Original subtitles

32 of the best international players are gathered here

in a battle to the death to determine who will face the reigning world champion.

The air is electric here at the Hotel des Ambassades

where the Pretenders Tournament takes place,

and let me tell you: it won't calm down for the next seven days.

Indeed, the whole competition is taking place here

and all the teams reside here.

The whole place will be crazy for chess this week.

Hold on, I'm told the referees are about to kick off.

Black starts the clock.

And it's on!

Come, the most important match is over there.

- Shun Naito versus Mikael Koroleva. - Okay.

Sorry, excuse me.

Mikael! Mikael!

- Step aside! Step aside, I'm a doctor. - What's wrong with him?

Sir, look at me. Look at me. Can you hear me?

Sir, nod your head if you can hear me.

Stay with me, sir. Can you hear me? Give me a sign.

What's wrong with him?

I'm sorry.

William, you need to call your cop friend.

- Well technically, Astrid's not a cop. - William, I'm serious.

I'm fairly certain this man has been poisoned.

I'm in jail, he lives with his uncle, he's apart from his brother.

Niels is having a hard time, you know.

Ah.

So when I heard you offered to host him.

For one night. One night only. Tuesday.

Yes, I know Astrid. But it's still amazing.

You don't realize how much this means to him.

I do not realize.

I talked to my brother on the phone.

He will drop Niels off Tuesday at 7 pm.

He will pick him up Wednesday at 8 am to get him to school.

- Tuesday is tomorrow. - Yes.

Are you sure you want to do this, Astrid?

I know this kind of situation takes a toll on you.

I have never been responsible for someone else.

I trust you, Astrid.

- Good thing you were there. - I never miss a chess competition.

I hope I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure I identified signs of poisoning.

Crazy! Paul is the one who loves chess.

Usually, it is I who… It shakes up stereotypes, doesn't it?

Paramedics are on scene. They're about to take the body.

Ladies and gentlemen, don't touch anything.

Police. Thanks.

A warrant. We do not have a warrant.

Yes but they don't know that, Astrid.

Yes.

May I remind you I'm the president of this tournament.

- Yes, you already told me. - Yes. So I'm the one in charge.

I know.

So I once again demand that you provide documents

attesting to your legitimacy to act here.

So, as I already told you, sir,

we had an administrative imbroglio, but I've just had my superior on the phone

who told me we have the DA's approval.

- Thank you, goodbye. - Yes.

Except for authorized personnel. You are not.

Okay. Got it.

Yes I lied, yes.

Please Fournier, tell me it's a crime

or the Commissioner will be very, very angry.

No doubt, your friend was right.

There are signs of botulinum toxin poisoning.

It is the most potent poison in the world.

A few nanograms are enough to provoke paralysis

leading to death in only a few seconds.

Absolutely, and that begs the question: how was he poisoned?

There were no traces found in his drink

and he hadn't eaten anything in the few minutes before his death.

He poisoned himself.

His nails, they are bitten.

Which means he frequently brought them to his mouth.

To poison him, you just had to poison something he touched frequently.

Like a chess piece. Drop that immediately, Nico!

A bag! Quick, a bag!

Throw away the gloves.

Wait, if your theory's correct,

that means the culprit knew that Koroleva would play White.

But they're assigned by coin toss by a referee at the start of every match.

Excuse me?

Yes, come.

What are you implying?

That the referee tampered with the results of the coin toss?

Commander Coste did not imply.

She just emitted an hypothesis in this case.

Because Mr. Wu is one of the oldest referees of this federation.

He's impeccable, I vouch for him.

Could you guide me through the process of this attribution, please?

Yes.

I did as usual.

I assigned the head side to the oldest player, Mr. Naito,

and the tail side to the youngest, Mr. Koroleva.

Then I took out my tossing coin, the same one I've had for 15 years.

That I always store in my right pocket, see?

There's an issue.

Two tail sides.

The coin must have been swapped before the match.

The referee swears he didn't notice anything.

We'll keep him under surveillance. He had access to the chess pieces.

Did forensics confirm the presence of poison on the pieces?

