The Grandmaster: Magnus Carlsen and the Match That Made Chess Great Again

Chess enthusiast Butler (The Domino Diaries) takes readers inside the 2016 World Chess Championship in this exciting, easily digestible biography. Butler watched 26-year-old Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen’s grueling face-off against the recently repatriated Russian prodigy Sergey Karjakin, chronicling the hours-long matches that ended in draws, Carlsen’s psychological trauma after losing the eighth game, and his historic sudden-death victory. Unraveling the mystique of the highest-rated chess player in history, Butler uses the ample time between moves and matches to explore Carlsen’s biography and smug personality, searching for the key to his greatness. “While Magnus’s talents might have been supernatural,” Butler writes, “his motivations were as human as they come: namely, revenge.” Through conversations with chess luminaries such as Bobby Fischer biographer Frank Brady and Judit Polgár, the greatest female player in history, Butler paints a vivid portrait of an addictive activity that straddles the space among sport, art, and science. Butler portrays a community in awe of the heroics of the young champion, the rare genius who may be appreciated in his own lifetime. This fast-paced, intense narrative gives readers excellent insight into the competitive world of chess. (Nov.)