Allegory from line 77 - 110:
This section of "A Game of Chess" could be considered as an allegory to the woman's life. The nature of chess is just strict reasoning and careful calculating. Pawns are things to sacrifice, in order to keep the King safe. The woman was as powerful as that king, and was willing to spare no time being emotional about a meant-to-be loss (isolated from people, being all alone,...). She strove to achieve total control of love – or in this case, manipulation (another resemblance from Cleopatra) where sex and intimacies were just like moves of chess: carefully-thought-through in order to get something else out of each 'move'.
But not all chess players could keep a cool head. Sometimes, hidden behind those blank stare and stiff postures are tsunami of emotions twirling around: should I make that move, should I place that there, should I save this or that?... This was the sort of thing that this woman had to face on her own, in discreteness.
Love is a game of chess: pure manipulation and careful calculation.