The narrator is alarmed as he sees the old obsession resurfacing. He begins to walk around the room between moves, as in a trance, rehearsing imagined matches against himself repeatedly and manically. was impatient when it took too long to move, Czentovic tries to irritate his opponent by taking several minutes to make each move, thereby putting psychological pressure on Dr B., who gets more and more agitated as the game proceeds. Czentovic suggests another game to restore his honour, and Dr B. In a stunning demonstration of his imaginative and combinational powers, Dr B. agrees, as he wants to know if his chess ability was real or only a self delusion, but warns that he must not be allowed to play a second game. The doctor advised him to avoid chess, in order not to trigger his compulsive behavior. A sympathetic physician, knowing of his situation, attested his insanity to keep him from being imprisoned again by the Nazis, and he was freed. At some point, he accidentally wounded himself and was carried to a hospital. This behavior became more and more obsessive and frantic, as he gradually was losing contact with reality.

He spent more and more time pacing up and down his cell, mentally playing chess games. After absorbing every single move in the book, he began to play against himself, developing the ability to separate his psyche into two personas. maintained his sanity by stealing a book of past masters' chess games, which he learned completely. imprisoned in a hotel, in total isolation, but Dr B. He was arrested by the Gestapo, who hoped to extract information from Dr B. He was a lawyer who managed the assets of the Austrian nobility and church. They are about to lose a second game when they are interrupted by Dr B., who prevents them from blundering and guides the party to a draw.ĭr B. The narrator draws the attention of McConnor, a businessman, who offers to pay Czentovic's fee.Ī group of passengers (including the narrator and McConnor) play Czentovic in a consultation game, which Czentovic wins. The narrator plays chess with his wife, hoping to draw Czentovic's attention and engage him in a game. Czentovic is an idiot savant and prodigy with no obvious qualities apart from his talent for chess. One of the passengers is world chess champion Mirko Czentovic.

An anonymous narrator opens the story by describing the boarding of a passenger liner traveling from New York to Buenos Aires.

The chess player stefan zweig