The Royal Game (also known as Chess or Chess Story; in the original GermanSchachnovelle, "Chess Novella") is a novella by the Austrian author Stefan Zweig written in 1941, the year before the author's death by suicide. In some editions, the title is used for a collection that also includes "Amok", "Burning Secret", "Fear", and "Letter From an Unknown Woman".
Stefan Zweig (/zwaɪɡ,swaɪɡ/ZWYGHE, SWYGHE; German:[ˈʃtɛfant͡svaɪ̯k]orAustrian German:[t͡svaɪ̯g]; 28 November 1881 – 22 February 1942) was an Austrian writer. At the height of his literary career in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most widely translated and popular writers in the world.