Zugzwang [Hardcover]

"Zugzwang: chess term derived from the German, Zug (move) and Zwang (compulsion, obligation). It is used to describe a position in which a player is reduced to state of utter helplessness. He is obliged to move, but every move only makes his position even worse."

This thriller is set in a pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg inhabited with anarchists, Bolsheviks, secret police and double agents. Dr. Otto Spethmann, a psychoanalyst, is visited by the police who demand to know his relationship with a dead man, Yastrebov. Spethmann has no knowledge of him but from then on a whole series of dramatic events unfold - murders, kidnappings, threats and assassination plots. There is a whole range of great characters: Rozental, the chess genius on the verge of a complete breakdown, Kopelzon, an acclaimed musician who is vain and hypocritical, Lychev, the intelligent and complex policeman and Anna, the damaged beauty with whom Otto falls in love. Otto's daughter is also a surprisingly modern young woman - headstrong and liberated.

The plot is convoluted with lots of twists and turns involving revolutionary and counter-revolutionary plots - all great fun but infused with political and ethical dilemmas. Can the murder of one man be excused if it eventually means the lives of others can be improved? Can terrorism be justified?

The whole book is infused with a chess game between Spethmann and Kopelzon, complete with diagrams and moves. Even readers (like me)who don't follow chess could enjoy this battle which is also reflected in the plot.

On the surface it appeared that Spethmann was the character who was obliged to move but in doing so only made his position worse but in fact Zugzwang was the position that Tsarist Russia found herself in - whatever was tried, things could only get worse.

Highly recommended, an intelligent and well-written political thriller.

And did I spot a mention of Djugashvili? Wasn't that Stalin's real name?

Set in St. Petersburg in 1914, when revolution looms but chess tournaments play on, this exciting intellectual thriller traces the various forces contending for influence and power, in the city--the municipal police, factory workers, students, the secret police, Bolsheviks, Polish terrorists, and czarists, among others, with the newspapers and their editors wishing to report the truth but wary of choosing the wrong side in the ultimate battle. Despite the turbulent conditions, the city's lovers seek happiness, though they must often endure the same sorts of powerful reversals as political rivals. A chess game, which plays throughout the novel, is a metaphor for the moves and countermoves among the contenders for power the city and among the lovers searching here for love. Most appropriately, both politics and love reach a state of "zugzwang," that state in which one player is reduced to helplessness, obliged to move, with each move making the situation worse.

Dr. Otto Spethmann, a St. Petersburg psychoanalyst, stays out of the turmoil of politics, counseling two particularly fascinating patients. Avrom Chilowicz Rosental, a contender for the Grandmaster of Chess Award in the upcoming tournament, is a shy, sad Pole on the verge of a breakdown, virtually unable to communicate except on the chess board. Anna Petrovna Ziatdinov, a famed beauty tormented by memories, is the daughter of a rich industrialist suspected of funding the Black Hundreds and their attacks on Jews. Despite this "ordinary" life, Spethmann is drawn into an increasing spiral of violence.

A young man, found bludgeoned to death, carries Spethmann's card, and Rosental's file is stolen from his office. Spethmann and his daughter are arrested and interrogated, and the police, secret police, and anti-czarist extremists all pursue him for unknown reasons. Spethmann's friends may or may not be true friends, and his growing fondness for Anna, his patient, presages violence on the part of her husband and father. The connection of the pathologically shy Rosental to all the machinations remains a mystery throughout the increasingly violent action.

Bennett is a master of creating and using settings to showcase characters acting under extreme stress, and this novel is no exception. Though the action follows the thriller style, with a rapid narrative and fast-moving complications, the real focus is on the characters, not the plot. Spethman is an honest man trying to live his live in a most dishonest atmosphere, and the confusion he expresses as his life spins out of control draws in the reader who empathizes with his predicaments. As "zugzwang" is reached politically in St. Petersburg, Spethman also finds his familial and social ties reaching "zugzwang," a bleak outcome on all counts. Exciting, emotionally involving, historically realistic, and masterfully written, the novel appeals both to the heart and to the intellect. Mary Whipple

Contemporary thrillers aren't generally my cup of tea, but I am prone to picking up historical ones if the setting is interesting or premise is unusual. Here, the setting of St. Petersburg, Russia circa 1914 was all I needed to dive in -- the winds of war gust about, and Tsar Nicholas II sits uneasily in his palace, his country beset by revolutionary terrorists. Amidst this tumult we meet psychoanalyst Otto Spethmann, a middle-class Jewish doctor concerned primarily with his practice, the welfare of his teenage daughter, and an ongoing game of chess with his composer/playboy friend.

However, before you can repeat the apocryphal line, "You may not be interested in the revolution, but the revolution is interested in you!" -- Spethmann is caught up in a very tangled web of intrigue involving Moscow policemen, the Tsar's secret police, Bolshevik cells, Polish terrorists, anti-Jewish aristocrats, chess masterminds, and the sexy daughter of a powerful man. Naturally of these many characters are not quite what they seem, and Spethmann's innocence is methodically stripped away by all the factions at play. The title is a German term for a chess scenario "in which a player is reduced to a state of utter helplessness. He is obliged to move, but his every move only makes his position worse." This is meant to highlight Spethmann's predicament, -- as well as that of the Tsarist government.

The story suffers slightly in two aspects. First is the running chess game between Spethmann and his best friend, which is illustrated with pictures of the state of play. As the story progresses, the tension between them grows, and the game takes on increasing symbolism. Unfortunately, Spethmann's interior discussion of the strategy is lost unless you understand the notation used for chess moves, and one's reading experience can't help but suffer. Secondly, the plot relies on too many characters having professional or personal connections to Spethmann -- there are just too many coincidences to swallow. So while the book does a nice job capturing the highly uncertain atmosphere of the time, as well as the ethical dilemmas faced by those like the good doctor -- the convoluted plot is just far too over-the-top to sink one's teeth into.