Chess Story

Often published as The Royal Game, Chess Story follows a World War II detainee who, isolated in a cell with only a chess manual, teaches himself to play by sheer force of will—splitting his mind between opponents to survive. Zweig crafts a tense meditation on obsession, psychological torture, and the fragile line between discipline and madness as the survivor later confronts a grandmaster and the ghosts of his confinement.

Personal note: I was given this book while interning at Porsche in 2015. I read it in German and still vividly remember the details.