"Idiot's Mate" is a 1968 science fiction short story by Robert Taylor. It was first published in Amazing Stories.
Synopsis A chess tournament is held on the Moon — but instead of pieces, the game uses people in spacesuits, who wield guns with explosive bullets.
Reception "Idiot's Mate" was a finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Short Story of 1968.Idiot's Mate, at Science Fiction Writers of America; retrieved November 9, 2024
Galactic Journey found it to be "a bit overwritten, but capably so," and noted that it "moves fast".(August 6, 1968) Treading Water (September 1968 Amazing), by John Boston, in Galactic Journey; published August 6, 2023; retrieved November 9, 2024
Mike Ashley has assessed it as "almost certainly" the most popular story published in Amazing Stories under the editorial tenure of Harry Harrison.The AMAZING Story: The Sixties — The Goose-Flesh Factor, by Mike Ashley; at PulpFest.com; published March 3, 2016; retrieved November 9, 2024
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