know, any more than the games are always literally the chess we know, but a board game plays some essential part in each story, and in each some conflict beyond gaming is to be resolved."

Another title from 1982, plot follows a 19th century game:

I am confused. In real life ,Morphy's chess set has not been found?

The only chess story I remember is one told by Irving Chernev, I believe. It is about how Capablanca outwitted the Devil....

The thread on the story is complcated. Apparently the original story has nothing to do with Capablanca...

https://en.chessbase.com/post/study-of-the-month-2018-07

https://www.dailychess.com/chess-blog/the-planet-greenpawn/playing-chess-with-the-devil.360

Morphy dial at the National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors, Inc.

Reproduction of the actual watch dial in a reproduced casing and works by RGM 2017
Limited Edition of 25 pieces in Stainless Steel. $13,900.00
Limited Edition of 5 pieces in 18K Rose Gold. $29,900.00
Limited Edition of 3 pieces in Platinum. $39,900.00

A much cheaper $53.00 attempt to reproduce Morphy's watch

Here is a truly worthwhile and highly enjoyable podcast (on Spotify) from the NAWCC about Morphy and his watch.  I noticed a few very minor inaccuracies, but overall I'd give it an A.

Correct. It's apparently forever lost to posterity.

Another satanic chess tale, this one, published in 1850 by Geo. Walker, and mid-1800s publisher and chess author, is called Vincenzio the Venetian.  It a very well-written story and pleasure to read and re-read.

Morphy had his own satanic interloper: 
Die Schachspieler and the Morphy Anecdote, Pt. I
Die Schachspieler and the Morphy Anecdote, Pt. II
with a very nice follow-up from Michael Goeller of the Kenilworth Chess Club

I remember reading this story years ago.

RGM, which  created the Morphy duplicate dial and watch also teamed up with C. F. Martin Co. to celebrate their 2 millionth guitar by creating a RGM inspired time-themed instrument for the mere price of $199,999.00

https://www.martinguitar.com/guitars/custom-special-editions/D-200-Deluxe.html

I just looked at Chernev's "The Chess Companion" and could not find the Capablanca story.....but I remember reading it...around 1974 or so!

So many things do not make sense in this world....a mere stone can be worth millions, and many human lives are deemed worthless....

Well, this is a thread about the fantastical.  

Another sort of satanic (perhaps along the lines of George R. R. Martin's terrific Armageddon Rag) Morphy short story is the 2003 A Horrified MInd by Ferrel D. Moore.

Boy this is Batgirl's most interesting post yet. It has given me quite a reading list...

And now that I think about it I remember a 1922 novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs called the Chessmen of Mars.