THE ROYAL GAME
The Royal game is a short novel by the Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig. I chose this book because it changed my life and I am sure that it will change yours too if you read it. Stefan Zweig committed suicide after publishing the book and this book is considered his "suicide note" because of that.
(November 28, 1881 – February 22, 1942)
Stefan Zweig was a Jewish German who always wished the best for his country. He
didn't take up arms against the rest of Europe in World War One. Instead, he acquired a pacifist stand and supported his government with his pen. When Hitler Rose to power he fled with his wife to the United States and spent the rest of his life there. In 1942, Stefan and his wife committed suicide together and when found they were holding hands just after a couple of days after his publishing of The Royal Game. He was very famous throughout the USA and continental Europe and always stood against National Socialism with his writings.
THE SUMMARY OF THE ROYAL GAME
Driven to mental anguish as the result of total isolation by the National Socialists, Dr. B, a monarchist hiding valuable assets of the nobility from the new regime, maintains his sanity only through the theft of a book of past masters of chess games which he plays endlessly, voraciously learning each one until they overwhelm his imagination to such an extent that he becomes consumed by chess.
After absorbing every single move of any variation in the book, and having nothing more to explore, Dr. B begins to play the game against himself, developing the ability to separate his psyche into two personas: I (White) and I (Black). This psychological conflict causes him to ultimately suffer a breakdown, after which he eventually awakens in a sanatorium. Being saved by a sympathetic physician, who attests his insanity to keep him from being imprisoned again by the Nazis, he is finally set free.
After happening to be on the same cruise liner as a group of chess enthusiasts and the world chess champion Czentovic, he incidentally stumbles across their game against the champion. Mirko Czentovic was a peasant prodigy possessing no obvious redeeming qualities besides his gift for chess. Dr. B helps the chess enthusiasts in managing to draw their game in an almost hopeless position. After this effort, they persuade him to play alone against Czentovic. In a stunning demonstration of his imaginative and combinational powers, Dr. B sensationally beats the world champion.
Czentovic immediately demands a return game to restore his honour. But this time, having sensed that Dr. B played quite fast and hardly took time to think, he tries to irritate his opponent by taking a lot of time before making a move, thereby putting psychological pressure on Dr. B, who gets more and more impatient as the game proceeds. His greatest power turns out to be his greatest weakness: he re-enacts the match in his mind repeatedly with all imaginable possibilities so rapidly that Czentovic's deliberation and placidness drive him to distraction and ultimately insanity, culminating in an incorrect move after which Dr. B awakens from his frenzy.
After finishing the book, I wondered what it must be to be in Dr. B's situation. Life can put us into extreme situations but we humans can survive pretty much everything. This book changed my life because I realized that I have to show the determination of Dr.B in life if I hope to become successful. Also the character Czentovic taught me that there are people in the world that can only do certain things and they are too desperate to let that thing go or lose it. Czentovic wasn't a brilliant person but he was a natural chess player. When Dr.B beat him at chess he was so shocked he didn't know what to do after suffering such a huge loss. Stefan Zweig showed me the two different personalities a person can choose to become. These personalities are different but at the same time they are similar. The question is which one would you like to become? Ultimate chess champion Czentovic or insane Dr.B?
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