Finally at peace after decades of war, the telepathic people of Gaant and the people of Enith can coexist, including a Gaantish military officer and an Enithi nurse. The two had become unlikely friends after being one another's prisoners during the war; they'd bonded over chess, and can now finish their game in peace.

In civil war-stricken Burundi of 1994, a divorced expatriate posing as a blindfolded chess grandmaster meets another imposter pulling off the same con as him.

A teenage boy unexpectedly discovers a love for chess and sets out to make a name for himself, only to hit the ceiling between passion and genius.

A man starts a game of chess against a unicorn that he must win in order to save humanity. He takes month-long breaks as needed between his moves and meets a sasquatch who coaches him in chess in order to help him beat the unicorn.

A member of a card-playing club must confront her bridge partner after the woman constantly whispers that she will kill her.

A father and son play an especially strategic and emotionally intense game of tennis that ends in both their losses, in one way or another.

Forty-four year old Fenton sneaks off one night to play high-stakes card games with other male members who live in the "hills."