The Dragon Variation

by Anthony Glyn

Hardcover

First published December 31, 1969

Reviews

[Manny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roughly, Luzhin's Defence as reimagined by a trash novelist. I sometimes wonder whether it was really written by Nabokov under a pseudonym. If so, one of the best and most bizarre literary jokes ever.

This book also marks one of the few times I have ever found someone I know personally featured in a work of fiction. Leonard Barden used to run the training program for promising young British chess players, of which I am an alumnus, and he appears here as a minor character. There's a scene where someone unwisely starts talking about chess at a moment when they would have been better advised to keep their mouth shut, and Barden kicks him under the table. I was enthralled! Though I have serious doubts about Barden ever doing such a thing. It doesn't sound at all like him.

[tortoise dreams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick note for any GR librarians out there: the title is The Dragon Variation with "variation" singular. There are also good cover pictures out there, though I suspect this is a difficult book to find. After reading The Queen's Gambit recently I was curious about other chess novels (having already read Zweig and Nabokov), and found this on my shelf. A competent, engaging novel from 1969 (before Fischer was world champion) focusing on a variety of characters from and adjacent to the chess world: a wealthy woman who supports chess (and her wealthy estranged husband who hates it); an aging British master; an English schoolboy with addictive dreams of glory; an up and coming American grandmaster; a Chess journalist with issues; an unlettered Iranian prodigy. Many real-life people connected with the chess world are included, and even given speaking roles. Interesting and a quick read, with a somewhat foreboding tone, as if everyone is headed for a fall. Other than the haunting atmosphere this is actually little more than a typical popular, mass-market novel. There is no in-depth commentary on the human condition, just some well-sketched characters that come and go, some disappearing without much rhyme or reason. Glyn goes for the melodrama whenever possible: the illiterate, natural genius, a fatal accident, runaway lovers, a suicide attempt. Even a hurricane. Who knew chess was so exciting? A good read of interest to anyone familiar with chess life.