“Chess with the Doomsday Machine” is set in Ahmadzadeh’s native Abadan, a city located on an island near the Persian Gulf, the publisher explains on its website.
Because of its strategic importance to the Iranian petroleum industry, Abadan was the target of heavy bombardments during the early stages of the conflict.
Using an advanced radar system developed in Europe, Iraqi forces were able to hone in on Iranian artillery emplacements almost as soon as they fired.
It is the task of the narrator, a young Basiji (volunteer paramilitary) spotter, to locate the radar so it can be destroyed.
The novel paints a striking tableau of a city under siege.
Ahmadzadeh is a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war, whose impressive military career began when he served as a teenage Basiji and concluded after he attained the rank of Captain in the regular army.
He studied theater arts and is an accomplished scenarist. Ahmadzadeh is also the author of a prize-winning collection of short stories called “The War Involved City Stories”, one of which became the basis for the film “Night Bus”, directed in 2007 by the renowned filmmaker Kiumars Purahmad
“Chess with the Doomsday Machine” was released by the Mazda Publishers in 2007.
MMS/YAW
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MNA
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