The Royal Game (also known as Chess Story; in the original GermanSchachnovelle, "Chess Novella") is a novella by the Austrian author Stefan Zweig written in 1941, the year before the author's death by suicide.[1] In some editions, the title is used for a collection that also includes "Amok", "Burning Secret", "Fear", and "Letter From an Unknown Woman".[2]
An anonymous narrator opens the story by describing the boarding of a passenger liner traveling from New York to Buenos Aires. One of the passengers is world chess champion Mirko Czentovic. Czentovic is an idiot savant[3] and prodigy with no obvious qualities apart from his talent for chess. The narrator plays chess with his wife, hoping to draw Czentovic's attention and engage him in a game. The narrator draws the attention of McConnor, a businessman, who offers to pay Czentovic's fee.
A group of passengers (including the narrator and McConnor) play Czentovic in a consultation game , which Czentovic wins. They are about to lose a second game when they are interrupted by DrB., who prevents them from blundering and guides the party to a draw.
DrB. tells his story to the narrator. He was a lawyer who managed the assets of the Austrian nobility and church. He was arrested by the Gestapo, who hoped to extract information from DrB. in order to steal the assets. The Gestapo kept DrB. imprisoned in a hotel, in total isolation, but DrB. maintained his sanity by stealing a book of past masters' chess games, which he learned completely. After absorbing every single move in the book, he began to play against himself, developing the ability to separate his psyche into two personas. He spent more and more time pacing up and down his cell, mentally playing chess games. This behavior became more and more obsessive and frantic, as he gradually was losing contact with reality. At some point, he accidentally wounded himself and was carried to a hospital. A sympathetic physician, knowing of his situation, attested his insanity to keep him from being imprisoned again by the Nazis, and he was freed. The doctor advised him to avoid chess, in order not to trigger his compulsive behavior.
The passengers persuade DrB. to play alone against Czentovic. DrB. agrees, as he wants to know if his chess ability was real or only a self delusion, but warns that he must not be allowed to play a second game. In a stunning demonstration of his imaginative and combinational powers, DrB. beats the world champion. Czentovic suggests another game to restore his honour, and DrB. immediately agrees. But this time, having sensed that DrB. was impatient when it took too long to move, Czentovic tries to irritate his opponent by taking several minutes to make each move, thereby putting psychological pressure on DrB., who gets more and more agitated as the game proceeds. He begins to walk around the room between moves, as in a trance, rehearsing imagined matches against himself repeatedly and manically. The narrator is alarmed as he sees the old obsession resurfacing. DrB. eventually declares a check by his bishop that isn't there: in his mind he's playing a different game from that on the board. The narrator urges DrB. to stop playing, recalling to him the doctor's advice, awakening DrB. from his frenzy. DrB. resigns the game, apologizes for his outbursts, and withdraws from the board. As DrB. leaves, Czentovic comments that he had been mounting a reasonable attack.
Historical background
The first edition of The Royal Game
Following the occupation and annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany, the country's monarchists (i.e. supporters of Otto von Habsburg as the rightful Emperor-Archduke and the rule of the House of Habsburg), conservatives as well as supporters of Engelbert Dollfuss' Austrofascist regime, were severely persecuted by the Nazis, as they were seen as opponents of the Nazi regime. Thousands of monarchists were executed or sent to concentration camps, and the pretender to the throne, Otto von Habsburg, fled to the United States, being sentenced to death in absentia by the Nazis.[4]
Alekhine vs. Bogoljubow, Pistyan 1922
Alekhine vs. Bogoljubow, Pistyan 1922 (or: Czentovic vs. McConnor, DrB. et al)
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Position following 38. d6. Both the real game and the fragment depicted in the story continued 39. h4 Rc4 40. e5 Nxe5, later ending in a draw
Throughout the story, chess games are not described in detail. Instead, the narrative focuses on the general nature of chess and the psychological aspects of gameplay. One exception occurs during the second consultation game against Czentovic, which is given some detail. Czentovic plays as White while McConnor, the narrator and others jointly decide each move for Black. Following 37... c2 and White's response, the consultation party are about to play 38... c1=Q?, promoting their pawn to a queen, but they are stopped at the last moment by DrB., who enters the story.
DrB. explains that the newly promoted black queen will be captured immediately by a white bishop, which will then be captured by a black knight, after which White will advance his own passed pawn to d7, attacking a black rook. According to DrB., even if Black responds by checking White with their knight, White will still win in "nine or ten" moves. DrB. says that the position — and the above‑threatened combination — are "almost the same" as Alekhine vs. Bogoljubow, Pistyan, 1922.[5] DrB. instead advises 38... Kh7, which Black plays. In the story, play continues 39. h4 Rc4 40. e5 Nxe5, and DrB. advises Black to "force an exchange". "Some seven moves later", Czentovic offers a draw.[3]
Although the story's game—and its position at the critical moment—are not described in full, the given details (and potential variation) are identical with the real game mentioned by DrB., played between Alekhine and Bogoljubow, following 38. d6. The fictional game, also like the real one, ended as a draw (roughly) seven moves after 40... Nxe5 was played. The real game concluded with each side capturing the other's passed pawns (which each threatened immediate promotion); in the final position the material was equal (White had a bishop for Black's knight), although Black retained a passed pawn at a6.
