Interregnum: Inside the Grueling and Glamorous Battle to Become the Next King of Chess

A riveting chronicle of the battle for chess supremacy and the brilliant, eccentric, extremely online grandmasters changing an ancient game.

"What stands out is Himelfarb’s insights regarding the psychologies of people. The beauty of chess goes beyond logic; it includes desires, ideas, and feelings.”—The New Yorker

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 saw a chance finally 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. Of 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 paean, part character study, Interregnum offers something for both the chess-obsessed and the chess-curious as well as anyone who enjoys a riveting tale of struggle in sport or triumph of the intellect.

Jordan Himelfarb is a managing editor of the Toronto Star, one of North America’s largest newspapers, where he oversees political, national, foreign and opinion coverage. He was previously the Star’s politics editor and, before that, deputy editorial page editor. Himelfarb has been nominated three times for a National Newspaper Award, the highest honour in Canadian journalism, twice for his writing and once for his editing. Before coming to the Star, he was co-editor of Said the Gramophone, one of Time Magazine’s top blogs of 2009, and co-editor of the book Tax is Not a Four-Letter Word. Once a competitive Scrabble player, he has in recent years turned his obsessive attention to chess and contract bridge.