Adventures in Science Fiction Cover Art: Chess/Checkers (with people + planets)

(Ed Valigursky’s cover for the 1962 edition of Cosmic Checkmate (1962), Charles V. DeVet and Katherine MacLean)

Queue Ed Valigursky’s cover for the Cosmic Checkmate (1962): a chessboard arrayed against a background of stars, men stand on different colored squares, as much pawns of some distant player as the pieces nearby.  Spaceships flash across the vast expanse of space — remember, the game has galactic ramifications — with our characters arrayed, the game opens, and the battle (of wits and secret weapons) begins.  Although I have not (yet) read Charles V. DeVet and Katherine MacLean (whose later novel Missing Man (1975) I highly recommend) is explicitly about Chess, or more precisely, a similar alien game, and the ramifications are indeed, galactic in scope.  Other covers are more metaphoric in nature considering the contents of the book.  For example, Dean Ellis’ striking cover — checkers on the galactic scale — for Norman Spinrad’s forgettable Agent of Chaos (1967).

Of course this is hardly a theme restricted to science fiction.  There numerous movies and fantasy books which use similar imagery — Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997) for example.  The majority of the images below are from three books: John Brunner’s The Squares of the City (1967), Roger Zelazny’s Univorn Variations (1983), and Edgar Rice Burrough’s The Chessmen of Mars (magazine publication 1922).  But intermixed are various other novel/magazine covers depicting similar themes.  Valigursky’s cover (above) is by far the best.

If you know of any I’ve missed please let me know!

Enjoy.

(Gerry Daly’s cover for the 1983 edition of Unicorn Variations (1983), Roger Zelazny)

(Carlos Ochagavia’s cover for the 1978 edition of Forbidden World (1978), David Bishoff and Ted White)

(Dean Ellis’ cover for the 1978 edition of Agent of Chaos (1967), Norman Spinrad)

(William Timmin’s cover for the January 1946 issue of Astounding Science Fiction)

(Bill Schmidt’s cover for the 1980 edition of Players at the Game of People (1980), John Brunner)

(Uncredited cover for a 1950s German edition of Chessboard Planet (variant title: The Fairy Chessman), Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore)

(Uncredited cover for the 1983 edition of Chessboard Planet and Other Stories (1983), Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore)

(James Warhola’s cover for the 1987 edition of Unicorn Variations (1983), Roger Zelazny)

(Peter Goodfellow’s cover for the 1985 edition of Unicorn Variations (1983), Roger Zelazny)

(Roy Carnon’s cover for the 1964 edition of The Chessmen of Mars (magazine publication 1922), Edgar Rice Burroughs)

(Roy Krenkel, Jr.’s cover for the 1962 edition of The Chessmen of Mars (magazine publication 1922), Edgar Rice Burroughs)

(J. E. McConnell’s cover for the 1954 edition of The Chessmen of Mars (magazine publication 1922), Edgar Rice Burroughs)

(Ronald Walotsky’s cover for the 1974 edition of The Tactics of Conquest (1974), Barry N. Malzberg)

(Robert Foster’s cover for the 1965 edition of The Squares of the City (1965), John Brunner)

(Peter Goodfellow’s cover for the 1977 edition of The Squares of the City (1965), John Brunner)

(Steele Savage’s cover for the 1970 edition of The Squares of the City (18965). John Brunner)

(Charles Moll’s cover for the 1973 edition of The Squares of the City (1965), John Brunner)

(Ulf Herholz’s cover for the 1980 edition of The Squares of the City (1965), John Brunner)

(Wotjek Siudmak’s cover for the 1985 edition of The Squares of the City (1965), John Brunner)

(Murray Tinkelman’s cover for the 1978 edition of The Squares of the City (1965), John Brunner)

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