This picture shared by cops of a chessboard with pieces scattered is of a neighbourhood game that ended badly when one of the men watching accused a player of looking at his girlfriend, and stabbed him to death before killing the other player too when they tried to intervene.

The incident took place in the city of Krasnoyarsk, the largest city and administrative centre of the Krasnoyarsk Krai region, in the middle of Siberia, in the heart of Russia.

A small crowd had been watching the game when the altercation happened, and cops found one of the players, aged 34, inside the building dead while the second, also 34, was lying in the entrance to the property.

In a statement, the investigative committee of the Russian Federation for the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Republic of Khakassia said that “two men were visiting their friends in the apartment of one of the houses on Volzhskaya Street in the city of Krasnoyarsk.

“The men went out into the entrance of the house and settled down on the staircase to play chess.”

A small number of people gathered to watch the game including the accused and his partner, who lived in the same property.

The statement continued: “During the next game of the set, a conflict arose between the accused and one of the men due to the fact that the man showed attention to his partner.

“As a result of the quarrel, the attacker took a knife and in turn inflicted fatal knife wounds on the victims. One of the victims died at the scene, the other in the hospital, despite the medical assistance provided.”

The alleged killer, who was not named but who is 29, has been arrested and charged with murdering two people.

He has been remanded in custody as the investigation continues.