Game of the Gods Read online

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  THE STORY OF A LOWLY SERVANT WHO, FOR AN INSTANT, BECOMES A KING

  In 1930s British India, a humble servant learns the art of chaturanga, the ancient Eastern ancestor of chess. His natural talent soon catches the attention of the maharaja, who introduces him to the Western version of the game. Brought to England as the prince’s pawn, Malik becomes a chess legend, winning the world championship and humiliating the British colonists. His skills as a refined strategist eventually drag him into a strange game of warfare with far-reaching consequences. Inspired by the unlikely true story of chess master Malik Mir Sultan Khan, Game of the Gods is a fascinating tale of karma and destiny, by the author of the multimillion-copy bestseller The Lüneburg Variation.

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  Praise for Paolo Maurensig

  “Paolo Maurensig is an arresting talent among recent Italian writers.”

  New York Times

  “In Paolo Maurensig, a new grand master of the novel has emerged.”

  The Times

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  Praise for Game of the Gods

  “With his elegant writing, and via an intriguing chess game, Maurensig relates the life and deeds of an extraordinary character lost to history.”

  Il Messaggero

  “Maurensig has not only given us another great character from the enchanting world of chess—in these pages we find the spirit of an entire era. This novel has deep historical roots, numerous surprising twists, and contains infinite worlds in which karma provides many sharp turns to existence.”

  Gli amanti dei libri

  “The passion for the game of chess in Game of the Gods is linked to themes of another order: the scenario of war, the element of racial distinctions and colonialism, the different conceptions of life in the East and the West. The elegance with which Maurensig manages to tie these into the plot is another of the typical elements of this author, and a merit of this book: a fluid novel that weaves historical reality and literary inventiveness in an astounding and fascinating way.”

  Libri la mia vita

  “Game of the Gods, the fictional story of Sultan Khan, who truly was one of the strongest chess players of his time, is of such beauty that it leaves one astonished, even in the face of sadder and more painful events.”

  L come Libro

  “Maurensig has the incredible gift of bringing back dreams that seemed to have vanished. Drawing fully from the great Kiplingian literature and reconverting it to the author’s central European figure is not at all easy. But Maurensig is a writer of immense value. This book is a jewel, a gift.”

  FABIO PONZANA, blogger

  “The novel is a beautiful fresco of cultural clashes and historical conflicts transposed on the board of a strategy game. Sultan’s adventurous life turns sadly towards a destiny where karma, Hindu myths, and resignation come together in a poetic and reflective way.”

  BRUNO ELPIS, blogger

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  Praise for A Devil Comes to Town

  “A Devil Comes to Town blew my mind—think Yorgos Lanthimos directing The Master and Margarita—it’s a bizarre slice of Alpine magic realism that deserves to be everywhere.”

  The Observer

  “A Devil Comes to Town is a brilliant form of torture—a huge amount of fun.”

  The Literary Review

  “This nested narrative is an entertaining exploration of the manifold powers—creative, confessional, corrupting—of fiction.”

  Publishers Weekly

  “There’s a lot to savor in this bleakly satirical novel, from the description of an isolated town teeming with writers of varying talents to a unique spin on the idea of devils (as opposed to the devil) sowing chaos in the world. The nested structure nods to both nineteenth-century Gothic tales and postmodern lit—which in and of itself suggests the sensibility of this narrative of diabolical interests and literary ambition.”

  Words Without Borders

  “A Devil Comes to Town is a brilliant form of torture, a perfect nugget of uranium: Maurensig leads us to the question, dangling it like bait, then reels in, packs his belongings, and just goes.”

  The Literary Review

  “Maurensig gives us a masterfully constructed gothic horror story designed to keep aspiring writers up at night. A macabre little Alpine horror story elevated by masterful storytelling and language.”

  Kirkus Reviews

  “A fabulous take-down of the literati, with a blending of fiction, reported rivalries, and real-world suspicion. A Devil Comes to Town is a captivating, clever, and deliciously teasing little tale.”

  Never Imitate

  “Maurensig highlights the traps in the desire for literary fame and the resultant money. Only a spoilsport would disclose the ending of this moral fable that makes fun of the scribblers of banalities, but also examines evil that is frightening because it is contagious—like the rabies spread by invading foxes whose cries are heard at crucial moments in the narrative. It wouldn’t be a Maurensig if the entertaining fable did not have dark seams.”

  Sydney Morning Herald

  “Maurensig has created a gripping short novel that is critical of the realities of publishing, a hybrid of at least two genres, highly imaginative, and involving even beyond the final page.”

  Critica Letteraria

  “Biblical, oblique, and lying somewhere between thriller, fantasy, and legend, the new novel by Paolo Maurensig, A Devil Comes to Town, is a disturbing reflection in narrative form concerning the darker side of writing.”

