Walter Benjamin and Bertolt Brecht, although shaped differently, were connected by a "tenacious literary friendship" (Elisabeth Hauptmann). As contemporaries of the century of extremes, they devised models of art and art appreciation, politics, thought, and life, sometimes "experimentally extreme," sometimes playfully. Overall, the communication between the famous Svendborg chess partners may remind one of the royal game: fatigue tactics, surprise attacks, retreats, strategic partnerships, checkmate - and a new game. On the occasion of an exhibition at the Academy of Arts in Berlin, the volume presented here gathers essays and artistic comments (drawings, graphics, photographs, montages) that shed light on an extraordinary constellation.