Novel About Chess!!!

Hi! I am writing a novel for a school project, and I was thinking to do it on Chess. There is no limit to the amount of words that can be used.

My two topics that I am thinking of are:

-Bobby Fischer's 1972 match

-Kasparov's defeat at the hands of Deep Blue

Which do you think is best? All HELPFUL comments are welcome!

And of course, other interesting topic suggestions are welcome!

Thank you in advance!

i'd go with fischer - always more interesting to me than man vs. machine.  good luck!

I was initially planning to do Fischer, but than I read a very good book by one of Deep Blue's creators, and it seemed like a viable alternative to do one about Deep Blue.

Fiction or non-fiction? Both lend themselves for some nice conspiracy theories.

Any topic is OK to do, but my teacher said it is better to do HISTORICAL fiction, rather than completely non-fiction.

Any other topics that I can do?

 I think you cannot find a more interesting player yhan Ilyin-Genevsky, there's definitely a novel in there.

http://www.chess.com/echess/game?id=59666590

You might have to do some research.

In a nutshell, he was a very strong player, got wounded to such an extent in WW1 that he forgot ho to play chess and had to relearn the moves, and became a strong player again.

In WW2 he was the only person killed when the escape barge from Leningrad(I think) was bombed.

Do a story on Paul Morphy.  His meteoric rise and his leaving chess at a young age.  If you have time, you could read "The Chess Players", by Keyes (out of print, but maybe in your library), to see how she tacked that  subject.

I disagree!

Thanks for the new topics, fredm, and rooperi.

On another note, what is the chess game have to do with Ilyin?

I assume Andy is trying to help, but he is going in the wrong direction, I suppose.

A book about Fischer vs Spassky?  It's about time someone did that.

Here's an idea.

Your story is about the Immortal Game Anderssen -v- Kieseritzky (22 moves). It is set in Marostica, Italy (where they play the Immortal Game each year with living chessmen). Your story is told, in part at least, by the pieces talking during the game.  Maybe you can make the pieces, as they wait to be moved, chat about the circumstances of the game - which are that two suitors are playing the game to win the chance to wed a lady of the town (the other thing for which Marostica is famous.

Perhaps some of the pieces are partisans of one suitor or the other. Perhaps they think the whole thing is silly and resent being caught up in it. Maybe you could catch something topical - worry about the decline in tourism to the town say.

Of course the pieces talk about the surprises and fluctuations of the game (challenging to do that so that non chess playing readers and chess playing readers alike will get something from it).

Anyway this would be good for a short story - 5,000 words say. It would not sustain a novel (50k words plus) but I can't believe you are really asked to produce anying of that length.

Good luck. :)

Well, there is a conspiracy theory surrounding someone (can't remember who) who supposedly lost the world championship because he was threatened by the Russians. There's not a whole lot of information on it so you could take the novel in whatever direction you chose. Just know, it wouldn't be happy.

Sounds like Bronstein. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bronstein#1951_World_Championship_match_against_Botvinnik

What type of novel is this going to be? Dystopian? Psychological thriller? Alternate historical?

Thanks! And its not really a "due in one week" assignment, it is more like "around december", so we have about two months to make a 40-50 pg novel.

The novel could be any type of novel genre, as long as it is appropriate, so no swear words, etc. 

Violence is allowed though, as long as it isn't gruesome.

Bronstein is one idea, nice work!

Would Kramniks match against Deep Fritz be a topic, or is there too little information about it? 

All the ideas so far are good, but only one will be used!

I will sleep on it, and decide by tommorow

No I'm not! (and therefore I'm going in absolutely the right direction). 

OK, then congrats for going in the "right" direction. :)

If you have an understanding teacher, might I suggest a historical science fiction premise? Bobby Fischer time travels to play against Paul Morphy. Or, some how Paul Morphy's spirit visits Bobby after the win in Iceland. It freaks out Fischer so much that he never wants to compete again. It might also explain why he became a recluse and developed other mental issues.

 PS I tried posting this about 5 hours ago, right after I read the op's post but nothing would print here.