The Ringmaster's Daughter is about a friendless kid who likes to be by himself, and loves to make up stories. He grows up, and keeps making up stories, but doesn't want to publish anything in his name. He hates the public, hmmm.... he hates to be in the spotlight, you know. So he starts giving his stories to already published authors who have run out of ideas.
Through a Glass, Darkly is about a girl who's sick. It's christmas, but she's to weak to celebrate, so she's just laying there, writing in her notebook. Eventually, an angel appears. They start talking. The girl tries to make the angel reveal some of the heavenly secrets, and the Angel tells the girl about life's many riddles. Their conversation developes into a sort of meeting between heaven and earth as the girl starts to teach the angel how to be a human, in a desperate attemption (is that correct english? anyway, you know what I mean) to find out what and how life really is, and how it might be on the other side.
So, uh, no, there's not really anything about chess.
Some times nothin' is a real cool hand.