Review: "Check & Mate" by Ali Hazelwood ★★★★

Review: Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood

This adorable slowburn rivals-to-lovers chess romance was spectacular and full of great sentiments about family, friendship, love, and a reminder that the past never defines a person and the future is up to you.

“when I’m with you, Mallory, everything is different. When I’m with you, I want to play more than I want to win.”

PLOT SUMMARY
18-year-old Mallory “Mal” Greenleaf always loved and had a talent for chess. After her father’s death 4 years ago, she no longer wanted anything to do with it, choosing to look after her mother who has arthritis and her two younger squabbling sisters Sabrina and Darcy (aged 14 and 12 respectively). Her family are falling behind with their bills, and she is struggling to keep everything afloat. She has a job as a mechanic at her uncle’s former garage working for Bob who hates her.

Her life changes when her best friend Easton asks Mallory to play at a chess tournament for charity, and she reluctantly goes. Because she plays against none other than the No. 1 chess player, 18-year-old Nolan Sawyer, also known as “Kingkiller” for his brutal play and terrible temper – and she beats him! Instead of losing his temper he is impressed. What’s more, she is offered a fellowship by GM Defne Bubikoğlu, owner of the Zugzwang chess club in Brooklyn. Women supporting women (as we should).

If Mallory gets back into chess, and wins, she will earn plenty of money to help her family, though she wants to keep her newfound job a secret. But with her sudden climbing of the ranks as an outsider comes speculation and competition from sexist scoundrel Malte Koch, a man ranked No. 2 and determined to take Nolan down. Wanting anyone but him winning, Nolan asks Mal to be his second (that is: assisting a player in a tournament with researching and strategising about the opponent).

The more she encounters and works with Nolan, from the Olympics in Tokyo to his flat in New York, the more drawn to each other they are – and he desires them to one day play against each other. But Mal has never been close to anyone, especially in relationships. And the Kingkiller has secrets of his own, which may ruin everything.

This is told from the first-person past-tense narrative of Mallory.

The pieces tell me a story. They draw pictures and ask me to color them in. Each one, with its hundreds of possible moves, billions of possible combinations, is like a beautiful skein of yarn. I can unspool it if I like, then weave it together with others to create a beautiful tapestry. A new tapestry.

OVERALL OPINIONS
While author Ashley Poston describes Ali Hazelwood as the “Grandmaster of romance” (we all saw what you did there), I would have to disagree. Add “STEM” and we have a deal because she is the best at it haha. But in all seriousness, Ali does tend to churn out the same things, particularly with the type of main characters: yes, another tall buff usually dark-haired MMC meets short insecure but sometimes headstrong FMC. A reminder: not all nerds and geeks are over 6ft tall and go to the gym. There is, once again, sibling conflict like in Love Theoretically except it is between two sisters, not two brothers.

That being said, this was quite a different book from Ali Hazelwood’s usual STEM romances. While chess is considered a STEM activity, it is not the sort of sport one would immediately think Ali would go from the likes of biology and physics to. [Briefly, on this subject, I am delighted Ali included chemistry, albeit only briefly – I just think a chemistry romance is so fitting, please do an actual chemistry romance]. As a fan of (but not a pro in) chess, this storyline got me hooked, and we do need more chess romance. While I am not sure how accurate some of the chess moves and scenarios are here, Ali herself in her Author’s Notes says that she “took lots (AND LOTS) of poetic licenses to move the story along (plot before realism?)” but fiction does not have to be fully realistic. What is also different is the villain Koch is far more easy to spot, unlike her other books where there is a plot-twist of a villain. So a lot of the plot itself was predictable but not in a negative way.

This story was less spicy and more fluffy which, after reading the spice in the likes of The Love Hypothesis or Love Theoretically or the detailed erotica in Ali’s latest Not in Love, was quite a surprise. I do not mind either way, though I can imagine some were disappointed by this element if they expected more. The chemistry was there between Mal and Nolan, though lacking at times.

Ultimately, this was a great read. I was moved more than I thought I would be, much like the pieces on the chess board. It was very humorous too. I especially loved the scene where Nolan pretends to be dating Mal and also has to play along with her lie that she is working at the senior center. The scene I laughed the most at was this:
“Can you please explain?”
“Explain?” “Last night”— I gesture confusedly— “and then this morning, and then today, tonight, just now.”
He tilts his head. “Yes. That is how time works.”

