Chess

A riveting psychological portrait of obsession, intellect, and survival.

On a transatlantic voyage, a world-renowned chess master accepts a casual challenge from a group of passengers—only to be unexpectedly outmatched by an anonymous opponent. As curiosity grows, the man reveals the harrowing circumstances under which he developed his skill: solitary confinement, psychological torment, and an all-consuming reliance on chess as his only means of mental survival.

Written in exile shortly before his death, Stefan Zweig’s Chess is a haunting novella that explores the limits of the human mind under extreme duress. At once a suspenseful intellectual duel and a profound meditation on totalitarianism, identity, and inner resistance, Chess remains one of Zweig’s most enduring and acclaimed works.