Book Description

The World Chess Championship is the ultimate test of mental endurance, the intellectual marathon of sport. Lasting two months, the match is not just the ultimate test of chess skill, but also a grueling trial of willpower, physical stamina, and above all, psychological strength. In September and October of 1993, Nigel Short, having defeated all rival challengers in a three-year-long qualifying cycle, became the first Western competitor since Bobby Fischer to challenge the World Chess crown. His opponent was the man acknowledged to be the most fearsome player in the long history of chess, Garri Kasparov. Dominic Lawson, a close friend of Short, was the only writer given complete access to the scenes behind this battle of wits between East and West. Part of the Short camp throughout the match, Lawson was witness to private moments of elation and dejection, strategic planning and evaluation, that were off-limits to the media. In End Game he reveals what went on emotionally and intellectually as the world's greatest Chess Grandmasters fought for the ultimate honor. Like tennis a generation ago, championship chess today is opening itself up to renegades who reject gentlemanly codes of the past and withhold nothing in their drive to destroy the opponent utterly. They thrive on phenomenal pressure, and on their obsessive self-belief. Dominic Lawson captures it all in an incisive and entertaining style, drawing chess fanatics as well as novices into a world of multi-million-dollar stakes and riveting drama.