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Schachnovelle¶
147 words on Books
Stefan Zweig’s Schachnovelle (aka Chess Story) is a fantastic story about the magic of chess and how it can fascinate people. At least that’s what it looks like at first. It’s set on a cruise ship on which a chess world champion is present. Some people would love to play against him and, after agreeing on a price, they do. And they lose; clearly. Until a stranger appears and turns the game around.
The new mystery is how the guy became such a great player. Here the real story kicks in and we learn that he had been locked away by the Gestapo in Vienna a few decades earlier and all he had to entertain himself while drifting towards insanity was a chess book. Both the chess skills and nervous problems seem to have stuck.
Bookmark: 06-02-2006, flight FR 436 Stansted to Lübeck,
