Emma Burke

Emma Burke

Christina Black

ENGL 1147-101

December 16, 2013

The Evolution of the Game

            For Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle’s famed detective, mysteries are puzzles, or games to be solved for the “game’s own sake” (Doyle 43). Similarly for Jim Wormold, the protagonist of Graham Greene’s espionage thriller, Our Man in Havana, espionage is a “child’s game,” just as for Alec Leamas, protagonist of John Le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in From the Cold of the same genre, the espionage industry is comprised of “people who play cowboys and Indians” (Greene 55, Le Carré 217). As the detective industry has evolved into the espionage industry, the “game” has become less of a puzzle, like a mystery, and more of a game of strategy, like a game of Cowboys and Indians. In fact, espionage and counter-espionage during the Cold War is analogous to a well-deliberated and well-played game of chess. Pieces of different rank and degree of mobility are advantageously placed in enemy territory and manipulated to protect the most valuable piece, the king, or in the case of espionage, the most valuable agent or informant, while still others are used to capture enemy pieces, or agents.

            The lowliest, and most numerous, chess pieces are pawns, only able to move one or two spaces in the forward direction. Just like the lowest tier of subagents in an agency, they are expendable and often sacrificed to protect other pieces or as part of the larger effort to win the game. Knights, like the next, higher, tier of agents, are able to traverse more of the board, but still have specific and restricted movements. Bishops and rooks are much more mobile, able to cross the board in single motion, and thus they are similar to the highest tier of agents which have more control over their own movements and actions. The queen is the most versatile piece, with largest range of movement, and is arguably the most important piece, often used to protect the king, just as the head of a secret service agency is the most important person in the agency, an omniscient and omnipresent member of all espionage missions who is able to manipulate all those below him or her. The head is also desperate to protect its most valuable asset, its king, without whom the mission fails. The king has a very limited range of motion, just as top agents with specific missions do not have much freedom, which renders it unable to adequately protect itself, and thus it must rely on other pieces for safekeeping. In particular, it is often the head of the secret service agency, with his or her power and versatility, who must plan or execute a mission to protect the top informant.

            John Le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in From the Cold presents an example of a well-strategized mission to protect MI6’s most valuable informant, Hans-Dieter Mundt, the Head of Counter Espionage of the German Abteilung. The manipulation of the persons involved in this mission can be demonstrated visibly using a chessboard, where one half of the board and pieces represents the Cold War satellites such as Germany and the other half represents opposing Great Britain. Mundt is positioned in the middle of the board at C4, in German territory but close to that of Great Britain. No pawns or superfluous pieces remain on Great Britain’s side because Mundt eliminated all British agents in Germany. British agent Alec Leamas is represented as a knight at E3 because, though he was supposedly head of MI6 espionage in Germany, he was not informed of Mundt’s role as an informant, and thus his movements are limited. He is also not informed of the true purpose of the mission he is sent on, believing that he is trying to incriminate and destroy Mundt when really he is leading the crusade to protect him, a plan devised by Control, represented by the queen in Great Britain territory at F7. Therefore, he is positioned at E3 because he is in position to capture Mundt, whom he believes to be on the German side, though he is really positioned to capture Fiedler at F1. Fiedler, represented by a bishop, has not moved since the beginning of the mission and remains deep in German territory, set up to capture Mundt. However, Control is located across the board from him in Great Britain, ready to capture him if Leamas is unable to.

George Smiley, another British agent, is represented by a rook because he is more trusted in the agency and cognizant of the mission to protect Mundt. He is positioned at E8, deep in the territory of Great Britain, because he is in position to protect Leamas from afar. On the opposing side, the president of the tribunal overseeing Mundt’s trial is represented by a queen because she is a powerful person who is in charge of ultimately deciding the fates of both Mundt and Fiedler. Accordingly, she is located at G1 because she is able to capture either Mundt or Fiedler, depending on whom the tribunal determined to be a part of the opposing side, in this case Fiedler. Thus, the main players in the mission are strategically placed to either protect Mundt or to eliminate antagonists.

            Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana presents an example of agents’ abilities to increase in rank. Pawns have a special ability which allows them to become either a queen, bishop, rook, or knight if they reach the opposite side of the board. Wormold begins his career in espionage as a lowly subagent, one of five subagents of Hawthorne, another agent of higher rank. However, as Wormold fictionalizes intelligence such as alleged missile plans, he gains the attention of the Chief, head of MI6, who believes that he has successfully infiltrated the opposing Communist side. Thus, since Wormold has effectively crossed the board and reached the other side, he is able to increase in rank to become a more important agent with subagents of his own. As a result of this, he increases in rank to become a rook, able to move farther and with more freedom as he gathers intelligence and becomes more trusted within his intelligence organization.  

Therefore, he is located deep within Communist territory at F1. As there are several other subagents at the same lowly level as the one that he started at, there are four pawns in Row 7 whose positions stay stagnant throughout the mission. Hawthorne is represented by a knight at G3 because he is still not a major agent in the agency and is still working his way up the hierarchy, and thus his available moves are limited to recruiting beneficial subagents, and he is placed in enemy territory where he can easily reach Wormold when he is in danger. As Wormold’s importance as an agent increased, he became more and more of a target for enemy agents. Thus Carter, an agent sent to assassinate Wormold, is represented by a rook at C1, where he is able to capture Wormold. Wormold’s friend, Hasselbacher, is recruited by the Communists and is represented by a bishop at C4, where he is in position to capture Wormold, as they are now on opposing sides. However, he is also in a position to be captured by Carter when he betrays his side by warning Wormold of the forthcoming assassination attempt. And just as Carter can capture Wormold, Wormold can capture him, as he eventually must in order to protect himself and avenge Hasselbacher’s death. All the while, represented by a bishop at position G5, Captain Segura, a seemingly aggressive and dangerous police officer, is ready to assist Wormold out of love for Wormold’s daughter, Milly. Also ready to assist Wormold from afar is the Chief, the head of the secret service agency, a queen at C8, who aids Wormold in gathering intelligence, positioned and ready to help Wormold against opposing agents such as Hasselbacher and Carter. Therefore, Wormold is placed in more danger after he has successfully infiltrated the opposing side and becomes the target of multiple assassination attempts, though he does have backup available to assist him throughout his mission.

            In conclusion, Cold War espionage can be equated to a game of chess, where pieces with unique moves and abilities are primed and strategically positioned to either protect pieces on their own side or capture those on the opposing side. The two distinct sides implement different strategies in order to try to win the game or complete a successful mission. However, in chess, the two sides are distinctly drawn, and pieces remain on the same side throughout the entire game, whereas, in espionage, pieces are often switching sides as their allegiances shift or as their own side turns against them, as in the Fiedler’s case when the Tribunal incriminates him. Therefore, pieces on the espionage chessboards must be prepared to capture not only pieces on the opposing side but also pieces on their own side in order to either protect themselves or execute a successful mission. In both instances, however, the side which has the best strategy, and not necessarily the most pieces, wins the game, and thus the Cold War involved much strategy and an increased need for espionage. As David Black writes in his article “The Winding, Bumpy Road from Espionage to Intelligence,” the increasing use of the game of espionage during the Cold War had a profound effect on the world and “the activities of the principal intelligence services of the U.S., Great Britain, and the Soviet Union during the Cold War…have made the world in the decades following World War II an appreciably less violent and unstable place in the second half of the twentieth century than it was in the first half” (16). Therefore, though espionage can be equated to a mere game, its underlying ideas and strategy have served to better the world during and after the Cold War.

Works Cited

Black, David S. "The Winding, Bumpy Road from Espionage to Intelligence." Lecture.

Doyle, Arthur C. The Adventure of the Dancing Men, and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories.

Mineola, N.Y: Dover Publications, 1997.

Greene, Graham. Our Man in Havana. New York: Penguin Books, 2007.

Le Carré, John. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. New York: Penguin Books, 2012.