Yes.

- What about that? - It was in the victim's pocket.

- Also poisoned? - Not at all.

But apparently, this piece isn't part of this set.

I don't know, maybe a lucky charm.

The victim's trainer is in the audition room.

She's also his sister. She's quite shocked.

I'm on it.

- Great. - Thanks.

I've never seen it. Sorry.

It could be some sort of lucky charm, or something like that, right?

Mikael didn't have a lucky charm.

He worked endlessly to be the best.

I should have been more careful.

He's usually so calm and focused before matches.

Since this morning, he's been stressed, nervous,

almost aggressive.

Do you think he knew he was in danger?

What is certain is that he felt threatened.

No surprises there, he was the favorite.

For the others, he was the man to beat.

So he was killed by a rival, that's what you're saying?

We're talking about chess here, I'm sorry but...

that's pretty weak for a motive, isn't it?

One million dollars, do you think that's weak?

It's the prize for the world champion.

But that's not what matters.

I played too.

Believe me, chess is more than a game for the players in this tournament.

It's an obsession, a drug.

It's their whole life.

I know plenty who could kill for that.

- Thank you. - Thanks.

Impossible.

What's impossible?

Planning enough configurations in advance to make the right choice.

For every move I make, you can make countless ripostes,

to which I can respond with dozens of moves.

I cannot elaborate a mental arborescence that large.

You make arborescences to prepare yourself for complex conversations.

But the situation here is totally different.

Ah.

So how do I plan for your moves?

Perhaps you need to play without trying to anticipate my moves.

You need to think on par with the move you're playing.

By creating intimacy with your opponent.

In the chess world, there's an old saying that

you learn more about someone in a two-hour game

than a 20-year friendship.

For example Naito is a tortuous player who loves long games

where he strangles his opponent little by little like a boa.

Facing him you have Matt Brown, American.

Blitz expert, fast games.

Very aggressive.

Wesley Ramos, Filipino.

Maybe the most creative player of this circuit.

Ramesh Batil. Indian.

Great memory.

The king of simultaneous matches in alternative tournaments.

Last year, he beat five players at the same time,

and he beat them blindfolded.

He's a rampart.

The typical positional player who favors defense over offense.

But don't underestimate him.

He exhausts his opponents, then he finishes them off.

Something-

Something is wrong.

Naito-san's watch is not on time.

He's a foreign player, maybe he forgot to set it before getting here.

It is hidden by his sleeve,

and every time he rolls it up to check the time,

his watch indicates different hours with no temporal consistency between them.

You're right, his watch is not on time, it indicates 7:45 pm.

Yes, three minutes ago, it indicated 12:15 am.

Before that, 6:20 pm. Before that, 7:08 pm.

Could be a code, right?

What if someone was sending him messages through his watch?

Sixteen pieces. Eight rows, eight columns.

That makes three data to convey.

If you use the hands for hours, minutes and seconds,

you could communicate any position for any piece.

If Naito cheated and the victim had learned of it,

that's a great motive, right?

Oh, yes.

Especially since a cheating conviction means losing your license for years.

An assured professional death.

No cheater has been able to get up from that.

Norah.

If a player receives information on a smart watch,

could you know where it comes from?

- I can try. - Okay.

5:12 pm.

Hello, Criminal Police.

I need immediate access to this computer.

You know, sometimes it gets slow.

Not with me.

- Commander. - I'm listening.

There's an encrypted connection through WiFi via a LPWAN protocol.

It's specific to smart objects. And given to timing, that could be it.

I can't tell you what's exchanged, the encryption is too strong.

But I can tell where it comes from.

Room 316, a computer is sending data and it's not connected to the network.

Thanks.

- Police! - Here! Here! Hurry!

So there's three people fighting Matt Brown.

- You, Shun Naito, and… - An Artificial Intelligence.

Connected to Naito's watch.

Looks like he's giving up.

Of course! It's harder to win without a computer.

We need to catch him before he gets to his room.

Could you handle him?

- It's room 307, right? - Yeah.

Fuck! Watch out!

It's here.

