The Chess Problem: a Hercule Poirot Short Story

Inspector Japp is not a Big Four believer.

The good officer has been up north for awhile and Poirot and Hastings are pleasantly surprised to bump into him in a Soho restaurant. When Poirot begins to expound once more on his Big Four theories, Japp quickly changes the subject to chess and "that curious business yesterday." He then adds, "Match between two players of worldwide reputation, and one died during the game." Now he's got their attention.

Librarian's this story is one of the 12 in a weekly serial, "The Man Who Was Number Four" which appeared in "Sketch" magazine in 1924. It is the original. The 12 were later edited and adapted to become the novel, "The Big Four" in 1927.