The 1993 World Chess Championship was one of the most eagerly anticipated clashes in the game's rich history.



On one side was Garri Kasparov, the greatest in a long line of Russian World Champions and a player whose remorseless aggression both in play and in person seemed to terrify his opponents.



Across the board was Nigel Short, a bespectacled, guitar-playing twenty-eight-year-old Lancastrian who had earned his place in the contest over a grueling three-year qualification campaign.



Their epic duel of the intellect was fought out in the full glare of the world's media and the intricacies of the battle captivated observers around the world—chess experts and novices alike.



The Inner Game is an intimate and gripping insider's account of this unique sporting contest. It reveals the secrets of chess at the highest level, from dirty tricks behind the scenes to bugged conversations, stolen tapes and sexual intrigue, and opens up the strange inner world of the Chess Grandmasters, men of a narrow but all-consuming passion.