The most prestigious and renowned of all board games is chess. The royal game of reason owes its reputation to the demands it places on the intellectual abilities of the player. The primary objective is to strategically maneuver one's pieces across the chessboard and checkmate the opposing king. But how can the playful aspect of chess be defined? This question is addressed in "The Game of Chess in the Mirror of Literature." The analyses of the game by Johan Huizinga and Roger Caillois are referenced, along with literary works that incorporate chess from various perspectives, including "Through the Looking-Glass" by Lewis Carroll, "Chess Story" by Stefan Zweig, and "Malina" by Ingeborg Bachmann.