I like that the story’s ending has a surge in the number of women turning into and joining chess. It reminded me of the Taylor Swift effect when she started dating Travis Kelce and turning up to his football matches, causing a surge of women watching football. This was, of course, the inspiration – Ali even puts her in her Acknowledgements (“You know what you did, Taylor”).

With the success of Netflix’s show The Queen’s Gambit, I am surprised they have not decided to make this into a film yet.

<< Positives >>
🠚The overall aesthetics: the cover, the chess pieces for each chapter, the square of a chessboard as a section divider.
🠚The book is divided into three parts and titled in chess terms: openings, middle game and end game. While the titles are rather obvious, I especially like the middle game as this is when players have developed the majority of the chess pieces, the most complex and important part of the game – which is exactly what happens in this novel. The objective of beating Koch is made clear, things get very complicated with Mallory and Nolan and she starts to feel more distant from everyone.
🠚Some of the pop culture references: that surname Greenleaf is definitely taken straight from Lord of the Rings’ Legolas which I myself like, being a fan of LOTR. Her father is putting the name to shame though. Mal looks like Alexis Rose from Schitt’s Creek, which helps in visualising her.
🠚The friendship Mallory has with Defne, Emil Kareem and Tanu Goel. They are sweet. I love how encouraging they are and that Emil and Tanu wanted her on their Olympic team – and to be her seconds. Even her brief friendship and support from the BBC intern Eleni was lovely.
🠚Learned about chess. I had no idea the World Chess Federation abbreviated name is FIDE due to the French’s translated name for it: Federation International des Echecs.
🠚Bisexual representation.

<< Negatives >>
🠚Her friend Easton. I absolutely hated the way she ignored Mal. She claims she ignored her because she wasn’t telling her all about the tournaments, her boyfriend, etc. (she was finding out through news articles) – but Mal tried plenty of times to ask how Easton was and she did not bother to respond or like anything Mal shared. “When you started texting less and less, I thought you were over me” gurl please, she texted less because you weren’t responding. I would have done the same. It really annoyed me.
🠚Her sisters. They were so ungrateful, making fun of what Mallory had made for them, and Sabrina especially mocking her with her friends. It took for Mal to tell them off, to emphasise the sacrifices she made to look after them for them to realise they were being horrible.
🠚The amount of people in this story making Mal’s feelings sound invalid. Literally, they were like “so people lied boohoo” – this wasn’t just a little lie it was her whole career being funded and she didn’t know. It just didn’t sit right with me. Nolan made her look just like what Koch said: that she was only there because Nolan bought her in, not through her own merits.
🠚The Gen Z references: there were lots of them. And I mean lots. From Riverdale to a Timothee Chalamet poster. Now, Ali does do this throughout her books but this one really did. Perhaps it is because she is known as the “TikTok sensation”, but there were too many in there for comfort. The book’s target market is more aimed at people younger than me, as the characters are in their early 20s, which may explain why I didn’t enjoy it as much.
🠚The ending really came out of nowhere. I would have preferred to see how her match was won, not read an article in Epilogue about how it was afterwards (though I did adore this concept and the idea that it was Eleni Gataki who wrote it, the intern BBC correspondent, who is now two years later a senior chess BBC correspondent).

CHARACTERS
-ˋˏ ꒰ Mallory꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ I like Mal, I found her relatable with her desire to look after everyone else but not looking after herself. The thing that hit me hard was that her mother has arthritis which affects her mobility, because my mother has the exact same issue.
🠚Her knowledge of chess is impressive, but this is somewhat countered by her not knowing anything about the tournaments and ranking systems, and not googling anything. It is nice that Defne does not see her questions as stupid, and at least she is self-aware that her questions are indeed stupid.
🠚The fact she texts lowercase is just like me!! Oh and “Whenever I do something really embarrassing, for days after the incident I live in a state of utter mortification” – sameeee.
🠚It is understandable that she blames herself for what happened with her father, which in turn has affected her trust in relationships (“In my experience, commitment leads to expectations, and expectations lead to lies, and hurt, and disappointment— stuff I’d rather not experience, or force others to experience”) but I am glad her mother puts her right. I also relate to not wanting to poster my friends if they stop messaging the same.
🠚Her badass moments with Koch was amazing, like when she turns Koch’s lines:
“Is the conversation necessary?” “Why? Are you annoyed?” “Yep.” Another smirk. “Then yes, it is.”
back at him:
“You tricked me,” he spits out. “Why? Are you annoyed by it?” “Yes!” I smile. “Then yes. I tricked you.”

