Fritz Leiber

“The Dreams of Albert Moreland” is a short story by Fritz Leiber, published in 1945 in The Acolyte magazine. Albert Moreland is a solitary and talented chess player who makes a living by playing games for a few cents in a Manhattan recreation hall. One night, he confides to his boardinghouse companion that he dreams every night of the same endless match, played on a gigantic and unfamiliar board, with strange pieces and incomprehensible rules. This dreamlike game, seemingly unfolding beyond time and space, soon turns into a disturbing obsession that consumes him entirely.