Help me find this crazy short story

[Nick66]

This is what I remember:
One of the characters is walking through a museum but lags behind his group. He comes upon a life-sized chess board and watches in horror as the game is played out to its bloody conclusion. Later in the story it is revealed that he is experiencing all this through some sort of VR technology and then he regains his consciousness to discover an even more horrific reality. I'm fairly sure I read this as part of one of those "years best-of" anthologies.

 

[Nick66]

This is what I remember:
One of the characters is walking through a museum but lags behind his group. He comes upon a life-sized chess board and watches in horror as the game is played out to its bloody conclusion. Later in the story it is revealed that he is experiencing all this through some sort of VR technology and then he regains his consciousness to discover an even more horrific reality. I'm fairly sure I read this as part of one of those "years best-of" anthologies.

I found it! It is titled, The Angel of Violence, by Adam Wiśniewski Snerg and it's well worth your time. It was included in the great anthology, The Science Fiction Century edited by David Hartwell.

 

[otistdog]

I found it! It is titled, The Angel of Violence, by Adam Wiśniewski Snerg and it's well worth your time.

Thanks for posting back with the answer!