Chess Story

by Stefan Zweig · 1942

A Chess Story, also known as The Royal Game, is Stefan Zweig's final novella, written in exile in Brazil and sent to his American publisher just days before his suicide in 1942. Set aboard a transatlantic liner traveling from New York to Buenos Aires, the narrative follows world chess champion Mirko Czentovic and a mysterious passenger, Dr. B, a Jewish banker who survived Gestapo imprisonment by memorising a stolen anthology of chess games. The story examines Nazi persecution, madness, obsession and the psychological battle between intellect and power, offering a stark, intense portrait of wartime darkness through the lens of a chess match.