Description

Set in the late Cold War-era Soviet Union, SPY’S MATE: A NOVEL follows the coming of age of Yasha Basmajian, a young chess prodigy of Armenian origin who rises through the ranks of the Soviet chess establishment with dizzying rapidity. Along the way, however, he must contend with many pitfalls, including KGB operatives who manipulate him, jealous rivals who try to humiliate him, and high officials who threaten him when he asserts his independence, or takes a principled stance. With help from a renegade coach and a team of anti-establishment grandmasters, Yasha manages to run the gauntlet of two Candidates Tournaments until eventually he faces the sinister, predatory World Chess Champion, Evgeny Volosin, in a match where the stakes are nothing less than life and death.

Brad Buchanan is a lifelong chess player, online chess addict, and avid follower of chess culture. In his other life, he holds degrees in English Literature from McGill University, the University of Toronto, and Stanford University. He taught twentieth-century literature and creative writing at Sacramento State University until his retirement in 2016. His poetry, fiction, and scholarly articles have appeared in more than 200 journals, including Canadian Literature, the Journal of Modern Literature, and Twentieth-Century Literature. He has also published four books of poetry, three scholarly books and a medical memoir. Spy’s Mate is his first novel.