or Eleanora

That the topless towers be burnt

And men recall that face, Move gently if move you must In this lonely place.

She thinks, part woman, three parts a child,

That nobody looks; her feet Practice a tinker shuffle Picked up on a street. Like a long-legged fly upon the stream Her mind moves upon silence.

—W. B. YEATS, “Long-legged Fly”

The superb chess of Grandmasters Robert Fischer, Boris Spassky and Anatoly Karpov has been a source of delight to players like myself for years. Since The Queen’s Gambit is a work of fiction, however, it seemed prudent to omit them from the cast of characters, if only to prevent contradiction of the record.

I would like to express my thanks to Joe Ancrile, Fairfield Hoban and Stuart Morden, all excellent players, who helped me with books, magazines and tournament rules. And I was fortunate to have the warm-hearted and diligent help of National Master Bruce Pandolfini in proofreading the text and helping me rid it of errors concerning the game he plays so enviably well.