Chess in literature

[kandaurov]

I've become mildly addicted to chess in the past few months, and I even did an oral presentation on a chess interpretation of Beckett's Endgame. After that, I read The Tempest, by Shakespeare, which, I had been told, has a chess dimension as well. Both were great reads. I'm looking for more novels/poems/plays/short stories which, directly or indirectly, have chess as a theme, or a symbol, or something of the sort. The other precondition would be that you actually enjoyed reading it, or that you've been told it's good. Can you think of something? Thanks in advance!

[Erichtho]

Off the top of my head, two works are coming to my mind:

Die Schachnovelle by Stefan Zweig, translated to English as The Royal Game or Chess Story, and
Защита Лужина by Vladimir Nabokov, translated to English as The Defense or The Luzhin Defense.

The former is Zweig's most popular story, the latter is my favourite work of Nabokov.

[Homyrrh]

Search Amazon. If you're up for some internet chess sometime, I won a bunch of school tournaments awhile back (though my 31-5 record is not a mark of my present state...there's no one to ever play with!).

[Lambert]

Beckett's Murphy

[_JadeRain_]

In Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll, some of the characters are acutual chess pieces. Alice even has to move across the spaces of a chess board.

[papayahed]

The Eight by Katherine Neville

[Etienne]

Hmm being a chess fiend myself, that's an interesting topic! I only knew of the Luzhin Defense (great book, really!) and Zweig's novella of the books mentioned in this topic. There is also a very important one, and that's Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.

Interestingly enough, there is a chess problem by Nabokov (he was also a chess problem composer, he has a poem collection mixed with chess problems), called the Lolita riddle where he answers Lewis Carroll's paedophiliac symbolical "lapsus" of the chess sequence on which Through the Looking Glass is composed. This chess problem of Nabokov is also very nice, I have it, but I have no picture and only found PGN files of it, maybe I can give the coordinates:

White pieces:
Ka7
Qb6
Rf4, Rh5
Be4, Bh8
Nd8, Ne6
b7, g3

Black pieces:
Ke5
Rg7
Bh6
Ne2, Ng5
c3, c6, d7

White to move and mate in two. What's white first move? I'll explain the symbolic in relation to Carroll's Through the Looking Glass chess pattern. There was a nice website about it, but it doesn't exist anymore, unfortunately.

I use FICS to play on the internet if anyone plays there PM me.

[johann cruyff]

Nice to see there are more chess/literature aficionados out there...

[Takeahnase]

Lolita springs to mind, I recall there being some chess matches within that one. Like Etienne brought up, Nabokov has some strong links to the chess and the theme seems to pop up in many of his novels and poems.

Although I obviously haven't read them all myself so can't give you my own opinions on them/recommendations, I've found this interesting list that someone's compiled, which you might find useful if you're looking for something chess-related to read next: http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lab/7378/lit.htm

[Etienne]

Not fiction, but philosophy: Wittgenstein Philosophical Investigations.

[kandaurov]

Oh my, thanks so much for the feedback everyone! I've also read Murphy and Through the Looking Glass (I recommend both; I went through the trouble of "translating" each move of the wonderful chess game in Murphy into PGN, should anyone be interested in it I'll post it). All the others have now been added to my "to buy" list. I'm going to London in two weeks and hopefully I'll find them all there!

And so many chess players here! I must warn you, I'm average at best. If you're okay with that just drop me a line, we could play real time chess (I'm "player182" in the chesshere site) or correspondence chess.

Again, thanks for the feedback; if any other work occurs to you, please post it, I'll be sure to look for it!

[kandaurov]

Oh, and Etienne, nice chess problem, thanks for sharing it! First I'd have said

1. Qc5+ ...d5
2. bxg7#

I was absolutely clueless about the relationship between this and the Through the Looking Glass, though. After having entertained that idea for a while I remembered how Alice is really a pawn promoted to Queen, so there is another solution that maybe is the one you refer to

1. b8=Q+ ...d6
2. bxg7#

If I'm wrong, or if I failed to see how it's similar to Carroll's novel, please enlighten me!

[Play-Doh Girl!]

The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez Reverte is rather good. It's a mystery based around the 15th Century painting 'The Game of Chess' by Pieter Van Huys. It has a lot of chess stuff related to the mystery in it and such.

I love to play chess, but alas I can never find anyone to play against, or the time to play.

[ClickForth]

okokok

[byquist]

The film and script, "Searching for Bobbie Fischer" is really excellent. It may be based on a book.

You may know that Bobbie Fischer passed on not long ago.

[Morten]

Nabokov's The Defense is a must. The author himself was deeply engaged in the game of chess and spent much of his time in exile working on chess problems.

[genoveva]

Lolita springs to mind, I recall there being some chess matches within that one.

I don't think so unless they come towards the end of the book.

[Takeahnase]

I don't think so unless they come towards the end of the book.

It's been a while since I read it last so I may be mistaken but I'm sure there was a chess match in there somewhere, I think between Humbert and Gaston Godin? Yes, the more I think about it the more sure I am. I remember Humbert being a keen chess player.. I think there was a part where he played against Charlotte, also.

[tractatus]

Poe has an article about Maelzel's chess player.(an automated chess player machine from late 18th century, most probably tricky)

freely available on

http://www.eapoe.org/works/ESSAYS/MAELZEL.HTM

Was interesting for me for first time read; I was surprised to see how my misty romantic turns into a satirist 10 tiger !

