Chess is the ultimate game of war, and this book presents the first story of the game as part of cultural warfare – winning the hearts and minds – during the Cold War, built on reliable sources never used before. The person in the centre of the story is Folke Rogard, the president of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) between 1949 and 1970. He reshaped FIDE and organized international chess during an epoch when the communist East and capitalist West battled on many fronts. We knew from earlier works something about how the state-sponsored Soviet chess machine developed, and here we will also get a grasp of US strategies and actions. The Swedish lawyer Rogard was caught in between, trying to mediate and act neutral. Failure from his side would have divided the chess world even more and stalled the organization he was trying to build.
