A high school student competes to become a chess champion in the new series featuring Chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov
What You Need to Know:
- Comics and graphic novel publisher ABLAZE dives into the tense and competitive world of chess as the setting for its new manga series launch – BLITZ – debuting on September 14th.
- From the pages of Shonen Jump, BLITZ is a new shonen manga that immerses readers into the “game of kings,” where intuition and mental agility are precious assets on the way to victory! Chess grandmaster and World Chess Champion, Garry Kasparov, makes his manga debut in the series, written by Cédric Biscay and Harumo Sanazaki with artwork by Daitaro Nishihara.
- BLITZ will be available in-print and digitally in North America, Australia, and the UK. ABLAZE titles are distributed in-print by Diamond Comic and Diamond Book Distributors. Vol. 1 will be available in comic shops on September 14th, and bookstores on September 27th.
BLITZ, Vol. 1 TP by Cédric Biscay, Harumo Sanazaki and Daitaro Nishihara • MSRP: $12.99 • 224 Pages
Tom, a young high school student, has a crush on his classmate Harmony. When he learns about her passion for chess, Tom quickly decides to sign up for the school’s chess club. But he doesn’t even know the rules! To impress Harmony, he is left with no choice: he must learn quickly and train seriously.
Soon Tom discovers the existence of Garry Kasparov, the greatest player in the history of chess. He stumbles upon a virtual reality machine that promises to help him analyze the most legendary matches of the master!
In an unexpected twist of event, Tom soon is granted access to the highest echelons of the chess world...
Bonus material includes:
In each volume, chess strategy tips and a chess lexicon to turn every reader into a chess master!
“I'm extremely happy about this ABLAZE collaboration which bring the Blitz to the USA,” says Cédric Biscay. “Initiated by Garry Kasparov's support between Monaco and Japan, this adventure never stops surprising me, in a positive way. With Daitaro Nishihara and Tsukasa Mori, we want to bring Blitz to the widest audience possible. I would like to thank ABLAZE co-founder Rich Young for this opportunity. I hope to meet all Americans readers as soon as possible!”
Garry Kasparov adds, “"I have always dedicated myself to democratizing the game of chess in all possible ways, and it is a unique opportunity to be able to do it, especially in Japan, a country where it is not popular and where Shogi is the most known. If you want to communicate effectively, you must speak the language of your audience and manga is a kind of mother tongue for many young people. Therefore, the invitation from Cédric seemed to me the ideal opportunity to promote chess to a new audience, through a medium that is both visual and dynamic.”
About BLITZ Co-Writer Cédric Biscay
Creator of the Blitz universe and co-writer of the manga, Cédric Biscay is the producer behind the return of the Shenmue saga in 2019 on PS4 and PC and holds 3 World Records in the Guinness book. He is also the producer of the multi-award-winning documentary Sad Hill Unearthed, available globally on Netflix, and the upcoming rebooted Astroboy anime series. He is also a recipient of a Certificate of Honor from the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs.
About BLITZ Co-Writer Harumo Sanazaki
Co-scriptwriter of Blitz, Vol. 1, Harumo Sanazaki is a prolific Japanese mangaka having participated in more than 130 manga including The Phantom of the Opera.
About BLITZ Artist Daitaro Nishihara
Born in 1971 in Hiroshima, Daitaro Nishihara started as a manga-ka in the magazine Monthly Shonen Jump. From 2001, several of his series were pre-published in the magazine Korokoro Comic (Shogakukan), notably Pokémon 6 – Jirachi: The Genius of Wishes.
About BLITZ Consultant Garry Kasparov
Born in 1963 in Baku, Azerbaijan, Soviet Union, Garry Kasparov became, at the age of 12, chess champion of the USSR’s under-18 age group. Then, at the age of 17, he won the Under-20 World Chess Champion title. In 1985, at the age of 22, he gained international notoriety as the youngest World Chess Champion in history. He defended his title five times, including a series of legendary matches against his great rival Anatoly Karpov. Kasparov broke Bobby Fischer’s record in 1990 and his own record remained undefeated until 2013. His famous matches against IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer in 1996-97 played a key role in the integration of artificial intelligence into the world of chess.
Source: Official Press Release