Police! Open up!

- Police! - Naito!

No! Oh shit!

Oh fuck!

It's not suicide, Coste.

Look, there are bruises on his wrist and hematomas around his waist.

Your guy fought and I'd say he was pushed.

The windows' security system of Naito's room has been removed

in order to open it wide.

It's a process that takes time.

It's not only murder: it's premeditated murder.

Nico. The maintenance guy.

The one we bumped into in the hallway.

- Yeah, that could be. - It could, right?

- Dr Fournier. - Yes?

His throat, it seems swollen, here. You should look in his mouth.

It seems swollen like there is something inside.

What is that?

Let's see.

- Holy cow! What is that? - Not a cow.

A Queen.

So what are those red pieces? A signature?

A connection, in any case.

Two deaths, each with a red piece on them.

A Bishop

and a Queen.

It's starting to look like serial murders.

Astrid is at the Doc looking for elements confirming it, yes.

What about the maintenance guy? Anything new?

We learned he got hired by the hotel 15 days ago.

He's a quiet employee, ordinary, nothing…

15 days are enough to canvas the premises.

And that would mean he had access to the building's backstage.

Perfect for sabotaging a window or poisoning chess pieces.

We learned that the room assigned to Naito was changed at the last minute.

We think he made sure they assigned him the room with the tempered window, see?

Yes, I see. Then why isn't he in detention?

Because we don't know who he is.

We checked his identity, and found nothing.

He got hired with forged papers.

We found his prints in the staff quarters but they're not on file.

We need answers, Nicolas.

- This case is already making headlines. - I know, Commissioner.

Do we ever see his face?

It's like he knew every blind spot of the security cameras.

A real ghost.

On older videos, we can guess parts of his face but it'll be hard to use.

Shit! We had him in our hands!

What do you mean, our case did not start yesterday but two years ago?

Raphaëlle, I did not say "Two years ago". I said "26 months ago".

Yeah.

Two years and two months.

You're seeing Niels tonight, right?

Yes.

- Will you be okay? - I do not know.

I mean…

How do you apprehend it?

Even if I have planned

for Niels's presence in my apartment logistically,

I have no idea how I will manage social interactions

with someone his age during an entire evening.

- Kids! - Exactly.

I have acquired quite a few scenarios and social aptitudes

in order to interact with neurotypical adults.

However, children are a category of people hard to grasp

with whom I fail to find the adequate vocabulary

and appropriate response.

Astrid.

I'm sure it'll be okay.

Raphaëlle.

You cannot be sure of that.

Could we get back to the case, please?

Yes, of course.

Marcus Koenig is a former chess player.

He left the professional circuit eight years ago.

He was found asphyxiated at his home on July 16th 2020.

What got my attention when I scanned the file, I know the file,

is that, even though there were traces of fiber found in his throat,

suggesting he was choked on his sofa,

his body was found sitting on a chair in the middle of the room.

He was moved post-mortem.

Absolutely.

Without the investigation ever determining why.

But what gets my attention today is what is in the background.

Take a look.

Look at the chessboard on the desk, here.

- A red piece. - Exactly.

At that time, investigators had no reason to focus on this detail.

However, considering the two red pieces found on both crime scenes of our case,

there is a body of consistent evidence indicating

we are dealing not with two but three murders.

And that our case started two years ago.

- 26 months ago. - Yes.

- Did you get my message? - Yes.

I found quite a lot about this Marcus Koenig

on chess-specialized websites.

He quit chess because of a big depression

and he lived as a recluse at home or in residential care.

We need a link between the victims.

The problem is we have hundreds of links.

They did many tournaments together.

They belonged to the same clubs, the same circles.

Even though the chess world isn't that big,

there are countless connections.

So those pieces are a signature?

We need to find their meaning and symbolism.

But chess is older than the Bible. Its symbolism is endless.

For example, for the Russians, the Rook represents a boat.

In cosmology, the Queen embodies uncertainty.

And there are a myriad of connections between Freemasonry and chess.

Commander.

I may have found something tying our two tournament victims.

It's a little light but it's something.

How light?