  Il Giornale

  “Paolo Maurensig gives us a refined and engaging literary fable on narcissism and vainglory, and also on our inextinguishable thirst for stories.”

  Q Libri

  “Paolo Maurensig skillfully mixes bizarre narrative with great truths about the human soul.”

  GraphoMania

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  Praise for The Lüneburg Variation

  “Not since White Knights of Reykjavik, George Steiner’s riveting account of the 1972 world championship match between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer, has a writer demonstrated such stunning insight into the nurturing madness that compels chess play at the master level.”

  Publishers Weekly

  “An absorbing story, lushly draped in Middle European tragedy, one blending the themes of obsession, history, and character.”

  New York Times

  “A masterpiece—a profound metaphysical thriller about vengeance and justice.”

  Los Angeles Times Book Review

  “Not only a riveting read, but a memorable one.”

  People

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  Praise for Canone Inverso

  “Mesmerizing narrative, a tour de force.”

  Publishers Weekly

  “Highly recommended wherever good literature is read.”

  Library Journal

  “Maurensig explores the inexplicable variations of human behavior. The man is assuredly a master.”

  Los Angeles Times Book Review

  “His second novel, Canone Inverso, displays many of the same qualities of The Lüneburg Variation: an intricately wrought plot, with stories-within-stories and unexpected inversions and reversals, narrated with a crystalline clarity that makes the novel, for all its complexity, not only easy to follow but hard to put down.”

  Wall Street Journal

  “Maurensig has created a masterpiece of mysterious tragedy and lingering shadows, a compelling story with a shocking and enlightening ending. This stunning novel examines relations between father and son, the impact of political chaos on
the arts, and the human quest for both literal and metaphorical immortality. Maurensig’s brilliant storytelling, in which the characterizations are compelling and the timing perfect, makes this novel of desperate intrigue and artistic passion one of the best reads of the year.”

  Booklist

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  Praise for Theory of Shadows

  “Theory of Shadows uses the game of chess as a vehicle to meditate on the Holocaust—in the brilliant darkness of his story, Maurensig investigates the cost of complicity with evil.”

  World Literature Today

  “In this slim yet complex novel, Maurensig returns to themes familiar from his debut, The Lüneburg Variation: fascism and chess. In 1946, world chess champion Alexander Alekhine was found dead in his hotel room in Portugal, the official cause listed as choking on his dinner. The scene screamed cover-up, and Alekhine’s life provided a bevy of murder motivations.”

  Booklist

  “Furst meets Nabokov: an atmospheric blend of historical fact and detective-tale speculation against the backdrop of international chess.”

  Kirkus Reviews

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  PAOLO MAURENSIG was born in Gorizo, and lives in Udine, Italy. Now a bestselling author, he debuted in 1993 with The Lüneburg Variation, translated into over twenty languages. His novels include Canone Inverso, The Guardian of Dreams, and The Archangel of Chess. For his novel Theory of Shadows, he won the Bagutta Prize. Game of the Gods is his latest novel and was awarded the prestigious Premio Scanno 2019 Literary Award. Maurensig’s previous novel, A Devil Comes to Town, is also available from World Editions.

  ANNE MILANO APPEL has translated works by a number of leading Italian authors for a variety of publishers in the US and UK. Her awards include the Italian Prose in Translation Award, the John Florio Prize for Italian Translation, and the Northern California Book Award for Translation. Translating professionally since 1996, she is a former library administrator, and has a doctorate in Romance Languages. Her website is: amilanoappel.com

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  AUTHOR

  “After writing four books set in the chess world, I had decided not to write another one. And yet it felt like something was missing, and giving up such a fascinating world entirely left me dissatisfied. As fate would have it, however, a small publishing house just starting out proposed that I write a novel with chess as its theme. And that’s when I recalled a character who had actually existed and who had been unjustly forgotten: Sultan Khan.”

  TRANSLATOR

  “The changing settings mirror the protagonist’s rather extreme reversals of fortune: the challenge was to maintain an apt tone throughout the shifting destinies of his adventurous life and not slip into theatrical melodrama. Because Malik Mir Sultan Khan is an enigma and an outsider to the world, poised as he is between East and West, it was important to ensure that he did not remain alien to the reader, which Maurensig accomplishes with his sometimes droll, always considered prose.”

  PUBLISHER

  “In this colorful novel, the bestselling author of The Lüneburg Variation returns to his old passion: chess. Maurensig’s humble protagonist has a God-given talent for the game, which leads him—and the reader—through India to England to the United States, becoming embroiled in major historical events of the twentieth century. Paolo Maurensig, one of Italy’s best contemporary authors, proves himself once again to be a captivating storyteller.”

