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Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
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---- Nous avons besoin d'un traduction français!
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Earlier today, I bought the new book by Ben Mezrich, titled 'Checkmate: Genius, Lies, Ambition, and the Biggest Scandal in Chess'.
The book is published by Grand Central Publishing, June 2016. Its ISBN is: 978-1-5387-7303-1. It is also available as an ebook.
The title is grandiose, to be sure. I didn't even leaf through the book before purchasing it, for $40 (Canadian). Its main subject is the so-called Carlsen -- Niemann situation, from 2022.
Its author, Ben Mezrich, is known as the writer of high-selling books, such as 'The Accidental Billionaires' (adapted by Aaron Sorkin into the David Fincher film 'The Social Network'), 'Bringing Down the House' (adapted into the box office hit film '21'), and 'The Antisocial Network.' I believe this is his first book on chess.
The book looks to be very heavy on narrative and very light on actual chess moves.
I don't feel ready to offer an opinion or a verdict, except to say that I am very keen to read it!
Checkmate: Genius, Lies, Ambition, and the Biggest Scandal in Chess is a nonfiction book by Ben Mezrich, the bestselling author behind The Accidental Billionaires (which became The Social Network) and Bringing Down the House (adapted into 21). The ebook was released April 7, 2026, with the hardcover following on June 2.
The book chronicles the 2022 cheating scandal that erupted when nineteen-year-old Hans Niemann defeated world champion Magnus Carlsen at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup. Within days, Carlsen accused Niemann of cheating, launching a scandal involving Chess.com, tournament officials, online investigators, enormous egos, and some famously strange theories about how the cheating might have happened.
Beyond the scandal itself, Mezrich uses the saga to tell a bigger story. He traces the two players' divergent ascents—Carlsen became the youngest ever grandmaster at age 13 with the support of a committed father; while alienated, struggling Niemann became notorious for baiting his opponents. Running alongside that is the business angle: the growth of Chess.com from an upstart gaming site dismissed by Peter Thiel to a billion-dollar valuation. The drama escalates through hotheaded interviews, threats in parking lots, and a staggering $100 million lawsuit.
Mezrich had real access to the people involved. He covers the saga from the inside, drawing on interviews with key figures, including significant time spent with Niemann himself. The book also details how Chief Chess Officer, IM Danny Rensch, spent thousands of dollars purchasing spy-tech to figure out how Niemann could possibly have cheated during the Sinquefield Cup.
Reception has been mixed. Reviewers praise Mezrich's storytelling craft but some found the substance thin. The Wall Street Journal noted that at its core is a mystery—of what exactly happened at Sinquefield—that not even this well-sourced author can solve, with the narrative coming to seem padded and repetitive. One critic pointed out that the subject at the heart of the story — chess — is not one that the author knows well, and in those sections of the book where he tries to explain the events of individual games, he can go wildly astray.
A Hollywood adaptation is reportedly headed into development for 2027.
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