The Chess Players (Shatranj ke Khiladi) by Premchand: Summary and Themes

Summary of the original story

Lucknow, in the days of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. The city is rich and pleasure-loving, and nobody is paying attention to how the kingdom of Awadh is run. Two noblemen, Mirza Sajjad Ali and Mir Roshan Ali, spend every day, from morning to night, playing chess.

Mirza's wife, the Begum, is furious that her husband never leaves the board. One day she throws the chess pieces out and drives Mir away. The two friends move their game to Mir's house, but there too they are in the way.

Officers come looking for noblemen to serve the Nawab, and the two friends, afraid of being called up, slip out of the city every morning to a deserted old mosque on the bank of the river Gomti, where they can play in peace.

One day the East India Company's troops march past on their way to take the Nawab prisoner. Mirza and Mir watch the soldiers lead their king away. They feel sad for a moment and then go back to the game.

That evening Mirza is losing. The two argue over a move, the argument turns into insults about each other's families, and both draw their swords. They kill each other. In the empty mosque, on the board between them, the two chess kings are left sitting on their thrones.

How our version is different

Our three-minute version moves the story to New York's Upper West Side. "The Company" is buying the whole block, Mirza and Mir play with pickles for pawns, a bagel king and a pretzel queen, and they slip off to the chess tables in the park while the old "King of 86th Street" signs it all away.

Instead of swords, they fight over the pretzel queen. The story still ends where Premchand's does, on the two kings left alone on the board.

Characters

Mirza Sajjad Ali

A wealthy nobleman who lives for chess, and whose wife has had enough of it.

Mir Roshan Ali

His friend and chess partner, just as obsessed and just as useless when it matters.

The Begum

Mirza's wife. The only person in the story who sees the game for what it is.

Nawab Wajid Ali Shah

The ruler of Awadh, taken prisoner by the East India Company while his nobles look on.

Themes

The ending explained

The ending is bitter irony. Two men who wouldn't lift a sword for their king kill each other over a game. The chess kings outlive them, "seated on their thrones", which is more than can be said for the real king.

Premchand was writing about the 1856 annexation of Awadh, but the point is general: people who ignore the world around them lose it, and fight over the wrong things.

Questions students ask