Between 15 and 25g.

On the mornings of their deaths,

Koroleva and Naito both received a package at the hotel

from the same delivering company.

The dockets indicate a weight of less than 30g.

- Light like… - A chess piece.

Are you saying the killer sends them a red piece through mail?

That would explain why Koroleva had been tense since this moment.

Wait, those chess pieces, they're not signatures.

They're threats.

Then you need to go to the hotel immediately.

Ivana Koroleva has just received a package.

Hello.

Ivana Koroleva please. Her room.

- Koroleva? - Yes.

Hurry please.

504.

But at this hour, she must not be in her room.

She goes at the pool every day. Follow Fitness & Spa.

- Ivana! - Wait, wait!

Wait, wait, don't move, I know what to do.

- Ivana! - Ivana!

Shit!

Send an ambulance to the Hotel des Ambassades, quickly!

Yes, here.

Ah yes, thank you. Thank you.

That was inside Ivana's package, waiting at reception.

Norah was right.

What do the paramedics say?

She's stable.

She's still unconscious, but she's on her way to the hospital.

The killer disabled all the lockers except this one.

So Ivana had no choice but to put her clothes in it.

She dialed the code to open it and that triggered the electrifying mechanism.

It's well-designed. Creepy, even.

So the killer knew of Ivana's habits.

C4.

Rook on C4.

I got it.

Wait, got what? Astrid, we didn't get anything. Astrid!

Here.

Numbers were attributed to columns, and letters to rows.

When Mikael Koroleva was poisoned,

he was sitting on C1.

And Naito-san, his fall from the third floor.

1, 2, 3.

From the fourth top left window of the building.

1, 2, 3. A, B, C, D.

D3. He fell on D3.

For each murder, there is an associated piece and tile.

Knight on F2, Bishop on C1, Queen on D3, Rook on C4.

Raphaëlle.

The killer is not signing his crimes.

He is playing chess.

We found the link between the four victims.

A game of chess.

Each murder references a piece and a position on a chessboard.

Knight on F2 for Marcus Koenig.

Koenig's body was moved post-mortem

to place it on a specific square of his carpet.

At the intersection of the sixth column and the second row.

- F2. - Yes.

Bishop on C1 for Mikael Koroleva.

His table's position in the competing space.

Queen on D3 for Shun Naito.

The culprit assigned a room to Naito so that the window matches the symbolism.

And Rook on C4 for Ivana Koroleva.

The number on the locker she got electrocuted with.

I think the culprit is reproducing a chess game

where these four moves were played

during a tournament in which our four victims were part of.

Can you imagine the size of this database?

Yes.

The number of moves in a game,

multiplied by the number of games in a tournament,

multiplied by the number of tournaments in a season

for each country for multiple years, come on.

Yes, it is very complex. You are right, Commissioner.

I know who can help us.

And here's 2008.

I was the one reading them but William collected them.

Yes, I kept all of them but I also ordered them, right?

By date, country, publication type: almanac, magazine, fanzine.

Thank you all for coming to our help in this search.

Which will be harder to find than a needle in a haystack.

- That's a figurative expression, right? - Yes.

We are looking for a chess game where those 4 moves were played in a a row:

Knight to F2, Bishop to C1, Queen to D3, Rook to C4.

Our search grid is between 2008 and 2013.

2008 being the year when the youngest player, Mikael Koroleva,

entered a competition;

and 2013 is when Marcus Koenig ended his career.

Great!

So...

Stack on the right:

every tournament our four players took part in.

Stack on the left:

all those we can eliminate because they weren't all here.

Let's go!

Keep an eye out for the big tournaments. They're more likely to all be together.

Tata Chess, Candidates tournament, Olympiad.

Once this is done, I'll teach you how to read score sheets.

So, what do we have?

Well, we've made progress.

I'll give you the rundown, okay?

That is a basic Knight.

I took it from one of the games in the competition.

It's called Staunton style,

created in 1949 by Nathaniel Cook,

and approved by the international federation.

- Basic. - Basic.

Here's the difference with the other one, look.

The Knight's head is curvier.

