introduction
the marvellous brass chess-playing automaton (novelette) gene wolfe, ''universe 7'' ed. terry carr (1977)
unicorn variation (ntte) roger zelazny, iamsf vol.5 #4, 13/4/1981, cover story art by robert crawford, two b+w illustrations by jack gaughan
the immortal game (short story) poul anderson, f&sf vol.6 #2, 2/1954
midnight by the morphy watch (ss) fritz leiber, if vol.22 #6, 7-8/1974; if tandem bre #4 (ignore: go by masthead vol-no & date as merkin original)
unsound variations (novella) george r. r. martin, amazing vol.55 #5, 1/1982
a game of vlet (ss) joanna russ, f&sf vol.46 #2, 2/1974
without a thought (ss) fred saberhagen, if vol.12 #1, 1/1963 as ''fortress ship''; a berserker story
a board in the other direction (ss) ruth berman, f&sf vol.46 #1, 1/1974
von goom's bandit (ss) victor contoski, chess review 4/1966
kokomu (ntte) daniel gilbert (apparently original to this anthology)
moxon's master (ss) ambrose bierce, san francisco examiner 16/4/1899
rendezvous 2062 (poem) robert frazier (apparently original to this anthology)
reflections on the looking-glass. an essay (nf) fred (alfred) stewart (original to this anthology)
berkley publishing group ace books imprint mmpb first printing, first edition
themed, almost entirely reprint anthology of a novella, three novelettes, seven short stories, a poem, nf introduction by the editors and nf article by fred stewart, all chess- (&/or other-) game-based sf stories
cover art (unsigned, uncredited - nicely suitably atmospheric; i'd like to know by whom)
cover price $2.50
270pp. (check) including titles, indicia, table-of-contents etc, end pp. advertising