Chapters 5 and 6 Summary

The now-adolescent Luzhin tours the Russian chess circuit with his father. He is now managed and tutored by a slick gentleman named Valentinov. Luzhin Jr. performs exceedingly well, taking on all comers and sometimes multiple opponents at once. He even plays blind.

The narrator explores the attitudes of Luzhin senior. The aging man feels that his fame and talent are winding down. As time passes, he sees less and less of his son. Alone and lonely, Luzhin decides to write a new book about a chess-playing child prodigy. He decides that this boy will die young, never growing into the distant, neglectful man that his son has now become. Luzhin senior fritters away his time, writing very little. Finally, one day, while collecting mushrooms, he is caught in a sudden downpour. He takes to bed and, after a long uncomfortable illness...