Men have died at the chess board, witness many tales in mediaeval verse and romance. Such games always start in a friendly spirit, as shown by these lines from Guy of Warwick (c. 1450) based on events in the age of Vikings four hundred years earlier.
'Faber', quod Sowdan, 'y bidde thee
To playe at the chesses wyth me.'
'Syr', quod he, 'wyth myn entente
I shall do youre comawndement' ...
They sate downe frendys in all wyse,
But they were wrothe ere they dud ryse ...
Sowdan, the younger man, called Faber the son of a whore, and cracked him so hard over the head with a rook he drew blood. Fabel kept his temper, because his opponent was the son of the lord to whom he owed allegiance; but the headstrong young man went for him again, whereupon Faber retaliated in kind.
On hys fete dud he stonde
And took the chekur in hys honde.
He smote Sowdan undur the ere
He felle to grounde and dyed there.
'Chekur' being the chessboard, in mediaeval times a heavy weapon.
Source: 'Total Chess' by David Spanier