White King and Red Queen by Daniel Johnson
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.
Daniel Johnson is the former literary editor of The Times. He has also been its comment editor and was its German correspondent at the time of fall of the Berlin Wall. Most recently he held the post of op-ed editor at the Daily Telegraph. A formidable chess player himself, Johnson's crowning achievement was the draw he once achieved with Garry Kasparov. The White King and the Red Queen is his first book.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781843546092 |
| ISBN 10 | 1843546094 |
| Title | White King and Red Queen |
| Author | Daniel Johnson |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Atlantic Books |
| Year published | 2007-11-08 |
| Number of pages | 368 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |