Half-remembered book from my childhood

liselle81

I have this very vague memory of a book I got out of the library as a kid, and I can't for the life of me remember the name or the author. Here's what I do remember:

There was this family of kids living somewhere in remote rural Ireland, with only one near neighbour, a single man who was really into chess. This dude had a friend who would visit once a month to play chess with him, and he hatched a nefarious plot to have the kids kicked out of their house so his mate could buy it and he would always have a chess partner at hand.

It is of course entirely possible I dreamed the whole plot up but if I didn't I'd love to see if I could track it down...if anybody remembers what it might be called I'd totally be your best friend. :-)

Rubecula

Not come across it myself but there is a novel out there called The Chess Player by Andrew Parker. Would that be the one you are asking about?

Cee-Jay-Cee

To be honest it sounds a bit dreamed up and not exactly a child's or anyone else's type of story.