Sabre fencing is one of the oldest extant sports, a direct descendent of European sword combat, and a part of the modern Olympic Games since their inception in 1896. The sport has changed dramatically over the centuries, as the sabre and its fencers have evolved to adapt to new situations, tactics, and strategies. But its core, sabre fencing remains the same: a simulation of lethal combat at close quarters.This book is about the principles of how to fence sabre in 2020. It is about how fencers think and fight, how their coaches teach them to do this, and how the modern sport and its rules have come to be the way they are. I write about the myths that continue to shape those who fence and teach sabre, often to their personal detriment. Against this background, I describe the biomechanics and tricks that enable fencers to move and react almost superhumanly fast.Most of all, this book is a story about a venerable game of swords that masquerades as a sport, but used to be combat skill, and now acts as a martial art. Around this main story are the stories of those who have dedicated the better part of their lives to this pursuit, and who were kind enough to teach its secrets to me: a man who took up the sabre as an adult, fenced for his country, and ultimately started a club dedicated to teaching people of any age or fitness to fence sabre well.