Written by:
Rob Greenberg

Guest Callers:
None this episode.

Skyline: The light at the top of the Space Needle flashes.

Plot: Frasier is feeling pleased with himself - he has bought a new 1882 Blanc Design chess set. However Niles does not wish to play the game, as he used to play chess with Maris, so Frasier instead persuades Martin to play with him. Martin does so - and despite not having played that much chess before, he wins.

Frasier is troubled by this - after all, he is more intelligent than Martin, isn't he? He challenges Martin to another game to see if it was just a fluke - and Martin wins again. And again. And again. To cheer Frasier up, Daphne makes a sock puppet - well, it worked with her brothers. Unfortunately it does not work on Frasier!

By now Frasier is so obsessed by this that he cannot sleep. One night he sets off the fire alarm and wakes everyone up. As he's awake, he says to Martin, why not play some chess? When he sees the board set up, Martin thinks this is more than just chess, and refuses. When Frasier offers him $5000 if he wins, he leaps to the board - and loses. Now Frasier is obsessed with something else - did Martin let him win?

Meanwhile Niles is lonely, and so gets a whippet for company. However, the dog is quiet, thin and refuses to obey him - which is fine by Niles. But he doesn't realise - and everyone else does - that the dog is just like Maris!

Subtitles: Maybe It's Short For Nodule; And She's Hypoglycaemic; Chess Pains.

It's Maris!!!: Niles won't play chess because it reminds him of how he played it with Maris. Frasier can see why she likes the game - "the king is stationary, the queen has all the power".

Trivia: This the first episode written by Rob Greenberg, and the first to be directed by Gordon Hunt. First appearance of "Girl", Niles' whippet. The smoke alarm also went off in Ep 27 "The Matchmaker".