A novel of chess, suspense and thoughtful insights
Chess News and Chess Trivia Blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010
Hi Everyone,
We recently found this very interesting novel - Chess Story by Austrian master Stefan Zweig. Also, titled 'The Royal Game,' the manuscript was mailed to American publishers by the author only a few days before he committed suicide in Brazilian exile in 1942.
The story goes that travellers on a ship on its way from New York to Buenos Aires find the world chess champion among them. The champion comes across as an arrogant person who does not wish to make friends. Of course he agrees to play chess with fellow travellers.
Then a mysterious passenger steps forward to advise the group pitted against the champion and a twist happens in the story. How this stranger 'advisor' came to possess his extraordinary grasp of the game of chess and at what cost lie at the heart of Zweig's story.
The book has been translated in English also and covers plenty of thoughtful insights and suspense. Check it out this week.
This novella was the inspiration of the 1960 Gerd Oswald film Brainwashed, originally titled Die Schachnovelle, as well as for the 1980 Czechoslovakian film 'The Royal Game'.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
Also see her personal blog at
Labels: chess novel
posted by Chess Blog Admin @ 3:12 PM
2 Comments:
At October 5, 2010 at 9:59 PM ,
Anonymous said...
I've read the story and seen the movie. Both were very well done, and I also highly recommend both. I had to order a copy of the movie from overseas, so it may be hard to get.
-Seth
At October 6, 2010 at 2:54 PM ,
Anonymous said...
I will try and get the movie from Amazon I think. I have read the book and it was just tooooooo good. Very chessy, very analytical and makes one think about the meaning of life. Thanks for sharing Chess Queen.
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