Grandmaster

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

This insider's view of a crushingly intense tournament brings the head-spinning pressures of high-level chess competition to life. Freshman Daniel Pratzer gets a chance to prove himself when the chess team invites him and his father to a tournament. Daniel can't understand why his teammates want so badly for them to participate. Then he finds out the truth: As a teen, his father was one of the most promising young players in America, but the pressures of the game pushed him too far. Now, thirty years later, Mr. Pratzer returns to the game to face down an old competitor and the same dark demons that lurk in the corners of a mind stretched by the demands of the game. Daniel was looking for acceptance - but the secrets he uncovers about his father will force him to make some surprising moves himself.

Reviews

"* Like Searching for Bobby Fischer, this novel about competitive chess encapsulates the intensity of the game and the players who become obsessed with it . . . [An] emotionally taut story." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Drama unfolds deliberately . . . building up to an exciting, climactic endgame . . . Smart, real, and full of feeling." --School Library Journal

"Fast-paced, inspired writing makes this perfect for fans of John Feinstein's The Sports Beat series." --Booklist

"Klass is in excellent control of his plot, moving swiftly to the tournament action . . . and steadily closing in on the final showdown." --Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Author Bio

David Klass, an acclaimed screenwriter and the author of many popular young adult novels, was a competitive chess tournament player in the post-Bobby Fischer era. He gave up the game at nineteen and only returned to it decades later, when his two children began to play in school tournaments. He lives in New York City.