White King and Red Queen: How the Cold War Was Fought on the Chessboard

by Daniel Johnson (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2007

  $3.28

  The Cold War was enacted in multiple arenas: military coalitions, espionage, industrial and technological developments, an arms race, many proxy wars - and chess. Those 64 squares may seem an unlikely battleground, but chess, adopted by the Communist regime in Russia as a symbol of Soviet power, played an enormous role in this psychological war. Throughout the duration of the hostilities, international chess contests reflected the shifting balance of power between the two factions. From the 1945 radio match in which the Soviet Union crushed the US, to the Fischer-Spassky game of 1972 that shattered three decades of Soviet chess-hegemony, such legendary showdowns illuminate the story of how the West triumphed over Communism. This unique and original history reveals chess as the perfect metaphor for political and military confrontation. Daniel Johnson, a chess prodigy himself and a scholar of post-war history, is the perfect guide to this strange and remarkable period, when chess matches, for a brief, golden time, were front-page news, and captured the world's imagination.

• Used

  Paperback
  2008

  $8.89

  Daniel Johnson's gripping account of the Cold War reveals that, for the Soviet Union, chess was more than just a game: it was war by another means. The game had become the national sport, taught in schools, and those with talent were moulded into champions from a young age. Soviet players 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. It offers a dramatic new perspective on the post-war struggle for supremacy between the superpowers.