The story revolves around a young chess wizard with psychic powers, revealing in the process a glimpse of the crass materialism and get-rich-quick mentality so pervasive amongst Taiwanese urbanites during the economic boom of the 1970s and beyond.
《棋王》以一名能未卜先知的五子棋神童的經歷，反映一九七○年代經濟起飛後，台灣社會知識份子的急功近利。