[Etienne]

Oh, and Etienne, nice chess problem, thanks for sharing it! First I'd have said

1. Qc5+ ...d5
2. bxg7#

I was absolutely clueless about the relationship between this and the Through the Looking Glass, though. After having entertained that idea for a while I remembered how Alice is really a pawn promoted to Queen, so there is another solution that maybe is the one you refer to

1. b8=Q+ ...d6
2. bxg7#

If I'm wrong, or if I failed to see how it's similar to Carroll's novel, please enlighten me!

Your first solution doesn't work, after 2. Bxg7 Bxg7 and no mate.

Your second solution doesn't work either, Bxg7 and Bxg7 again.

The solution is :
1. Bc2! - zugzwang; to any black move there is a mate.
1. ...c5 2. Qxc5#
1. ...d6 2. Rf5#
1. ...d5 2. Qc7#
1. ...Kd5 2. Qc5#
1. ...Nxf4 (or any other knight move) 2. Qd4#
Those are the only moves available to black and each lead to a mate.

In Carroll's chess pattern, the first move is a diagonal move by white's bishop toward the top, which Nabokov saw as a phallic symbol, here Nabokov's makes the inverse movement of the bishop as a solution. There is the "irresistible try" to Queen the pawn for white, but this solution doesn't work although it is very tempting and seems to work. The solution is then to prevent the pawn (the black one) from queening with this inverse trajectory of the bishop which is the only solution leading to a mate in two.

[kandaurov]

Etienne
Hehe, as you might have noticed I misplaced the h6 bishop. I somehow put it g6. I was wondering why it was so easy! But even if I did I'm sure I'd have overlooked that great move; I thought I'd have to do a check, I didn't notice Black could be put in a zugzwang position. That sort of things are way out of my league!

With your explanation it makes a lot of sense. Great insight, thanks!, but I'm never sure about "phallic symbols", though ;)

Tractatus
Nice finding! Didn't know Poe was interested in chess! I'm going to read it now.

[Etienne]

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ezsearch.pl?search=tolstoy

Three chess games by Tolstoy against Aylmer Maude, one of the Maude English translators.

[bounty]

this might be slightly off theme but one of the major things the screenwriters of forrest gump did was leave out the role that chess played (not unlike table tennis in the movie) in forrest's book life.

[Kafka's Crow]

The second section of Eliot's Wasteland is titled 'A Game of Chess.'

.........................The hot water at ten.
And if it rains, a closed car at four.
And we shall play a game of chess,
Pressing lidless eyes and waiting for a knock upon the door.

[kandaurov]

Bounty, didn't know that! I looked it up, and apparently, in the novel, Forrest also goes to space, and becomes a wrestler, and a lot more. Talk about renaissance man!
I want to thank everyone who recommended The Luzhin Defense, I've bought it and read. Great book!, and nice way of introducing me to Nabokov, too.
Kafka's Crow, thanks! I've studied the poem thoroughly for college last year, but back then I didn't care much for chess. Will re-read the section.

Meanwhile, here's a terrific game for all you chess freaks out there, with a double rook sacrifice and a great king hunt: Kasparov - Topalov, http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1011478

[kelby_lake]

It's been a while since I read it last so I may be mistaken but I'm sure there was a chess match in there somewhere, I think between Humbert and Gaston Godin? Yes, the more I think about it the more sure I am. I remember Humbert being a keen chess player.. I think there was a part where he played against Charlotte, also.

he definitely plays with GG

[Kafka's Crow]

he definitely plays with GG

I read that part yesterday!

[bounty]

Bounty, didn't know that! I looked it up, and apparently, in the novel, Forrest also goes to space, and becomes a wrestler, and a lot more. Talk about renaissance man!
I want to thank everyone who recommended The Luzhin Defense, I've bought it and read. Great book!, and nice way of introducing me to Nabokov, too.
Kafka's Crow, thanks! I've studied the poem thoroughly for college last year, but back then I didn't care much for chess. Will re-read the section.

Meanwhile, here's a terrific game for all you chess freaks out there, with a double rook sacrifice and a great king hunt: Kasparov - Topalov, http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1011478

yes kandaurov, its actually the space sequence that gets him into playing chess. his crew crash lands amongst cannibals and are only saved by the presence of a european fellow who teaches forrest to play chess. they later escape and forrest eventually travels to hollywood for a chess tournament, where, among other things, he gets cast in a role as a swamp monster opposite raquel welch---its hysterical...

[Lioness_Heart]

The cup of the World by John Dickinson uses chess as a metaphor running all the way through the book: it's used in a really brilliant bit at the end!

And The Ringmaster's Daughter by Jostein Gaarder contains a really good short story based around a game of chess.

[JBI]

Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov

[valleyjune]

The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez Reverte is rather good. It's a mystery based around the 15th Century painting.

Nice, though not the best of the writer, in my opinion ;) . It has also come out in a movie, which I hated. The whole story and the solution of the mystery are based on a chess game

[johann cruyff]

Nice, though not the best of the writer, in my opinion ;) . It has also come out in a movie, which I hated. The whole story and the solution of the mystery are based on a chess game

That really was a terrible movie.