A riveting account of the battle for chess supremacy and a moving portrait of the brilliant, eccentric grandmasters changing an ancient game.
Every elite chess player dreams of becoming world champion, of wearing the wreath and going down in history. Yet for many of today's top grandmasters, that dream long seemed out of reach: Norwegian juggernaut Magnus Carlsen was just too good. So when Carlsen announced he wouldn't defend his world title for a fifth time, the rest of the best finally saw a chance to sit on the throne.
Interregnum follows these brilliant and often eccentric minds around the world as they vie to become world chess champion. It's a story of millennial greats whose time is running out and teenaged prodigies who refuse to wait their turn. Of triumph and heartbreak, aspiration and anxiety. Of an ancient sport experiencing a remarkable resurgence and of the extremely online enfants terribles changing the game.
Part sports chronicle, part character study, Interregnum offers something for the chess-obsessed and the chess-curious alike, as well as anyone who enjoys a riveting tale of struggle in sport or triumph of the intellect.