La Maîtresse des Échecs - by Adam Carlton (intro)

---

Daniel, the young chess champion, arrives in Carcassonne: just another day, another place, another contest. Across the board sits an 18-year-old unknown, a prodigy who treats the arena like a stage and the opening like an entrance. Under basilica lights and a hundred lenses, the best-of-three tilts into a duel of nerve, image, and character.

But isn't Petra just a little too good to be true?

This story will be serialised here over the next days in six parts. If you are keen to read the whole story at once, follow either of the links below.

Note that in French, the title, "La Maîtresse des Échecs" is slightly ambiguous. It could mean either 'The Master of Chess' denoting extreme competence, or 'The Mistress of Chess' denoting a certain erotic frisson which, of course, Petra exploits fully.

---

The full story text (part two of my novel) is also available here:

• "Donatien's Children" (2022) - as a PDF, and
• "Donatien's Children" (2022) - as a formatted book on Amazon for easier reading.

---