White King and Red Queen: How the Cold War Was Fought on the Chessboard

404 Pages·2008·64.538 MB·English

by  Daniel Johnson

^
r^
Daniel Johnson
AND
HOW THE COLD WAR WAS FOUGHT
ON THE CHESSBOARD
$26.oo
—
DanielJohnson journalist, editor, scholar, and
chessenthusiast whoonceplayedGarryKasparov
—
to a draw in a simultaneous exhibition is the
perfectguide to oneofhistory's most remarkable
periods, whenchessmatcheswerefront-pagenews
andcapturedthe world'simagination.
played out in many areas:
geopolitical alliances, military coalitions, cat-
and-mouse espionage, the arms race, proxy
—
wars and chess. AnessentialpastimeofRus-
sian intellectuals and revolutionaries, and later
adopted by theCommunists as asymbol ofSo-
viet power, chess was inextricably linked to the
rise and fall ofthe "evil empire." This original
narrativehistory recounts ingrippingdetail the
singularpart theImmortal Gameplayed in the
Cold War. From chess's role in the Russian
—
Revolution Marx, Lenin, and Trotsky were
—
all avid players to the 1945 radio match
when the Soviets crushed the Americans,
promptingStalin's telegram "Well done lads!";
to the epic contest between Bobby Fischerand
Boris Spassky in 1972 at the heightofdetente,
when Kissinger told Fischer to "go over there
and beat the Russians"; to the collapse ofthe
Soviet Union itself, White King andRed Queen
takes uson afascinating touroftheCold War's
checkered landscape.

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2011
http://www.archive.org/details/whitekingredqueeOOjohn
WHITE KING
AND RED QUEEN
Chess symbolism was ubiquitous during the Cold War:
a Tactical Weapons Chessboard from 1971.
White
King
AND
Red Oueen
HOW THE COLD WAR WAS
FOUGHT ON THE CHESSBOARD
DANIEL JOHNSON
^
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
2008
Preface copyright©2008 byDaniel Johnson
Copyright©2007 byDaniel Johnson
OriginallypublishedinGreatBritainin 2007
byAtlanticBooks
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Forinformationaboutpermission toreproduce
selections from thisbook, write Permissions, Houghton
MifflinHarcourt PublishingCompany, 215 Park
Avenue South, NewYork, NewYork 10003
www.hmhbooks.com
LibraryofCongress Cataloging-in-PublicationData
Johnson, Daniel, date.
Whitekingandredqueen howtheColdWarwasfought
:
onthechessboard/DanielJohnson.
p. cm.
Originallypublished: London AtlanticBooks, 2007.
:
isbn 978-0-547-13337-9
1. Chess—SovietUnion—History—20thcentury.
2. Chessplayers—SovietUnion—History—20th
century. 3. Chess—Tournaments—History—
20thcentury. 4. Chess—Politicalaspects—Soviet
Union. 5.Worldpolitics—1945-1989. I. Title.
GV1330.S65J65 2008
—
794.10947 dc22 2008029901
Printedin theUnitedStatesofAmerica
Book designbyVictoriaHartman
987654321
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