Stefan Zweig – Chess – Review

 

Chess is Stefan Zweig's last published novella. After an imposed exile in Brazil in 1941, he and his young wife committed suicide. Many have speculated why the great writer and his wife self-destructed in bed in their apartment in Buenos Aires on that fateful day. When you read Zweig's acclaimed autobiography, The World of Yesterday, the writer's concerns about the Nazis invasion and occupation of his beloved Austria, the hardships in the wake of WWI, and the rise of fascism in Europe, in exile and away from his countrymen, I believe were all contributing factors to the double suicide. It is said that Zweig wrote the last page of his autobiography on the day of his death. Chess became an international bestseller.

Chess begins on a cruise ship headed to South America. Our narrator, hinting he's a publisher of sorts, is told by his companion that the world's chess champion is on board. Mirko Czentovic is an odd one. The son of a fisherman who becomes orphaned after his father's boat is crushed by a freight ship, the local priest takes him in and attempts to educate the boy. Czentovic is illiterate and remains so even after years of trying to teach him. Generally, he's apathetic and will do nothing of his own accord unless asked to do so. The priest is an avid chess player, and Mirko sits quietly observing the game. Merely from observation, he learns the game and becomes a master. I believe it was Wittgenstein who defined genius as the mind's laser focus on a single object. Mirko is lacking in everything else but chess. While reading about Czentovic, the condition of Autism came to mind.

Dr. B is undoubtedly the most interesting character in the tale. Connected to the Austrian elite, his family is well recognized. Dr. B's law firm takes care of the Royal families financial affairs. The Nazis occupied Austria, and he his taken prisoner and interrogated for many months. The man is not tortured in the physical sense but is isolated in a hotel room with only a bed, washbasin, wallpaper, and a single-window facing a wall. Isolation is a proven form of torture designed to break the prisoner's mind. The doctor describes it like,

...you lived like a diver under a glass dome in the black ocean of this silence, and even worse, like a diver who already guesses that the cable connecting him to the world outside has broken and he will never be pulled up from those soundless depths. (P.41)

B. manages to steal a book that describes particular chess games of the world's masters. There is not an introduction or explanation, just the numbered moves of a specific match. He describes the book as 'algebra without the key.' Taking his mind off the "abyss," he plays each game in his head. The matches become three-dimensional in his mind. This mental exercise keeps the man sane until he moves away from the structured games, and he now must play himself. B's mind is split into two: White and Black, and these mental gymnastics become obsessive and pathological. Later he breaks down and is moved to the hospital.

Dr. B is on the cruise ship heading to South America. He is asked to play the grandmaster. The only problem is that Dr. B has never physically played the game on an actual chessboard or played a natural person. The result of the match is disturbing.

This novella is a parable of what is a true genius and the notion of theory and practice. Dr. B understands the game in his mind but has never practiced the game in the physical sense. This is education 101. For example, a training teacher sits in the classroom listening to lectures and reading the literature. But until they stand in front of a school, applying the theory into practice, they will never know if they can do the job.

Chess is a long short story. And for me, at least, once again revealing that Stefan Zweig is a brilliant writer.