The protagonist goes to a world where talking animals are so intelligent they can play chess mentally. I read this book in the 80's. It's probably a young readers fantasy

[Edson]

Can't remember much about this book, but I'd love to reread it. It was a fantasy novel about a man who ends up in a world where animals are super intelligent. The protagonist's companion (I don't remember what kind of animal it was, maybe a fox) was taught by him to play chess and would exasperate him by wanting to play mentally (without a board). I read this book in the 80’s (it must be at least 40 years old). Another thing is that it didn’t end! I think it was going to be a series, or at least a two-parter.

[Kris]

A long shot - Fur Magic (1968) by Andre Norton?

Did humans live in this other world? What was their role?

Can you tell us more about this man - his age, job/skills, how he travelled to this other world, family/friends, etc.? (Spoilers are okay - just give us a clear warning before revealing a spoiler.)

[Scott]

I don't think this is it (I don't remember mental chess, and the animals vary in intelligence like humans do), but just to throw it in: Spellsinger

[Edson]

Thank you, both. I'll check Alan Dean Foster.

[Kris]

Here's the Google Books preview of Spellsinger by Alan Dean Foster - Scott's suggestion - https://books.google.com/books?id=VMq...

[Edson]

There's, as far as I can remember, no singing in my book. But thank you anyway. :-)

[Rainbowheart]

Still looking, Edson?

[Ky]

Old thread but I had to weigh in:

Edson, if you ever come back to this thread, please check out The Architect of Sleep by Steven R. Boyett. The premise is that a young man slips into an alternate Earth where raccoons are the dominant and very, very intelligent species. One such raccoon meets up with this young man and later, asks him to play chess by imagining the board in their minds and remembering all the pieces' locations. It was published in 1986 and at the time, the author was going to write more and make it a series.