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  Paolo Maurensig

  Game of the Gods

  Translated from the Italian

  by Anne Milano Appel

  WORLD EDITIONS

  New York, London, Amsterdam

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  Published in the USA in 2021 by World Editions LLC, New York

  Published in the UK in 2021 by World Editions Ltd., London

  World Editions

  New York / London / Amsterdam

  Copyright © Giulio Einaudi Editore S.p.A, 2019

  English translation copyright © Anne Milano Appel, 2021

  Cover image © Jeff Bailey, “A toi de jover,” 2002, c/o Pictoright Amsterdam, 2020

  Author portrait © Graziano Arici / agefotostock.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. The opinions expressed therein are those of the characters and should not be confused with those of the author.

  Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data is available

  ISBN Trade paperback 978-1-64286-043-6

  ISBN E-book 978-1-64286-082-5

  First published as Il gioco degli dèi in Italy in 2019 by Giulio Einaudi Editore S.p.A, Turin

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Twitter: @WorldEdBooks

  Facebook: @WorldEditionsInternationalPublishing

  Instagram: @WorldEdBooks

  www.worldeditions.org

  Book Club Discussion Guides are available on our website.

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  This novel makes no claim to being a biography of Sultan Khan. The episodes of the life of the great Indian chess master, and of his brief career, are partly true and partly imagined. They are the inspiration for a narrative schema, consequently any references to people and places—that are not documented—are to be considered purely coincidental.

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  There is no doubt that modern chess can claim to be directly descended from the ancient war game chaturanga that was conceived in India at the dawn of time and later spread from Persia to Europe. There—by then stripped of its sacred character—it took root permanently, thanks in part to the establishment of an international federation that stamped it with precise features and definite rules, without which it would not have been possible to make it the subject of study. Only its codification, in fact, has enabled the infinite possibilities and chess combinations to be thoroughly explored.

  As in all manifestations of human thought, the history of this game is studded with bizarre personalities whose brilliance often crossed the line into madness. Many of them contributed to the theory of openings, leaving an indelible mark in the annals, while others staked everything on their innate talent, obtaining extraordinary personal results, only to then disappear from the panorama of chess altogether. Among these was only one Asian player, from India, whose real name was Malik Mir Sultan Khan.

  The life of this extraordinary figure seems to be something right out of the pages of Kipling.

  But the luminous trail that Sultan Khan left in the chess firmament is that of a shooting star: a dazzling radiance that precedes the most utter darkness.

  If it were not for the testimony he himself gave to Washington Post correspondent Norman La Motta, on the eve of war between India and Pakistan, we would not know anything about him other than the games documented in various tournament records of the time.

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  From the Notebooks of Norman La Motta

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  In 1965 I was in the Punjab, sent by the Washington Post to cover the developments of a difficult diplomatic negotiation that was drawing India and Pakistan towards the abyss of a bloody conflict. At the moment, however, the situation seemed to be at a standstill: news was scant and no one could predict how much longer the respite would go on. For some weeks I had been staying in a hotel in Delhi, along with about thirty colleagues from other countries. The air was heavy, electric—monsoon season was coming up—and we reporters spent the day formulating hypotheses, drinking beer, and playing cards.

  The waiting became more and more enervating day by day, and by then I had reached the point where I could no longer stand that state of vitiating dejec
tion. Fortunately, I found a way out of it. What drove me into a seemingly fruitless venture was a comment overheard in passing while we were at the table. The speaker was a Belgian journalist, a veteran, known for his many years of experience in “oriental matters.”

  “The weak point,” he said, “the one that will suffer the greatest repercussion from this conflict, will be the border that passes through Mittha Tawana.”

  And it was the name of that place, about sixty miles from Delhi, that made me decide to go in search of a certain individual who had been the center of a scandal about a decade ago in New York. Finding a man who has been missing for years in a region as vast and populous as India is already a difficult undertaking in itself; it becomes hopeless on the eve of a war. Yet I felt confident.

  To get a clear idea of the circumstances, however, it is necessary to go back in time. The man I was looking for was an Indian who in the mid-Fifties had unwillingly been thrust into the bleak limelight of world attention, suspected of having defrauded an elderly American billionairess, a blind woman, moreover, in order to gain possession of her assets. What drew my attention to that grotesque affair at the time was the prestigious name of the accused suspect: Malik Mir Sultan Khan.

  “It must be a coincidence,” I’d told myself. The name was, in fact, also that of an idol of my youth. As a boy, like so many of my peers, I had been a chess enthusiast, and I had my chosen darlings; among them, Sultan Khan had been my favorite. The fact that he came from mysterious India, traveling under the protection of an authentic maharaja, had only fueled my adolescent fantasy.

  Finally, the surprise: it was the very same person! There was no doubt whatsoever. The confirmation had been handed to me by a brief press release: the Sultan Khan who had been pilloried by the scandalmongering press had been a great chess champion in his youth. But for readers eager for risqué details, that fact had gone unnoticed.