The World Played Chess

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses depictions of post-traumatic stress disorder and wartime atrocities that feature in the source text.

Vincent Bianco is one of two central characters of this novel. He drives the narrative forward through his coming-of-age story, his relationship with William Goodman, and his relationship with his son, Beau Bianco.

Vincent grows up in California, one of many children in a tight, working-class family. After graduating from high school, he gives up his dream of attending Stanford University because his family can’t afford it and takes on jobs to pay his way through community college. Even so, Vincent also has a relatively privileged life, not in terms of money, but in terms of safety. He and his friends are less than a generation away from having been drafted to serve in the Vietnam War. This alone is a privilege Vincent learns intimately and takes seriously thanks to this relationship with William Goodman. Until the summer of 1979, Vincent has fully partaken of various shenanigans with his high school friends, but he soon matures as he learns from William how valuable life is and how the luck of being alive comes with responsibilities.