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Chapters 1 and 2

• Young, difficult Luzhin starts school.
• Luzhin's father, the writer, is disappointed that his son is not fulfilling the father's dreams of his son becoming an artist.
• At school, Luzhin is anti-social, with no friends, and little academic success despite his intellect.

Chapter 3

• At a party his father is giving, Luzhin learns of the game of chess by happenstance from a violinist.
• Luzhin's aunt, who is having an affair with his father, begins teaching him chess, but their first game is interrupted as the affair is discovered and the aunt cast out of the house.
• Luzhin learns more about chess by watching boys play at school and then begins skipping school to go to his aunt's house to learn chess.

Chapter 4

• During the summer when his family is in the country, Luzhin studies chess diagrams in magazines and plays with his chess board in secret.
• Luzhin's father...

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