Carl Haffner's Love of the Draw
Encyclopedia
Carl Haffner’s Love of the Draw is a 1998 chess novel by Austrian writer Thomas Glavinic
. It was Glavinic's first novel and is about a shy and withdrawn Viennese chess master
who in 1910 challenges the World Champion
for his title. The book was translated into English in 1999 by John Brownjohn for London-based publisher Harvill Press.
in 1910. It presents a fictionalised account of a famous 1910 World Chess Championship match between Austrian grandmaster Carl Schlechter
and the reigning German
champion Emanuel Lasker
. The eponymous Carl Haffner, closely based on Schlechter, is a withdrawn character with an eccentric preference for drawing
games instead of winning. The narrative switches between the ten games of the 1910 World Championship and Haffner's psychological development in childhood
and adolescence
, showing how he used chess to overcome poverty.
called it "strikingly good" and said that it was "one of chess's finest novels, sitting comfortably alongside Nabokov
's The Luzhin Defense
and Paolo Maurensig
's The Lüneburg Variation". The Times Literary Supplement
said: "Glavinic's novel achieves its considerable emotional impact slowly and subtly ... [he] writes about a game as if it were a poem or a painting". The Scotsman
claimed that the book was "a brisk and powerful portrait of a chess prodigy" presented with "a combination of lyricism, philosophy and edginess".
The novel made the 1999 Daily Telegraph
book of the year list and was nominated for the 2001 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
.
Thomas Glavinic
Thomas Glavinic is an Austrian writer. With Kathrin Röggla and Daniel Kehlmann, he is among other young Austrian authors being perceived as significantly shaping the literary discussion in Austria.-Life:...
. It was Glavinic's first novel and is about a shy and withdrawn Viennese chess master
Chess master
A chess master is a chess player of such skill that he/she can usually beat chess experts, who themselves typically prevail against most amateurs. Among chess players, the term is often abbreviated to master, the meaning being clear from context....
who in 1910 challenges the World Champion
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
for his title. The book was translated into English in 1999 by John Brownjohn for London-based publisher Harvill Press.
Plot summary
The novel is set mainly in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 1910. It presents a fictionalised account of a famous 1910 World Chess Championship match between Austrian grandmaster Carl Schlechter
Carl Schlechter
Carl Schlechter was a leading Austrian chess master and theoretician at the turn of the 20th century. He is best known for drawing a World Chess Championship match with Emanuel Lasker.-Early life:...
and the reigning German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
champion Emanuel Lasker
Emanuel Lasker
Emanuel Lasker was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years...
. The eponymous Carl Haffner, closely based on Schlechter, is a withdrawn character with an eccentric preference for drawing
Draw (chess)
In chess, a draw is when a game ends in a tie. It is one of the possible outcomes of a game, along with a win for White and a win for Black . Usually, in tournaments a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.For the most part,...
games instead of winning. The narrative switches between the ten games of the 1910 World Championship and Haffner's psychological development in childhood
Childhood
Childhood is the age span ranging from birth to adolescence. In developmental psychology, childhood is divided up into the developmental stages of toddlerhood , early childhood , middle childhood , and adolescence .- Age ranges of childhood :The term childhood is non-specific and can imply a...
and adolescence
Adolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
, showing how he used chess to overcome poverty.
Critical reception
The UK edition received a range of positive reviews in the mainstream UK press. The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
called it "strikingly good" and said that it was "one of chess's finest novels, sitting comfortably alongside Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist...
's The Luzhin Defense
The Defense
The Defense is a Russian novel written by Vladimir Nabokov during his emigration in Berlin and published in 1930.-Plot summary:The plot concerns the title character, Aleksandr Ivanovich Luzhin. As a boy, he is considered unattractive, withdrawn, and an object of ridicule by his classmates...
and Paolo Maurensig
Paolo Maurensig
Paolo Maurensig is an Italian novelist, best known for the book Canone inverso , a complex tale of a violin and its owners.-Biography:Maurensig was born at Udine....
's The Lüneburg Variation". The Times Literary Supplement
The Times Literary Supplement
The Times Literary Supplement is a weekly literary review published in London by News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation.-History:...
said: "Glavinic's novel achieves its considerable emotional impact slowly and subtly ... [he] writes about a game as if it were a poem or a painting". The Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
claimed that the book was "a brisk and powerful portrait of a chess prodigy" presented with "a combination of lyricism, philosophy and edginess".
The novel made the 1999 Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
book of the year list and was nominated for the 2001 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is an international literary award for a work of fiction, jointly sponsored by the city of Dublin, Ireland and the company IMPAC. At €100,000 it is one of the richest literary prizes in the world...
.