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In a quiet corner of the city, Alexei, a young chess prodigy, becomes fascinated by Mikhail Tal, the legendary "Magician of Riga." His admiration turns into obsession when he discovers a dusty old chessboard in an antique shop. The board becomes alive, revealing Tal's triumphs and his demons, such as the weight of sacrifice, the darkness of obsession, and the haunting solitude of a man who gave everything for the game. As Alexei faces opponents who feel more myth than man, he wonders if he is chasing greatness or being hunted by it. The game of kings and a legacy of shadows is a tale of kings and the boy who must decide how far he's willing to go to become a legend.

Shadows Over The Chess Board...

After the tournament, Alexei's father enrolled him in an official chess tournament, also known as fide rating tournaments...

From that moment, Alexei wanted to start preparing for the next tournament...So during the night-

It was a few nights after the tournament. The house was silent, save for the ticking of the hallway clock and the soft rustle of pages as Alexei pored over his game notes. The torchlight above flickered—not like usual, but with a strange rhythm, as if it were syncing to a breath he couldn't hear.

He pulled the antique chessboard onto the table. The pieces were exactly where he'd left them.

But the moment he touched the black queen, the shadows in the room bent.

He didn't notice at first—until a cold breeze brushed the back of his neck. The curtains didn't move. The windows were shut. And then, like thick smoke curling from nowhere, the shadow appeared behind the board.

The figure looked the same, tall and cloaked in darkness, yet it no longer radiated the calm presence he remembered. Its edges flickered like torn paper, its face veiled in deeper black. And the voice—it wasn't steady anymore. It trembled, layered like echoes.

"Why do you seek the path of sacrifice," it whispered, "when you've not yet faced your own?"

Alexei blinked. "I—I just want to understand. I thought you were here to teach me."

The shadow leaned closer, the flickering light catching something behind the darkness—a pair of haunted eyes, tired and fierce.

"I am not the only voice in this board," it said. "Each sacrifice leaves a mark. Even Tal… was not untouched."

Then the room suddenly shivered. The pieces on the board rattled as if jolted by an unseen hand.

Alexei stood, heart pounding. "Wait—what do you mean? Who else is speaking to me?"

But the shadow only whispered one more line before vanishing in a blur of smoke:

"Some moves change more than games…"

And with a sudden pulse of cold air, the shadow dissolved, sucked backward into the folds of darkness like smoke pulled through a keyhole.

The light flickered back to full brightness. Silence returned.

But one thing had changed—the black queen was now out of place, tilted ever so slightly, as if moved by an unseen hand.

It was the kind of night where the air itself seemed to whisper secrets...

The Shadow Shifts...