'...a human being an intellectual human being who constantly bends the entire force of his mind on the ridiculous task of forcing a wooden king into the corner of a wooden board and does it without going mad!' A group of passengers on a cruise ship challenge the world chess champion to a match. At first they crumble until they are helped by whispered advice from a stranger in the crowd -a man who will risk everything to win. Stefan Zweig's acclaimed novella Chess is a disturbing intensely dramatic depiction of obsession and the price of genius.