The first scene is the Grand Master chess match between the dazed American with blood on his hand who walks out to the already seated Russian. Seven days earlier, the American chess player is in a poker game and switches off the news about the upcoming chess match between Soviet Alexander Gavrylov and the American Konigsberg. He wins and receives his cut from the barman who regularly sets him up with weak players. Agent Stone approaches the chess player, claiming to recognize him as Joshua Mansky, a brilliant mathematician and former champion chess player.
Ignoring her, Mansky walks out but is abducted and drugged by Agent White. The head of the operation, Agent Novak, debriefs the genius but volatile Mansky, who defeated Konigsberg twenty years ago, in a safe room. Per tournament rules, Mansky is the only eligible substitute, as he was the last person to beat him years ago. Mansky, an extreme alcoholic, agrees to play but drinks himself into a stupor.
Amphetamines are used so he can officially present himself as the American replacement. General Krutov, Soviet counterintelligence, tells Slega to 'look after' Mansky. Four days before the opening scene, Mansky recalls getting drunk with Slega in the morning and nothing else, including the first chess game, which he won in only 32 moves.
His brilliance is closely tied to his alcoholism, as alcohol helps slow his brain so he can operate more normally. Krutov exhorts Gavrylov to keep playing on despite losing the first match.
He tells Slega to deny the American alcohol, but Mansky carries off a bottle from a social function. In the second game, a hypnotist blocks Mansky's thoughts so he concedes. Agent White pursues him out of the theatre, but is stopped by the Soviets who threaten his family and pregnant wife.
