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    The Grandmaster: Magnus Carlsen and the Match That Made Chess Great Again
    The Grandmaster: Magnus Carlsen and the Match That Made Chess Great Again
    The Grandmaster: Magnus Carlsen and the Match That Made Chess Great Again
    Audiobook5 hours

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

    Written by Brin-Jonathan Butler

    Narrated by Jacques Roy

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    “A bravura performance…An entertaining book” (Kirkus Reviews) about the dramatic 2016 World Chess Championship between Norway’s Magnus Carlsen and Russia’s Sergey Karjakin, which mirrored the world’s geopolitical unrest and rekindled a global fascination with the sport.

    The first week of November 2016, hundreds of people descended on New York City’s South Street Seaport to watch the World Chess Championship between Norway’s Magnus Carlsen and Russia’s Sergey Karjakin. By the time it was over would be front-page news and thought by many the greatest finish in chess history.

    With both Carlsen and Karjakin just twenty-five years old, it was the first time the championship had been waged among those who grew up playing chess against computers. Originally from Crimea, Karjakin had recently repatriated to Russia under the direct assistance of Putin. Carlsen, meanwhile, had expressed admiration for Donald Trump, and the first move of the tournament he played was called a Trompowsky Attack. Then there was the Russian leader of the World Chess Federation being barred from attending due to US sanctions, and chess fanatic and Trump adviser Peter Thiel being called on to make the honorary first move in sudden death. That the tournament even required sudden death was a shock. Oddsmakers had given Carlsen, the defending champion, an eighty percent chance of winning. It would take everything he had to retain his title.

    Author Brin-Jonathan Butler was granted unique access to the two-and-half-week tournament and watched every move. The Grandmaster “is not the usual chronicle of a world-championship chess match….Butler offers insight into what it takes to become the best chess player on the planet...A vibrant and provocative look at chess and its metaphorical battle for territory and power” (Booklist).
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateNov 13, 2018
    ISBN9781508276555
    Author

    Brin-Jonathan Butler

    Brin-Jonathan Butler has written for Esquire, Bloomberg, ESPN Magazine, Al Jazeera, Harper’s, The Paris Review, Salon, and Vice. His first book, The Domino Diaries, was shortlisted for the PEN/ESPN Award for literary sports writing and a Boston Globe Best Book of 2015. His work has also been a notable selection in both Best American Sports and Best American Travel Writing multiple times.

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    Reviews for The Grandmaster

    4.5/5

    27 ratings4 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Great prose. Also well researched! The last line, about those who dare somehow doing it for everyone, resonates.
    • 5/5
      Very interesting view of events around a world chess championship. there is some very evocative writing, and thoughtful insights into the game and players. However, there is a bit of a boxing mentality about the writing, which detracts from the overall narrative. There is a huge difference between boxing and chess, in that you are not beating the brains violently of the other person. While this may involve psychological battles, it doesn’t involve inflicting brain damage on the other person, despite the author’s cursory and uninformed attempt to link chess with madness. I personally detested the author’s attitudes to boxing, which really spoiled an otherwise very good piece of writing.
    • 5/5
      Gave me more than I expected. I learned a lot about the history of chess with this book. Informative and invigorating.
    • 5/5
      It's interesting and well researched, interviews with and stories about important chess people (Fischer, Waitzkin, Polgar)... But to say that this book is about the 2016 world chess championship and/or Magnus Carlsen is quite a stretch. It's more a medley of interesting chess people.