On the Bishop, it's not carved out, it's a little rounder,

and mainly,

you have a reminder of the opposing color on the Queen, the Bishop and the King.

It's the Slavic style, also called Russian Zagreb.

Okay.

Because it was popular in the Soviet bloc.

In 1988, one brand wanted to make

a red version of this popular collection in the Russian Zagreb style.

- Was it successful? - Not at all.

They had lots of returns and production stopped.

And the company is very hard to find.

Is it now very rare?

It can only be found on second-hand markets

among collectors and dealers.

So if we find the origin of these pieces…

We find the killer.

Nico!

Chess Counter, no.

In a search.

Nico, did you check Chess Variation?

- Ok, writing it down. - Thank you, sorry.

The Queen chessboard.

So far, our two leads are both inefficient.

Like Sissa's chessboard.

Paul speaks here about the oldest legend of chess.

Oh, let me tell it!

Sissa was said to be an Indian wise man

who invented chess for a king

who was looking for a new form of entertainment.

In compensation for his invention,

Sissa only asked to be paid with grains of rice.

One grain on the first square,

two on the second, four on the third, and so on,

always doubling the number of grains from the previous square

until the chessboard is full.

- A humble request. - That's what the king thought too.

However, by doubling one grain of rice 64 times,

you get billions of grains of rice.

Actually, Sissa's request was impossible to satisfy.

What bothers me most is that,

even though I scramble these moves with every possibility,

I can't get the logic.

As if those moves didn't answer each other.

We had to stop our search.

Anne Langlais's brother will drop Niels at my house tonight at 7 pm,

in 43 minutes.

I must not be late, one must not be late.

Ah yes, well Paul and I will get back to the workshop

to continue the search.

We'll keep you in the loop if anything arises.

- Thank you. - You're welcome. Good night.

Alright.

Hello, Astrid.

Here we go.

Niels, you forgot a bag.

If you need any help with the kid,

or if you want me to pick him up if things go wrong,

you have my number.

Absolutely.

Will it be okay?

I do not know.

Goodbye, sir.

You will sleep here.

- On the couch? - Yes.

It is not convertible.

- Can't I sleep in daddy's room? - Absolutely not.

- Why? - Because you are not daddy.

I will make dinner.

What am I doing while waiting?

- I have to tell you what to do. - Well yeah, you're the grown-up.

Ah.

Put your bag here

and sit on the couch.

There.

You can do that: stay put.

Niels,

food bring necessary nutrients for the proper functioning of the body.

I'm not hungry.

I do not feel hungry either.

However, it is essential to eat to live.

Why do you move your fingers like that?

Some call it a stereotypy. I do not like that word.

I prefer to say "stim".

It is a reflex behavior that helps me stimulate my nervous system

and regulate my attention.

I didn't get a word out of that!

I am not always doing it on purpose.

It calms me and helps me think.

And why are you always dressed the same way?

For simplicity.

I have been dressed this way since I was a child.

Those fabrics do not bother me that much,

and I cut off all the labels, of course.

And why do you move your eyes like that?

I did not know I was moving my eyes in a particular way.

What I do know

is that I do not like looking into people's eyes.

I prefer to look around them.

I think it is related to my autism.

It is the first time someone has asked me these questions.

I can't ask these questions? Is it bad?

On the contrary.

There are no questions that cannot be asked.

No questions are intrusive.

Only the answers can be.

Does this mean I can ask every question I have?

Absolutely.

However, I am not obliged to answer them.

I'm okay with that.

What's autism?

There are many definitions of this word.

It is a neurodivergence, a different way to look at the world.

I like to say it is part of my identity.

You should eat a little.

Okay, but only because it is essential to live.

Exactly.

Can we play?

I do not like games.

Do you mean you never played?

I play go with my boyfriend. But I lack training.

No, not this kind of game.

Do you mean chess?

No, I mean playing, having fun. That's what we kids do.

Ah.

Do you know the nine dots enigma?

The nine dots enigma? It could be fun.

There are nine dots in the form of a square

that you have to connect only with four strokes.

