Summary

In Chapter 10, Landsman and Berko go to a popular chess club in Sitka called the Einstein Chess Club to ask around about the dead man, since there was a chess set in the man’s room. Also, the man signed into the hotel as Emanuel Lasker, which they deduce must have been an alias, as they recall that Emanuel Lasker was a famous chess player. They speak to several elderly orthodox Jewish men in the club. The men say that they remember the man, who used the named Frank and who was an exceptionally gifted chess player. This “Frank” would usually play for money and would always win. One man, Alter Litvak, confirms all of this. Litvak is an orthodox Jewish man who has lost his voice in his old age and communicates by writing on a pad of paper. In Chapter 11 Landsman...