Play Book Tag discussion

The only other book I've read by Zweig so far is a very short novella (or maybe a short story) called Buchmendel (I don't know whether there is an English edition). I liked that one, but I loved Chess Story. I'm not giving it 5 stars just because I'm known to be stingy.

On a ship from New York to Buenos Aires, in the 1940's, there is a famous chess player named Czentovic. He's haughty, unpleasant and basically illiterate. However, people yearn to get to know him, maybe even to play against him. They finally agree on a game: Czentovic vs. all the others. Czentovic obviously wins in the blink of an eye, but after the first game there comes a man who changes it all. The game ends with a tie, and they agree for another game for the following day: this time it'll be Czentovic vs. the mysterious Mr. B.

But Mr. B. won't remain mysterious for long, at least not for us readers, because he tells the narrator the story of his chess mania. It is, in fact, a mania, and not a simple passion. I won't tell you the story, the best thing is you read it for yourself, but it has to do with Nazis (the novella was written in 1943).

This novella is only partly about chess. I don't know anything about chess, but you can enjoy the story even without knowledge of the game. This novella is, basically, about the destruction of man. The destruction of the man who belongs to "the world of yesterday" (which is also the title of a famous book by Zweig) vs. the success of the new man. But what is preferrable, after all, between the two? The man of yesterday has gone crazy, but at the same time he's the most deliberate, kind, good of the two.

Heartily recommended.

I've read a few of his, including this one, and I love his writing style.

I'm glad you like this author, Tracy. I really need to read more of his books!