Adapted with opulent attention to period detail by filmmaker and opera director Philipp Stölzl, CHESS STORY brings Stefan Zweig's stirring final novella to life.

But recounting his story to his fellow travelers, it's clear that his encounters with both the Gestapo and with the royal game itself have not stopped haunting him. As the action flashes forward to a transatlantic crossing on which he is a passenger, it seems as though Bartok has finally found freedom.

To withstand the torture of isolation, Bartok disappears into the world of chess, maintaining his sanity only by memorizing every move. Just as his mind is beginning to crack, Bartok happens upon a book of famous chess games. As a famous Jewish-Austrian writer, Zweig’s books were censored, vilified and destroyed by the. Refusing to cooperate, Bartok is locked in solitary confinement. This programme celebrates the Austrian master of literature, Stefan Zweig (1881 1942), who is famed for his steadfast pacifism, insistence on vaster understanding and intricate reading on passion and desire. The book was completed in Brazilian exile and sent to his American publisher only days before his suicide in 1942. Chess Story, also known as The Royal Game, is the Austrian master Stefan Zweig’s final achievement, completed in Brazilian exile and sent off to his American publisher only days before his. It is the only story in which Zweig looks at Nazism, and he does so with characteristic emphasis on the psychological. As a former notary to the deposed Austrian aristocracy, he is told to help the local Gestapo leader gain access to their private bank accounts in order to fund the Nazi regime. Chess Story is the final novel by the world famous Austrian writer Stefan Zweig. Chess Story, also known as The Royal Game, is the Austrian master Stefan Zweig’s final achievement, completed in Brazilian exile and sent off to his American publisher only a matter of days before his suicide in 1942. Josef Bartok (Oliver Masucci) is preparing to flee to America with his wife Anna when he is arrested by the Gestapo. A Chess Story also published as Chess and A Royal Game, from 1941, is the third Zweig novella I’ve read and the best so far a really astonishing achievement in so few pages. Vienna, 1938: Austria is occupied by the Nazis.

A chess story stefan zweig