Paolo Maurensig: Theory of Shadows

Is it the fate for all chess novels to be dark?

I’m almost certain that one would not arrive at this book unless they have first been to Zweig’s Chess Story (a.k.a The Royal Game) or Nabokov’s The Defense (a.k.a The Luzhin Defence), or Maurensig’s very own The Lüneburg Variation — and therefore conscious about the sort of darkness to which I refer. 

While Nabokov’s Luzhin is based on the life (and death) of German chess master Curt von Bardeleben, the chess game in Zweig’s story is said to be patterned after a real game between Alekhine vs. Bogoljubow. Theory of Shadows turns the spotlight on the last days of the very same Alexander Alekhine, World Chess Champion, whose reputation was tainted by accusations of Nazi collaboration, and whose death remains a subject of contention.

The setting is 1946, just as the Nuremberg trials have begun in Germany, and Alekhine is preparing for a comeback in chess at idyllic Estoril, Portugal.

At his seaside hotel, Alekhine befriends another guest, a Jewish violinist, and their interesting conversations about music and chess lure me into the narrative. Alekhine exploits this friendship to console himself that he is not racist while he uses his obsession with chess as self-justification for his past actions. But when new hotel guests who recognize the grandmaster appear on the scene and question him about his past, his delusions disintegrate and his guilt becomes more apparent. Then comes the reckoning.

One way or another, there is always retribution when cooperating with evil. The reader can only conclude that Alekhine’s presence in Estoril was simply an endgame played by an unknown hand that very well could have been the Soviets, maybe even the Germans, or Fate, or simply Justice. 

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“The real danger lies in not recognizing evil once it is already within us.”

This was Alekhine’s mistake. And it is the mistake of many who often shake hands with evil for personal gain.