 How does Sandra meet the chess players?
Sandra's chief difficulty was that she knew absolutely nothing about the game of chess—a point that she had slid over in conferring with the powers at the Space Mirror , but that now had begun to weigh on her. What the Machine can do is examine all the likely lines of play for about eight moves ahead—that is, four moves each for White and Black—and then decide which is the best move on the basis of capturing enemy pieces, working toward checkmate, establishing a powerful central position and so on." Flesh-and-blood chess masters have lost games by blunders they could have avoided by looking only one or two moves ahead. While Sandra arranged for an interview with Jandorf after the day's playing session, Doc reordered his coffee.
 Doc tells her their chess history and introduces her to them as they pass by.
 Doc explains that she can use her tournament program to meet whichever player she wishes.  Doc tells her their chess history and introduces her to them as they pass by.  She uses her female charm to interest each player in an interview.  She interviews each player in accordance with who Doc is friends with, save for Dr. Krakatower.