1, 2, 3, 4.

Too easy!

You went outside the box. Immediately.

You didn't tell me I couldn't get out of the box.

On the contrary, it was the correct answer.

You needed to get out of the box. Bravo Niels.

The first time, it took Raphaëlle several weeks

to solve the nine dots enigma.

- Yes. - Astrid, Paul had a brilliant idea.

Astrid, do you remember the Naito-Brown match,

when I told you about simultaneous games?

Games where one player faces multiple others at the same time.

Yes.

If we couldn't find the correct game,

maybe it's because there were multiple games.

Meaning multiple games played at the same time, simultaneously.

Of course.

We needed to think outside the box.

Bravo.

I am coming immediately to the social aptitude workshop

to continue the search…

Hello?

No.

I am not available.

I will join you tomorrow morning at 8:30 at the social aptitude workshop

to continue the search.

Okay, tomorrow morning, as you wish.

- I am responsible. - Yes, I know.

Goodbye.

That's why the moves weren't answering each other.

They were played simultaneously.

Those must be the last moves of the game, the ones to checkmate.

Then we need to keep on searching. With these new parameters.

Well, the good thing is we have less games to comb through.

Simultaneous games are rarer than conventional ones.

I found it.

I found it.

Bravo, Astrid.

The man we are looking for is one Quentin Desfranges.

Here.

Ten years ago, this guy was the circuit's outsider.

At barely 20 years old, he had a crazy calculation power.

His play was so instinctive, it made him unpredictable.

The type of player that could face four masters at the same time

and hold his ground, as one said.

That's what he did outside of the Pretenders tournament in 2013.

Throughout one night, a simultaneous game was played

where he faced four opponents.

Our four victims.

Koenig, Naito and the Koroleva siblings.

Which he defeated.

His checkmates were the moves we were looking for.

Knight to F2, Bishop to C1, Queen to D3 and Rook to C4.

But the game lasted too long.

It went until the end of the night, until exhaustion.

Therefore, when Quentin drove back to the hotel,

he had an accident that prevented him from continuing the tournament.

A tournament he was a favorite in.

Which in turn ended his career.

He never entered another competition after that?

His injuries from the accident were irreversible.

Quentin Desfranges never appeared in any competition,

nor any chess-related event.

In a nutshell,

on one hand we have a prodigy whose career was ended by a car accident;

on the other,

four of his last opponents getting murdered ten years later.

It's starting to look awfully like revenge, isn't it?

Great job, thanks.

Do you think he's the one we bumped into at the hotel?

Hard to tell.

We know for sure he's Quentin Desfranges.

He didn't make a fuss when we came for him, he was cooperative,

even polite.

- He owns a computer shop. - Yes, a shop called Sissa.

Okay, does he have an alibi for every murder?

It seems so.

CCTV places him in his shop at the time of the crimes.

Could he have tampered with the tapes?

Norah stayed there to check and supervise the search.

Okay.

Let's go?

Yeah.

You're saying you don't have any memory of this match

before your accident?

No. No, I'm sorry.

No, I woke up in the hospital, totally lost.

I needed a few days to come around.

Just barely. Plus, it was ten years ago.

Any aftereffects?

Almost nothing and everything at the same time.

The surgeon who took care of me told me I was lucky

to get out of such an accident without sequelae.

But there was one.

Chess?

Yeah.

Yeah, I could never play again.

Not at the same level anyway.

Something broke up there.

An irreversible brain injury.

So, is that why you brought me here?

Do you have any information about what happened that evening?

No.

No, it's related to what happened at this year's Pretenders tournament.

Excuse me Commander,

I thought you'd like to see this as soon as possible.

Your shop, Sissa Games,

I thought it was a reference to a computer calculating power,

but it wasn't always a computer shop, was it?

No.

No, at first, it was a shop specialized in chess and strategy.

But it didn't work.

Not modern enough.

So that's why you ended up with a lot of stock on your hands.

Yeah.

Why are you asking me all these questions?

Because, believe it or not, stocks are my thing.

When I worked in insurance, I was sure to find what I was looking for.

