An unheard of event for these places took place in a small seaside town - the robbery of a local history museum. But the thief turned out to be strange: he did not take the most valuable exhibit - a sandalwood chessboard, which was given to the great Russian chess player Mikhail Chigorin at the end of the 19th century, but was content with only three black pieces: a bishop, a knight and a king... Soon, high-profile murders took place in the city - judges and heads of security agencies. At the scene of these crimes, figures of an elephant and a horse were found... What are these strange symbols and who left them? Deacon Andrei Bersenev and journalist Margo Lenskaya are sure that a third murder will happen soon. Who is the black king intended for?..