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. And soon there were high-profile murders in the city - of judges and the head of a security agency. At the scene of these crimes, figures of an elephant and a horse were found... Deacon Andrei Bersenev and journalist Margo Lenskaya, who are investigating this story, are confident that the third murder will not be long in coming. Who is the black king intended for?..