Product Description

The Cold War transformed the cloistered world of chess. As Daniel Johnson explains in this gripping account, for the Soviet Union, chess was more than just a game: it was war by another means. Under the Bolsheviks, the game had become the national sport, taught in schools as a form of intellectual and military training. Those with talent were moulded into champions from a young age and Soviet players, such as Mikhail Botvinnik and Tigran Petrosian, dominated international competitions throughout the Cold War years."White King and Red Queen" illuminates the lives and times of the players and matches at the forefront of this confrontation, from the famous 1972 encounter between American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer and Soviet champion Boris Spassky; to the struggle between anti-Communist Viktor Korchnoi and loyal Kremlin supporter Anatoly Karpov; to the emergence of Garry Kasparov, the last Soviet world champion. Daniel Johnson's book offers a dramatic new perspective on the post-war struggle for supremacy between the superpowers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #352732 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 383 pages

Review
"'Chess is the ultimate game of political intrigue. In this fascinating story of Cold War espionage and chess rivalry, Daniel Johnson penetrates a Byzantine world to create a gripping portrait of power, espionage, politics and chess in the murky world of the Cold War.' Simon Sebag-Montefiore Well researched and refreshingly lively... Johnson reveals not only his sure grasp of the political history, but a remarkable ability to make even the most complex chess matches exciting... His book is a major contribution to our understanding of cultural warfare during the Cold War, and a gentle introduction to the rigours of those 64 chequered squares. - Michael Burleigh, Evening Standard"

About the Author
Daniel Johnson is the former literary editor of The Times. He has also been its comment editor and was its German correspondent at the time of fall of the Berlin Wall. Most recently he held the post of op-ed editor at the Daily Telegraph. A formidable chess player himself, Johnson's crowning achievement was the draw he once achieved with Garry Kasparov. White King and Red Queen is his first book.

Customer Reviews

Good story, but not by a historian
I really looked forward to reading this, and in a sense was not disappointed - it's a very readable style, and the character portraits are strong and interesting.

It certainly fills in a lot of detail about US vs USSR chess and more besides.

But although i enjoyed it and would recommend it, there are major shortcomings. The author's biography says he writes on chess for the Times and Daily Telegraph, and frankly that comes through loud and clear in the way he discusses the major chess and also political players of the time.

To have real authority a book like this needs a real historian's touch, a realistic but objective portrayal of events without hyperbole. But instead we are given 'facts' such as: 'Lenin usually found time for chess amid his politicking, writing and skirt-chasing'. In contrast Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II (yes, really) are the three 'conservative revolutionaries' (is this a contradiction in terms??) who brought down the Soviet system, through (my equally unobjective take here) their near-nuclear-war-causing aggression and gun-waving.

Despite the USSR getting the first satellite and then the first man into space, we're told it 'only excelled at two things: war and chess'. Admittedly, they ultimately couldn't keep up and ironically, he points out what might have been closer to the truth - the increasing technological advances caused by free capitalist competition as opposed to the corrupt closed Soviet system.

All this unnecessary over-the-top one-sidedness, when we all know the failings of the USSR (whilst, incidentally, being aware of the failings of the West), simply detracts from what would otherwise have been a first rate book. This is not just due to the exaggeration in itself, but where one disagrees with aspects of the perspective given on events one knows something about, it casts doubt on the rest.

So i was left with a slight feeling of wondering how much i could trust the chess anecdotes (though admittedly they seem for the most part reasonably well researched) when i was a little sceptical of the political commentary.

I'd strongly recommend a hardy edit prior to paperback publication, in order to give this book a more robust objective backbone on which to build this powerful story of the politics behind late 20th-century chess.

Chess enthusiast exaggerates importance of the game in shaping global politics.
The author is a chess enthusiast who wants to show how important chess was in shaping the Cold War. This book is a labour of love and provides descriptions of some fascinating characters. The most apposite story concerns the late lamented Bobby Fischer who won the world championship for the USA against USSR in 1972. The match was played at the height of the Cold War and achieved considerable media interest as a political metaphor. The book repeats the commonly-held view that Fischer was the product of the west. The author sees the ultimate outcome of the Cold War as discrediting anything that the Soviets did - including chess. The book fails to make this argument persuasive.

The paradox is that Bobby Fischer was really playing for himself and not the USA. The free-thinking Fischer was a singular genius. He had prepared for the match by consulting Russian chess research. He didn't participate in any national celebrations upon his victory. Fischer eventually lost USA citizenship after becoming mentally unstable. Fischer was always his own man which is why he was as admired as much in the Soviet Union as he was in the west. The former Soviet empire still dominates chess although this is beginning to change not in favour of the west but because of the rise of India and China.

The book does not show that the Fischer chess match or any other match made any material difference to the outcome of the Cold War. The major factors determining the outcome of the Cold War included the comparative success of market economies, the technological advances by the west and the globalisation of democracy. The author does not refer to these historical mechanisms but instead gets diverted into a plethora of chess anecdotes. Even the discussion on Nathan Sharansky and Gary Kasparov is stretched beyond credulity in connecting with the Cold War. Sharansky used chess to keep his mind active whilst in the Gulag. Kasparov became famous as a great chess player and then retired to take up politics full time. However, any celebrity starts at an advantage in gaining public recognition. Perhaps Kasparov is regarded as having formidable intellectural powers on account of the cerebral nature of chess. Yet this is a thin political justification for holding out chess as having a special status in the former Soviet Union.

Read this book if you are a chess enthusiast who likes weird and wonderful anecdotes. Other books tell better stories about Fischer and other chess greats, but this one tries to pull the various stories into one narrative. Stand by to be disappointed by the absence of any chess diagrams or notation. Perhaps the publisher felt that the market was wider than for chess players and did not want to frighten away other readers. Stephen Hawking omitted equations from his Brief History of Time because it would reduce readership. If you are a historian interested in the Cold War then you can safely exclude this book from your reading list. If you are a general reader, then be prepared for curious diversions, leaps of logic and unabashed anti--Russian propaganda.

White King and Red Queen
I am inclined to agree with the first two reviews for this book and offer up my own thoughts on `White King and Red Queen'. Whilst very well written and fascinating for someone interested in Chess, this book places way too much importance on Chess in the political events of the Cold War years. Although the political history on it's own is good and the chess accounts on their own are great, together the links are highly tenuous and makes the book weaker overall. I am sure Chess was important for national prestige and pride, but I doubt it had the political impact the author suggests here. This book has three photo sections which illustrate the various stories and events well and although it is a little dry in places, the writing is engaging and informative. The initial chapters were probably the hardest to engage with, but the chapters on Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky were great, as were the later ones covering Kasparov. If you are a fan of chess then this book will keep you reading and interested throughout, but if you come to this from a historical angle then I feel you will be left feeling frustrated and dubious about the veracity of what is being recounted. A highly polished, but author biased account of Cold War era chess.