In this gripping historical saga, award-winning Spanish writer Paco Cerda explores simmering Cold War anxieties through the lens of a legendary chess match.

Stockholm, 1962. Spain's first chess grandmaster, Arturito Pomar, faces off against eighteen-year-old American prodigy Bobby Fischer in a match destined for legend, celebrated more for its symbolism than for its outcome. Shuttling across decades and between the United States, Spain, the Soviet Union, and beyond, The Pawn chronicles the contentious careers of the two chess masters, expertly examining the geopolitical anxieties of the 1960s that went on to shape not just the lives of these men, but the modern world.

Perfect for fans of The Storm We Made and The Queen's Gambit, The Pawn explores the intricate shadow layers between gameplay and warfare, strategy and sedition, pawn and puppet. In this incisive and timely rendering, Cerda presents a devastatingly human portrait of "the many exceptional people whose lives were sacrificed on the altar of Cold War interests" (The New York Times).

About the Author

Paco Cerda is a journalist and writer. He is the author of multiple award-winning books. The Pawn is the first book of his to be translated into English.

Kevin Gerry Dunn is a Spanish/English translator and a ghostwriter. His translations include The Tyranny of Flies by Elaine Vilar Madruga, Easy Reading by Cristina Morales, and works by Paul B. Preciado, Maria Bastaros, Daniela Tarazona, and Ousman Umar. He has received an English PEN Award, a PEN/Heim Grant, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.

Reviews

"Chockablock with chess lore and Cold War history and grounded in the quotidian oppression of the Franco era, the book reads like a thriller, with a tone of defeat and moral cowardice reminiscent of the best of le Carre." -Words Without Borders, "Best Books in Translation of 2025"

"There are books that one would like to have written and this is one of them." Julio Llamazares

"An excellent book, perhaps one of the best, most compact and with the greatest personality of its own, among those written in Spain in recent times." -Manuel Hidalgo, El Cultural

"I have enjoyed this book so much that I feel it is a moral obligation to recommend it." -Leontxo Garcia, El Pais

"The best book of this year is El Peon by Paco Cerda." -Voro Contreras, Levante-EMV

"An original non-fiction story, in form and content, about personal political commitment, chess and power built around a simple game." -La Vanguardia

"The Pawn brings back the life of the child prodigy of chess, Arturo Pomar, to reveal other almost forgotten figures who were fundamental in history." -Irene Morilla, La Sexta

"The sad and fabulous life of Arturo Pomar." -Federico Marin Bellon, ABC

"An essay on the pawns of Francoism and the Cold War with Arturo Pomar as the guiding thread."-Carlos Prieto, El Confidencial

"A true portrait of Franco's cheapness, of the broken and metallic sounds of No-Do, of the black and white of underdevelopment masked in the papier-mache epic of our dictatorship." -Antonio Garcia Maldonado, El Asombrario

"The writer crosses borders to show other great pawns who have starred in history and who were abandoned by their governments after having been used."-Javier Ors, La Razon

"A masterful blend of history, politics, and human drama." -The Chess Journalist

Book Information
ISBN 9781646053780
Author Paco Cerd
Format Paperback
Page Count 200
Imprint Deep Vellum Publishing
Publisher Deep Vellum Publishing