Zugzwang is the first novel from Irish writer Ronan Bennett since 2004’s Havoc in its Third Year. I remember meeting him in London for the launch of his 1998 book Catastrophist; he is a really nice person. I wasintrigued when I came across this title, Zugzwang, derived from German ‘zug’ (move), completed in chess terms (obliged to move). Chess is at the heart of this thriller. The story is set in tsarist Russia in St. Petersburg, 1914, where a grand chess tournament is about to take place. Here, the author places real chess stars Such Lasker and Casablanca with the character Avrom Chiloicz Rozental, the young star favoured to win the tournament.

Rozental is crippled by psychological bouts of fear. The famed psychoanalyst Dr. Otto Spethmann must cure him whilst also treating Anna Petrovna, a society beauty plagued by nightmares. Not only does Spethmann fall in love with Anna, but he also finds himself caught between loyalties to his young daughter and an obligation to Anna’s overbearing father who is referred to as the ‘mountain’. At the same time, Spethmann is being implicated in the murder of a journalist. All this is played against the backdrop of political unrest in a Russia on the verge of revolution. Ronan Bennett writes with clarity: his characters are flawed but beautiful. This has been called his breakout book. I would have to agree.

Michael Awosoga-Samuel is from Readings Carlton