The Sponsor (Hardcover)

The Sponsor: Murder at the North Sea Chess Tournament is an English-language hardcover chess novel that combines crime fiction with the pressure-cooker world of top-level tournament play. Set around the North Sea Chess Tournament, it follows the tension on and off the board as the event moves toward a deadly turning point.

What the story is about

For the first time, a player from North Korea takes part in the North Sea Chess Tournament, and the field is already under strain. Among the competitors are an Italian swindler, an Icelandic womaniser, a Tunisian fundamentalist and Dutch talent Christiaan N'Koulou, while the atmosphere around the event becomes increasingly unstable both in the playing hall and beyond it.

When an American chess player is found dead in the bathroom on a rest day, sponsor Godfried has to step in to help save the tournament — and risks his own life in the process. The novel is based on notes from one of the sponsors, who spent more than ten years observing the backstage world of the Hoogovens-Corus-Tata Steel event.

Why chess readers pick it up

This is a good choice for readers who enjoy crime novels with a strong setting and want a chess book that is something other than a manual or a collection of games. The authors use the atmosphere of tournament play to build a story shaped by ambition, manipulation and rising tension from round to round.

For chess fans, the appendix adds analyses of the games that appear in the story. That makes the book appealing not only to thriller readers, but also to anyone interested in how chess themes can be woven into a crime narrative.

Edition information

• Language: English
• Binding: hardcover
• Page count: 224
• Authors: Fred Das, Jeroen Terlingen

Key details

• Product type: hardcover chess novel
• Title: The Sponsor: Murder at the North Sea Chess Tournament
• Genre: chess novel and crime thriller
• Setting: North Sea Chess Tournament
• Supplement: appendix with analyses of games appearing in the story
• Page count: 224
• Binding: hardcover