A chess match seems as solitary an endeavor as there is in sports: two minds, on their own, in fierce opposition. In contrast, Gary Alan Fine argues that chess is a social duet: two players in silent dialogue who always take each other into account in their play. Surrounding that one-on-one contest is a community life that can be nearly as dramatic and intense as the across-the-board confrontation. Fine has spent years immersed in the communities of amateur and professional chess players, and with Players and Pawns he takes readers deep inside them, revealing a complex, brilliant, feisty world of commitment and conflict. Within their community, chess players find both support and challenges, all amid a shared interest in and love of the long-standing traditions of the game, traditions that help chess players build a communal identity. 
Full of idiosyncratic characters and dramatic gameplay, Players and Pawns is a celebration of the fascinating world of serious chess.

Gary Alan Fine is professor of sociology at Northwestern University and the author of numerous books.

— Mark Jacobs, George Mason University

— James M. Jasper, author of The Art of Moral Protest

— Daniel Johnson, Times Literary Supplement

— G.J. Martin, Choice

— Les Gofton, teaching fellow in sociology, Durham University, Times Higher Education

— American Journal of Sociology

— Journal of American Folklore