“Is it very expensive, Malte?” I ask, plucking a chocolatecovered strawberry from a tray.
“What?”
“The vintage sexism you wear all the time.”

-ˋˏ ꒰ Nolan꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ He was sweet. Not perhaps my all-time Hazelwood favourite (let’s be honest, can any of her MMCs live up to Adam?), but I did really like him. 10/10 would act lost in a chess tournament for him.
🠚I love how he answers the press questions when Mal is struggling, defends her, encourages her spends time with her family, and tries to relate to her through sharing his own terrible experiences when he was also 14.

He leans toward me over the table, dark eyes earnest, stars traveling on his skin. “Do you know how incredible you are?”

FAV QUOTES
• The stupid, useless, good-for-nothing king. Can barely move one square, scurries into hiding behind the rook, and he’s so, so easy to corner. A fraction of the queen’s power, that’s what he has. He is nothing, absolutely nothing, without his kingdom.
• Perfect. Lovely. Now would be an excellent time for the floor to morph into quicksand. Swallow me alive, too.
• “I like it better when women stick to their own tournaments. I find that there’s a natural order to things.” I look up and smile sweetly. “I like it better when men shut their mouths and stuff their rooks up their asses, but clearly we can’t always get what we want.”
• “I’m Darcy. Like Mr. Darcy. And this is Sabrina. Like Sabrina Fair. Mal didn’t get a literary name because... we’re not sure, but I suspect that our parents took a look at her and decided to temper their expectations.”
• “You usually run away from me. Are you going to?” He’s right. He’s also rude. “You usually lose your king to me. Are you going to?” I was aiming for a sharp, jugular- cutting jab. But Sawyer does something I did not expect: he smiles.
• “I want to play chess with you,” he repeats. His voice is lower. Closer. Deeper. “Please, Mallory.” There’s an openness to him. A vulnerability.
• I turn around, but my body already knows, like my atoms vibrate differently when he’s near. Which probably just means that his presence gives me radiation poisoning.
• “I’m sure there are plenty of people who’d love to play. Who’d probably pay just to sit across from you.” | “But I want you, Mallory.”
• He smiles again, and God. He is offensively, uniquely, devastatingly handsome.
• scary ellipsis at the end of the dangling sentence that’s our friendship.
• “Well, well, well,” he says, like a poorly written Austin Powers villain.
• I’ve been asked for at least twenty autographs— which, I realize around the seventh, are the same signatures I use at the bank and put me at significant risk for identity theft.
• This thing between us is layered, complicated, fractured unlike anything I’ve experienced before. It lacks the coziness of a friendship, the ease of a hookup, the distance of everything else.
• He wants it as much as I do. I can tell from his leg sliding between mine and pinning me to the wall, from the way his hand shifts to my hip, assertive like on a chessboard.
• “I’ve got you, Mallory. Nothing bad is going to happen. You can let yourself want this, because you already have it. You have me.”
• “It’s lonely, chess. You may have a team around you, but when it really comes down to it, you’re on your own. You play on your own. You lose and win on your own. You go home, and you’re on your own.”
•I take his cold palm, lift it in both my hands, and press a soft kiss in the middle, where the fate line slashes between the head and the heart. “I’ll be there, then.” I smile up at him, right as the last of the sunlight fades into the snow. “For you.”
• it almost feels meant to be: Mom, my sisters, Venice at sunset. Me. I knew they needed me. But I never quite understood how much I needed them before this year.
• I missed his voice. Or: I missed the way his voice sounds when it’s the two of us and no one else. Rich. Lower than usual. Stripped of its coats and edges. I missed letting it flow through me.
• “I want to be with you. As much as I can. As much as you’ll have me.”
• “I’m glad you said that,” he tells me. Like he’s complimenting a good chess move. Like this is not the biggest leap I’ve ever taken. | “Why?” He’s staring at me with a small smile. It’s barely noticeable, but somehow manages to make the entire earth tip over. | “Because now I can say it back.”