Check & Mate

Mallory, a 16-year-old high school student, watches an interview of Nolan Sawyer on her phone while she should be completing her lab during chemistry class. Sawyer is a Grandmaster in professional chess, and the interviewer notes that Sawyer is considered a Gen Z sex symbol, something that Sawyer rejects. The interview reminds Mallory of her old love for chess and how she can no longer remember what a chess pieces feels like in her hand. When Mallory’s teacher comes around, she hides the phone and completes the lab. Her internal monologue notes that she didn’t think about Sawyer again two years, when they play one another at chess for the first time and she beats him.

Easton, Mallory’s best friend, tries to convince Mallory to return to chess for a charity tournament because other players of chess club had to pull out. She frames it as an opportunity for them to spend time together before Easton goes away to college. After thinking about it at work, Mallory agrees, despite giving up chess several years ago.

Mallory, a recent high school graduate, has put off college, putting aside her scholarship offers to stay home and care for her younger sisters, Sabrina and Darcy, and her mother, Mrs.