The following is a transcript from Anna Marie Tremonte regarding a strange episode in the world of chess.

AM – Good evening, tonight we will be talking  with a canadian who is involved peripherally with a suicide that occurred thousands of miles away in the Netherlands.  I am speaking with Duc Moh who is a canadian national, living in Canada and who was interviewed by the dutch police regarding the suicide of a Mr. Mort Spatsky, halfway round the world in the Netherlands.  Good evening Mr. Moh

DM – Good evening and I hate to quibble but it’s Dr. Moh

AM – Apologies Dr.  Can you tell us why the Dutch police contacted you even though you were on the other side of the world?

DM – Certainly, but factually speaking, I was in Saudi Arabia at the time, and I sort of met Mr. Spatsky ,though I didn’t know who we was  at the time, through an App called chess time

AM – For our listeners, chess time is a popular app that lets you play chess with anybody else throughout the world.  What were you doing in Saudi Arabia, Dr.?

DM – I was working as a part time doctor in Riyadh.  It was a temporary assignment and I had time on my hands so I thought I would play a game of chess so I logged on as a guest user and was matched with Mr. Spatsky though of course I didn’t know his name at the time.  We started playing and I was able to capitalize off of a mistake he made initially so I kept him on the defensive.  As the game progressed he was able to go on the offensive as well but we matched each other on move and counter move.  It was an enjoyable match.

AM – Now, are you a good chess player, Dr.?

DM – It would be fair to say that I dabble in it.  This was my second match on the app

AM – And what happened in your first match?

DM – Oh, I had to resign

AM – Was Mr. Spatsky a good chess player?

DM – I think he was a good player.  In any case he was a level higher than me

AM – What was the mistake that he made?

DM – We both brought our knights out early but one move he made with his knight left the king open so I was able to bring my queen into play and prevent that knight from moving further.  This, I think, threw a spanner in the works.  From there I tried a modified Sicilian gambit which he was quick to spot so he counterattacked with a Murdoch spin and from then on we have been dancing around with each other.

AM – And how did the dutch police try to contact you?

DM – The app has a built in chat feature and they sent a request asking for a chat.  But what was interesting was that they sent a picture of a beautiful Dutch girl claiming that it was she who was my opponent.  I think they figured that most chess players are geeks or nerds who play to compensate for lack of female companionship.

AM – And are you such a geek or a nerd?

DM – I would say I’m a nerd.  I have the hallmarks.  I’m a scifi fanboy, love games, like to read and at the moment, in Saudi Arabia, I obviously lack female company.  But it’s also fair to say I’ve had my share of internet solicitations so I did not respond to the chat request.

AM – And what happened next?

DM – They sent an official looking letter requesting my cooperation in the investigation of Mr. Spatsky otherwise know by his username on the chess time app.  I thought it was a hoax and didn’t respond.  They then sent me a picture of the suicide note.

AM – And what did the note say?

DM – Well I won’t read it to you but essentially he said that this was an almost perfect game of chess and that he had never seen anything quite as beautiful.  He was ashamed that he was going to lose such a game and now had nothing to live for.

AM – And did you respond?

DM – Well, this was unusual and it piqued my curiosity.  Also playing a perfect game stroked my ego to some extent so I was tempted.  I responded and the police asked who I was and how much communication I had with Mr.  Spatsky.  I was still a bit leery about it though so they requested a phone number they could call me on.  I gave them my  skype number and within 10 minutes I received a video call.  An officer came on the screen so I figured this was authentic and I gave them my name and location.  They asked if knew the deceased and I said no,  he was some random person who matched with me to play a game.  They asked some followup questions then thanked me.  I asked how he had died, figuring that they might be suspicious if I didn’t show some morbid curiosity and they essentially said it was none of my business and that was that.

AM – Did you think it was a perfect game?

DM – I think it could have gone better but there was a beautiful symmetry about our moves and I had beautiful layers of defense such that each piece I had on the board had more than one layer of protection. It was lovely from a defensive – offensive aspect and from a militaristic point of view , you could describe it as overlapping fields of fire,  like a synchronized wave front. It’s certainly one game where I would memorise the moves.

AM – You must send that game to me sometime. Dr. Moh, thank you for talking to us and have a very good evening.

DM – It’s morning here actually, but thank you too, for having me on the show.

AM – And that was Dr. Moh from, presumably, Riyadh on the line who played an almost perfect game. of chess.