The key to Eliot is usually through his allusions. In this section there are allusions to Shakespeare: Anthony and Cleopatra, The Tempest, and Hamlet.
The Aeneid - story of Dido,
Paradise Lost, Dante's Inferno, and Ovid. Most of these allusions are connected to women.
Example: Cleopatra - a suicide over love. Dido - a suicide over love. Paradise Lost - a seduction by the Devil (or snake). Dante - lustful lovers in Hell. Ovid - a rape of a woman by her brother in-law. Hamlet - Ophelia - a suicide over love.
This section can be read as a contrast of sex and love from the viewpoint of upper and lower classes. The 1st women, the upper class, has been compared to a female Prufrock.
The title of this section comes from an obscure play that uses chess as a metaphor for stages in seduction.
I hope this helps!
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