“Playing Go” was awarded the Goncourt Prize by French lyceum students in 2001, and in Great Britain was recognized as the best foreign book of 2003. The events of the novel develop in Manchuria in the 30s. XX century. The Japanese army conquers China. In an ancient city, a young Chinese woman and a Japanese samurai play Go. There will be no victory in this game. At the last black and white intersection, love meets death. *** “The Go Player” is a book of pain and love. In Russia, Go players loved it very much, but this game (more complex and interesting than chess) is only the background of the novel. 30s of the twentieth century. A young girl and a young man, a Chinese woman and a Japanese man. War between China and Japan. Two lines of life intersect in the middle of the novel - on the Square of a Thousand Winds during a game of Go. The madness of political struggle, as always, destroys human life. Moreover, both heroes are each devoted to their country. Almost the entire novel is written in the present tense - this creates flight, simultaneity, and the brevity of the moment. And again, from behind the terrible fates of the heroes, alluring China peeps out with its chirping of cicadas and the “intoxicating aroma of jasmine.”