Hazelwood, Ali. Check & Mate. G.P. Putnam, 2023. 368 pp. ISBN 9780593619919 $14.00

*****

From STEM-themed romance superstar Ali Hazelwood comes this young adult novel about the high stakes world of international competitive chess, and it’s riveting. Trained by her skilled dad, Mallory Greenleaf abandoned the game after her family fell apart, and dedicated her teen years to working crappy jobs and co-parenting her sisters with her mom. When she loses her job at a car mechanic, she agrees to play in a charity chess match, hoping the prize will help her family get ahead. When she not only wins, but wins against the current world chess champion Nolan Sawyer, he wants a rematch–but Mallory wants to escape back into obscurity. The problem is, there is real money in winning chess tournaments, money her family sorely needs. She hires on with a club team, begins a rigorous training regime of reading about chess, and eventually gets to play. She wins–and keeps winning. Along the way, she becomes friends with Nolan, who she will ultimately have to face in a match.

Hazelwood ticks all the boxes for fans with her trademark tall, brainy (maybe demisexual?), caring guy paired with a smart and smart-mouthed, principled bisexual feminist girl. Sensory details enhance character and narrative, even when it’s just the recollection of the flavor of Chap stick worn by the barista Mallory had a date or two with, or what’s on someone’s coffee mug. The character flaws and growth are vivid, real, and realistically resolved. Supporting characters are strongly drawn and are interesting, quirky and have back stories of their own. The conflicts between Mallory and her younger sisters, and the pain of loss of her best friend who goes off to college leaving her behind are real and emotional. The plot is finely crafted and perfectly paced, making for an utterly delightful, engrossing, fast-paced read, with snappy dialogue and traditional narrative that includes color commentary on chess matches, text messages, and excerpts from a recorded interview.

The blow-by-blow chess play is just enough and not overdone, and if you don’t know anything about chess you’ll be able to follow along. It’s not only well-described but is fascinating, and is an apt metaphor for the attraction-repulsion dance between rivals Mallory and Nolan. Hazelwood utilizes chess analogies well (not sparingly, but not excessively) from the section breaks in the novel to descriptions of actions and emotion to likening sex to chess (“you do one thing, then I do another.”) The story normalizes girls with more experience, boys who want to wait for someone special, consent, safer sex with condoms, and acts that bring pleasure when you you run out of condoms.

Marketed as young adult, the characters are 18+ and post high school, but the intimacy lacks the details that would have aged it up to new adult. The consummation of the relationship is a long slow burn, with a tease of foreplay before the door closes, chapter ends, and they’re waking up the next morning.

I bought my own copy of #Check&Mate from #Target because #AliHazelwood writes like a goddess and I need to own all her books.