Algebraic notation
Both in its original German text[6] and also in later translations,[3]The Royal Game makes use of algebraic notation to describe chess moves. At the time of its publication (and of its fictional setting) in the early 1940s, algebraic notation was widespread in German-speaking chess culture, but had not been widely accepted in the Anglosphere, which still made use of descriptive notation. During the 1970s and 1980s, algebraic notation was gradually accepted in the English-speaking world and standardized by FIDE as the proper method for recording chess games. The use of algebraic notation in English translations of The Royal Game is therefore not an anachronism.
In the story, algebraic notation itself also functions as a plot device. When DrB. suffers a nervous breakdown and recovers in a hospital, a doctor asks whether he is a mathematician or a chemist. During DrB.'s delirium, he would shout formulaic expressions, e.g. "c3, c4", terminology unfamiliar to the medical staff.[3]
Adaptations
The Royal Game was the inspiration for the 1960 Gerd Oswald film Brainwashed, originally titled Schachnovelle,[7] as well as for two Czechoslovakian films: the 1980 Královská hra (The Royal Game) and Šach mat (Checkmate), made for television in 1964.[8]
The Royal Game was also the inspiration for the 2021 Philipp Stölzl film Chess Story, originally titled Schachnovelle.[9][10]
An opera based on the novel premiered at the Kiel Opera House on 18 May 2013. The music was by Cristóbal Halffter, and the libretto by Wolfgang Haendeler.[12]
The story was the basis of the production 64 Squares from the Rhum and Clay Theatre Company presented at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2015. In this production the character "B" is played by three actors, both separately and together, assisted by a percussionist.[13]
The 2023 Hungarian psychological thriller Mastergame has several story elements and characters based on the novel. Most of the movie is set on the last refugee train leaving the country as the 1956 Revolution is being crushed by the invading Soviet army. "B", in this movie is a priest who was first tortured by the Nazis during the war to reveal the location of church treasure he hid to prevent the Nazis from taking it, and managed to withstand physical torture and not talk. Now the Communists try to get the location of the same treasure out of him, opting for a different approach, trying psychological torture by keeping him in isolation. However, not everything is as it seems: the chess book he manages to steal was planted deliberately to induce his schizophrenia and break him mentally, while Czentovic is also deeply involved in this plot. [14]
Related Research Articles
Algebraic notation is the standard method for recording and describing the moves in a game of chess. It is based on a system of coordinates to uniquely identify each square on the board. It is now almost universally used by books, magazines, newspapers and software, and is the only form of notation recognized by FIDE, the international chess governing body.
Stefan Zweig was an Austrian writer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most widely translated and popular writers in the world.
Andernach chess is a chess variant in which a piece making a capture changes colour. For instance, if a white bishop on a2 were to capture a black knight on g8, the result would be a black bishop on g8. Non-capturing moves are played as in orthodox chess. If a pawn captures on eighth rank, it is promoted first and then changes colour.
The Grünfeld Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:
Efim Bogoljubow, also known as Efim Dimitrijewitsch Bogoljubow, was a Russian-born German chess grandmaster.
The Queen's Gambit is the chess opening that starts with the moves:
Richard Selig Réti was an Austro-Hungarian, later Czechoslovak, chess player, chess author, and composer of endgame studies.
The Damiano Defence is a chess opening beginning with the moves:
e4e5
Nf3f6?
Petrov's Defence or the Petrov Defence is a chess opening characterised by the following moves:
The Catalan Opening is a chess opening where White plays d4 and c4 and fianchettoes the white bishop on g2. A common opening sequence is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3, although various other openings can transpose into the Catalan. The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings (ECO) lists codes E01–E09 for lines with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2; other lines are part of E00.
The Budapest Gambit is a chess opening that begins with the moves:
The Inverted Hungarian Opening or Tayler Opening is an uncommon chess opening that starts with the moves:
The Queen's Gambit Accepted (QGA) is a chess opening characterised by the moves:
The Queen's Gambit Declined is a chess opening in which Black declines a pawn offered by White in the Queen's Gambit:
The Légal Trap or Blackburne Trap is a chess opening trap, characterized by a queen sacrifice followed by checkmate involving three minor pieces if Black accepts the sacrifice. The trap is named after the French player Sire de Légall. Joseph Henry Blackburne, a British master and one of the world's top five players in the latter part of the 19th century, set the trap on many occasions.
The Tarrasch rule is a general principle that applies in the majority of chess middlegames and endgames. Siegbert Tarrasch (1862–1934) stated the "rule" that rooks should be placed behind passed pawns – either the player's or the opponent's. The idea behind the guideline is that (1) if a player's rook is behind their own passed pawn, the rook protects it as it advances, and (2) if it is behind an opponent's passed pawn, the pawn cannot advance unless it is protected along its way.
The Exchange Variation of the Ruy Lopez is a chess opening that begins with the moves:
Nikalai (Nikolay) Dmitrievich Grigoriev was a Russian chess player and a composer of endgame studies. He was born on 14 August 1895 in Moscow, and he died there in 1938.
Willi Schlage was a German chess master and trainer. Active as a player during the inter-war years of the Weimar Republic and later as a trainer during the rise of the Third Reich, Schlage is remembered for a game depicted in the science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which chess writers attributed to him. He is also known for an endgame position attributed to a game played with Carl Ahues, frequently presented as an example in endgame literature.
Alberto López Arce was a Cuban chess player. He is noted for his involvement in an incident at the 8th Chess Olympiad, a team tournament where then-current champion Alexander Alekhine had expected to play the previous champion José Raúl Capablanca, also of Cuba. The Cuban team instead assigned López Arce to play Alekhine in a game which Alekhine quickly won.
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