Interregnum

"A fascinating and deeply human look at the battle to reach the pinnacle of chess. Himelfarb masterfully captures the drama and the grueling ambition that drives the world's greatest players. An essential read for any fan of sport and competition." -- Stuart Stevens, author of It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump and The Last Season: A Father, A Son and A Lifetime of College Football
"A fascinating and deeply human look at the battle to reach the pinnacle of chess. Himelfarb masterfully captures the drama and the grueling ambition that drives the world's greatest players. An essential read for any fan of sport and competition." -- Stuart Stevens, author of It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump and The Last Season: A Father, A Son and A Lifetime of College Football
"Interregnum is a beautifully written chronicle of the modern quest to become world chess champion. With rare access and deep empathy, Himelfarb captures the inner lives of today’s elite chess players, their diverse backstories, glamorous lifestyles and rigorous training methods. His honest, heartfelt reporting on the international chess tour can’t help but make readers feel more passionate about their own goals and ambitions in life." * Jennifer Shahade, three-time national chess champion, author of Chess Queens and Thinking Sideways *
“For chess fans, Interregnum is a gripping account of the lead-up and conclusion to the 2024 World Championship, one of the most exciting and consequential in the history of chess. For everybody else, it’s a portrait of how the forces reshaping the world—artificial intelligence, celebrity culture, geopolitical insanity—can throw even the oldest game in the world into turmoil." * Stephen Marche, author of The Next Civil War  *
“A masterful work of literary reportage, Interregnum captures the beauty and torment of human genius in the age of the algorithm. With a novelist’s eye and a philosopher’s insight, Himelfarb skillfully brings us into the lives and minds of the world’s greatest chess players with insight and empathy—haunted prodigies and reluctant champions—for whom victory offers no peace. Moving from Soviet discipline to digital obsession, from Carlsen’s cold supremacy to Nepomniachtchi’s tragic brilliance, this is not just the story of chess at its highest level, but of the human struggle for meaning, mastery, and grace in an era defined by machines. It is simply spellbinding.” -- James Hamilton Hibbard, author of The Art of Cycling and Racing the Reich
"A crackling, irresistible portrait of a game—and the brilliant, eccentric minds remaking it. Whether you live and breathe chess or are simply drawn to high-stakes struggle and larger-than-life personalities, Interregnum delivers a thrilling, deeply humane look at what it takes to rule the chess world." * James R. Hansen, author of First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong and Completely Mad: Tom McClean, John Fairfax, and the Epic Race to Row Solo Across the Atlantic  *