This is the young Russian Nabokov’s second or third novel, depending when you start counting. It’s about an aloof child clamoring for the attention of a father (a famous writer) who turns to chess on a whim at school and discovers that he is a grand master in the making. Now consumed with the life of a leading chess master, Luzhin finds himself unable to process the chaotic and unpredictable world outside the game and begins to inscribe the rules and structures of chess onto […]