Stefan Zweig's classic novella of obsession, madness and chess Stefan Zweig's acclaimed novella Chess is a disturbing. At first they lose pitifully, until a kind stranger aids by whispering instructions to them - he is a masterful chess player, and as they play, the game itself draws the stranger closer and closer to its secrets. In 1941 a cruise ship is heading to Buenos Aires, and on board a group of eager passengers challenge the reigning world chess champion to a match. Much of his work is available from Pushkin Press.Stefan Zweig's classic novella of obsession, madness and chess Following Hitler's rise to power, he and his second wife fled Austria first to England, then to America, and finally, in 1940, they travelled together to Brazil, where the couple took an overdose and died.

Never mind that you may have never moved a pawn to King four the story will grip you.' Economist 'His great achievement in short form'The Times A staunch pacifist after his time in the Ministry of War during the First World War, Stefan Zweig was, at his peak, one of the bestselling and most widely acclaimed authors in the world.

'The rediscovery of this extraordinary writer could well be on a par with last year's refinding of the long-lost Stoner, by John Williams, and which similarly could pluck his name out of a dusty obscurity.' Simon Winchester, Telegraph 'Perhaps the best chess story ever written, perhaps the best about any game. But in agreeing to take on Czentovic, what price will Dr B ultimately pay? A moving portrait of one man's madness, A Chess Story is a searing examination of the power of the mind and the evil it can do. But there is another passenger with a passion for chess: Dr B, previously driven to insanity during Nazi imprisonment by the chess games in his imagination. Dull-witted in all but chess, he entertains himself on board by allowing others to challenge him in the game, before beating each of them and taking their money. Chess world champion Mirko Czentovic is travelling on an ocean liner to Buenos Aires. One of the most perfectly gripping novellas from a master of the form, Stefan Zweig.

An epic chess match on a transatlantic liner unearths a story of persecution and obsession.

Chess by stefan zweig