The audiobook opens with a brief anecdote about a woman overhearing her husband's cryptic phone discussions and noticing an uptick in suspiciously timed allegedly work-related travel, following him, and determining that he's playing chess. (It didn't actually happen.) The book apparently will not contain deep technical analysis. It's been written on the theory that knowing the meaning and history behind opening names will make chess more fun and memorable. It is also not intended to be encyclopedic.

The first opening they discuss is named after a Spanish priest, who also wrote an early book about chess.

Well he doesn't approve of claiming to do work travel when you are actually playing chess but no one asked him.

"The implication of that joke is that the man appeared to be having sex with people besides his wife, but ultimately wasn't."

"...I suppose lying and also straying is strictly worse than doing only one of those but it's not very funny."

"That's fair. If you'd like we can pick a different book, the foreword was by a different author than the rest of the book but it plausibly still reflects the main writer's sense of humor?"

"If we're not likely to run out, yes."

"I'm sure we can pick up more chess audiobooks before the long flight, I think someone just looked at a list of twelve books and got all of them. Including 'How to Play Chess for Children'. 'The Immortal Game' is about the origins of chess?"

"- well, it seems difficult for it to be accurate about the origins of chess since whatever its history it has to have appeared on two planets at least, but it might be interesting anyway."

"I assume it's based on our best understanding of the history of chess on Earth."

Nod.

This book also opens with someone playing chess irresponsibly, when the city they rule is under attack, but at least it doesn't frame this as a light joke?

It's not like he can't imagine being tempted but it's really such a decision.

The ruler was captured and beheaded but chess continued being popular with his successors.

Did they learn from his fatal error?

The book doesn't comment on that. It does seem to theorize that possibly he knew he was losing and would rather have gotten a chess game in before he died than not.

Hardly seems like the time if you might conceivably have fallen short of paradise but perhaps he was very sure he hadn't.

"I don't actually know the details of what people think is necessary to go to paradise in Islam."

"I suppose perhaps either he was sure that he'd made it or had been informed convincingly that it was not possible. Or he wasn't very bright, that's always also possible."

Chris shrugs.

There are many other games which were popular for a while and then died out. A long list of names which are probably not very recognizable to Blai have all played chess. The author himself became interested in chess after hearing that his great-great-grandfather was a chess master.

Is "master" a formal rank of some kind? How do you determine this if not by analyzing the topology of what spells you can cast, does it wind up more like having an archery contest or something.

"It sounds like a formal rank but I'd guess it's been defined differently by different organizations and, yes, more like an archery competition. Like how people get called 'world champion' if they win in a big international competition league."

Interesting. Blai is obviously nowhere near that good, alas.

"Anyone sensible would probably call you the world's best magic user but, well, you've seen the competition."

"I understand it not to be a contested position," he agrees.