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Written by Austria-Hungarian writer Stefan Zweig, Chess is a novella which focuses on a world chess champion who is amongst passengers who have boarded a boat for Buenos Aries. Soon, the world champion is recognised and is challenged to a game of chess by two characters known as The Narrator and Mc Connor. Through his ingenious tactics and critical thinking, Mirko Czentovic (the champion) beats his two opponents with ease. However, when a second game is offered, Czentovic doesn’t expect another ‘unknown’ chess prodigy to be amongst the passengers, who goes by the name of Dr. B. Through guidance and assistance from Dr. B. the world champion is held to a draw, and when the two masterminds lock heads in battle, Czentovic is finally defeated, and his reign of supremacy is over. However, when a second game is put on the table, Dr. B.’s credibility is on the line, and questions arise whether or not his skills are the stuff of imagination and several years of hysteria, or a genuine deep understanding about the complexities of the boardgame which has turned many into world class game players.
Written largely as a narration, “Chess” explores theme of insanity, psychological pressure, split personality, obsessive and frantic behaviour, and social pressure. Taking place (largely in the present), “Chess” contains long passages of monologues and sometimes soliloquys, as the backstory of the mysterious Dr. B is put into context. “Chess” does not prioritise the story, but rather about the characters. It relies largely on the reader becoming invested in the backstory, where the mysterious Dr. B. learned how to play chess against the most unlikely of opponents (himself).
The novella is not a hard read; it’s a page turner that can be read in a single sitting. It’s also a voyage into the human psyche, how interests can turn into mind consuming obsessions, and how the human brain can be the most fragile and vulnerable element of the human body. It is perhaps too far to say Chess is a warning piece to other equally minded chess fanatics, that at times, chess is merely a game in itself; but the social pressures and commitments and mathematical understanding of every world-renowned game does leave a lot to be desired.
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