"All the King's Horses" is a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

written in or before 1951 by

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...

.Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. "All the King's Horses". ''

Collier's } ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter F. Collier, Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened i ...

''. 10 Feb 1951. It can be found in his collection of short stories ''

Welcome to the Monkey House ''Welcome to the Monkey House'' is a collection of 25 short stories written by Kurt Vonnegut, published by Delacorte in August 1968. The stories range from wartime epics to futuristic thrillers, given with satire and Vonnegut's unique edge. Th ...

''. It derives its title from a line in the

Humpty Dumpty Humpty Dumpty is a character in an English nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle, and is typically portrayed as an anthropomorphic egg, though he is not explicitly described as such. The first recorded versions of the rhyme date from ...

nursery rhyme.

Plot summary

The story takes place in the early years of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

and centers on U.S. Army

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Bryan Kelly, whose plane has crash-landed on the Asiatic mainland. With him are his two sons, his

wife A wife (: wives) is a woman in a marital relationship. A woman who has separated from her partner continues to be a wife until their marriage is legally dissolved with a divorce judgment; or until death, depending on the kind of marriage. On t ...

, the pilot and co-pilot, and ten enlisted men. The sixteen prisoners are held captive by the Communist guerrilla chief Pi Ying, who forces Kelly to play a game of chess using his family and men as the white pieces, and himself as the king. Any American pieces that Pi Ying captures will be

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

immediately; if Kelly wins, he and his surviving pieces will be freed. A Russian military officer, Major Barzov, and Pi Ying's female companion are present to watch the game. Pi Ying takes a sadistic pleasure in pointless exchanges of pieces meant to wear down Kelly, who begins to doubt himself over every move he makes. Eventually, he realizes that his only chance to win involves sacrificing one of his knights, played by his sons. Pi Ying captures the piece; before he can order the boy's execution, though, his companion stabs him and herself to death. Barzov then takes over for Pi Ying, but is defeated by Kelly's trap. He spares the captured son's life and offers to transport the twelve surviving group members to safety, saying that since the United States and USSR are not officially at war, he would have let them go even if Kelly had lost. Not wanting Kelly to leave thinking he is a better chess player, Barzov suggests a rematch with no lives at stake. Kelly declines, but says he will play at a later time if Barzov insists on it.

References

Short stories about chess Thriller short stories Short stories by Kurt Vonnegut 1951 in chess {{1950s-story-stub