The novella then changes direction completely as Dr B tells the narrator the story of how he came to acquire such prodigious chess knowledge and why he doesn’t want to play again. Sensing that Czentovic may have met his match, our narrator tracks down this strange man, the enigmatic Dr B, to convince him to play the master the next day. With an apparent encyclopedic knowledge of the game his intervention forces Czentovic to call the game a draw, much to his humiliation. During the rematch however, the tables are turned, when a random member of the watching crowd advises the novice on his moves. A large crowd gathers to watch and the game is understandably soon lost. His skill at the game has brought him wealth and fame, and to capitalise further on that wealth he won’t play anyone who can’t pay his hefty fee.Ī rich and arrogant industrialist on board decides the cost is worth it and pays for the privilege of playing against a master. Compared to other chess players, he is an anti-intellectual, taciturn and rude and has an inability to play from memory. Czentovic is a prodigy no doubt, but is, in all other respects, rather stupid. By chance, he discovers that there is a celebrity on board, the world chess grandmaster Mirko Czentovic. The story is narrated by an Austrian (about whom we learn very little) who has just embarked on a cruise liner from the USA heading to Argentina.
Chess (or Chess Story) is a masterpiece of short fiction, packing more into its slim pages than many novels.
0 kommentar(er)