Things you hide,

stuff you don't report.

Stocks are fascinating.

A 1988 edition of red Russian Zagreb.

What's more important is its content.

It's missing four pieces.

A Knight, a Bishop, a Rook and a Queen.

The four pieces found on the victims, Mr. Desfranges.

- Are you sure it's him? - There is a body of consistent evidence.

Yes, but do you have evidence?

Norah thinks his shop's CCTV recordings could have been tampered with.

"Could have been tampered with"?

Yes, but it's hard to prove.

It's not hard to tamper with the dates on these kinds of videos,

especially for a tech genius.

I'm sorry Commissioner, but we still found a set of Russian Zagreb pieces

missing exactly the pieces from the crime scene.

This doesn't prove anything!

Any court-appointed lawyer could demolish your argument in two minutes.

Do his prints match the ones you found at the hotel at least?

No.

Commissioner, even you know that nowadays,

anybody can have access to false prints on the internet.

I'm asking you again, Coste:

do you have evidence?

No.

- So you know what that means. - You want a confession.

I do.

He does.

Which one of you figured out those murders were part of a chess game?

So you do know these murders are part of a chess game.

You're half confessing, good.

You know it's not the case.

The whole thing is in newspapers.

What I want to know is

which one of you got it.

We're the one asking questions here.

Not you anyway.

You, you're an attacker.

An impulsive one.

You give up your pawns, provoke your opponent.

You'd already told me if it were you.

It's not you either.

You're the archetype of a positional player.

Nice technique, nice strategy,

but you lack creativity after all.

You'd never got it on your own.

I'll only talk to the person who figured these murders were part of a chess game.

And I'll only talk to them in front of a chessboard.

- Are you sure about this? - Do we have another choice?

Italian opening.

I did not know that was its name.

I do not play chess.

You don't play chess?

You don't seem to play randomly, though.

I studied hundreds of chess games

but I never played.

However, my boyfriend is initiating me to games.

We play go together.

Which helped me a lot in this case.

- Go. - Yes.

It's totally different.

What could have helped you?

He taught me

that playing against an opponent

means accepting to create intimacy with them.

That doesn't make any sense.

By committing these murders according to a chess game,

the killer revealed themselves.

What did it tell you about them?

That they are a weak chess player.

It seems to me they managed to keep the police in check.

And committed four murders.

Three.

The criminal police team managed to foil the last one.

Ivana Koroleva is still alive.

Thus, the killer failed.

Ivana's death doesn't matter.

The killer's chess game is over.

I do not understand.

Wasn't the objective to kill them?

No.

No, the objective was to scare them.

To let them know their names were on the list.

Know that I was there, behind them.

Check.

I crossed paths with Koenig two years ago.

We played together,

then we drank.

We drank a lot.

Like two ghosts from the chess world.

Koenig left the competition after winning it,

the year of my accident.

The year you thought you were going to win.

I was the best.

I was the best and this accident screwed me over.

That evening, Koenig told me why he went into depression.

Do you know why?

Guilt.

The simultaneous game they had organized,

it was made to ambush me.

They drugged me!

They drugged me so I couldn't get up the next day!

- Because they were afraid I'd beat them! - No!

- Nico... - Wait.

They conspired to get me out of the way!

They did not wish for you to get into that accident.

But it's their fault I got into that accident!

Their fault I'm now a pawn in my own life!

A piece which can't go forward,

can't go backwards, can't go on the sides.

- We got him. - They condemned me!

They deserved to die!

I'm sorry.

Bravo Astrid. Oh, you were amazing.

Thank you.

I would have never succeeded if Tetsuo had not initiated me into games.

Your tea.

Thanks.

How did it go with Niels?

Did you handle the interactions well?

I think so.

I found the communication simple.

Niels speaks literally.

He asks relevant questions.

He solved the nine dots enigma right away.

- Oh! - Yes.

- He went out of the box? - Yes, immediately.

Niels will come back next Tuesday.

He will come back every Tuesday at 7 pm.

Niels is no longer an unexpected event.

- Translated & synced by Team Astraelle -