It is a delight to watch Laurence Harvey as a neurotic chess player, who schemes to murder the opponent he cannot defeat at the chessboard. This movie has wonderful pacing and several cliffhanger moments, as Harvey's plot several times seems on the point of failure or exposure, but he manages to beat the odds yet again. Columbo wages a skilful war of nerves against this high-strung genius, and the scene where he manages to rattle him enough to cause him to make a mistake while playing chess is one of the highlights of the movie, as Harvey looks down in disbelief at the board, where he has just allowed himself to be checkmated. The climax is almost as strong, and watching Laurence Harvey collapse completely as his scheme is exposed brings the movie to a satisfying finish. Highly recommended.