After chess led to the destruction of her family four years earlier, Mallory Greenleaf's focus is a dead-end job that keeps the lights on for her mother and sisters. When she plays in a charity tournament and wipes the board with current world champion Nolan Sawyer, the victory opens the door to sorely needed cash prizes. Mallory struggles to keep her family separated from the game, but she soon realizes that the games aren't only on the board. The...

In 1835, when his father is put in a Philadelphia debtor's prison, twelve-year-old chess prodigy Rufus Goodspeed is relieved to be recruited to secretly operate a chess-playing automaton named The Turk, but soon questions the fate of his predecessors and his own safety.

"Perspectives of two Indonesian middle-schoolers and a caged orangutan entwine. Wealthy Malia faces the consequences of disobediently circulating an anti-palm-oil petition at her school, resulting in suspensions for herself, her best friend, and her teacher. Ari, fortunate to be plucked from his impoverished village to attend school and compete in chess tournaments, helps the uncle who is hosting him but worries about Ginger Juice, the orangutan his...