Paul Snell, novice reporter, gets assigned a weekly column on chess, mostly because of his faux-filial attachment to the Hane Tribune’s owner Waldo Turner. In return Snell promises to attend to, and probably marry, Waldo’s fragile, unhinged niece Pamela Snow. The unlikely couple soon enough latch onto American chess prodigy, Mikey Spendip and his mother Vera, as they ascend the ladder of tournament chess. During the summer of 1980 at the Interzonal Finals in Manila, Philippines Spendip is persuaded to aid an uprising against dictator Ferdinand Marcos by deliberately losing a crucial match. But that gesture slips into a gory, comic fiasco.
The novel is an ironic commentary on the nature of chess, chance, and love, in revolutionary circumstances.
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John Zeugner, Emeritus Professor of History at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and one-time tennis professional, has co-advised art restoration and environmental projects at WPI’s Venice Project Center for over three decades. A recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Discovery Grant for Fiction, he has published a novel, Soldier for Christ (2013), and a prizewinning collection of short stories, Under Hiroshima (2014). His articles, short stories, and film and concert reviews have also appeared in literary journals and newspapers.