"The chess player" is probably one of the best news of Stefan Zweig. As in "Amok" the initial scene is on the deck of a boat. The narrator decides she has to face Czentovic, one of the world's most famous chess players. He meets at the same time other chess enthusiasts who join him to challenge the champion. The party turns to their disadvantage until a mysterious stranger decides to help them and tipped the course of the game. It will then reveal his big secret to the narrator ...
Zweig came to be inserted into his narrative a good dose of psychology because that's what it is the question. The stranger who calls MB plays the fight of his life in this duel. This is a story that speaks so mainly mental torture leading to a nervous breakdown. The big question is: how to manage the consequences of the torture in everyday life?
