*The more one limits oneself, the closer one is to the infinite.*

Chess (also known as The Royal Game) is the last work by Austrian author Stefan Zweig, just before he dies. The story unfolds on a cruiser sailing from New York to Buenos Aires. The passenger realizes that there is a reigning world chess champion on board, Mirko Czentovic, and they try to challenge him. There is only one mysterious man who could help them to beat this arrogant champion: Dr. B. a lawyer who was tormented and isolated by Nazis, learning how to play chess in his imagination.

Chess, which we can consider as his farewell to life, has a long term impact on reader by sorting out the chess game, its tactics, the conflicts and the deep roads in human nature.