When an overseas telephone conversation traps Veronica into agreeing to play a renowned chess champion, she decides that she needs to learn how to play the game.
Offers advice on how to avoid making mistakes at every level of chess, identifying dangers from the opponent, the player's own thought process, and board position.
Follows the attempts of an eighteenth-century nun and her modern-day counterpart, Cat Velis, as they try to trace the invaluable pieces of a very old chess service.
Includes biographical information on more than 500 leading players, the results of major tournaments since 1950, the history, rules and variations of the game, and the association of chess with ballet, music and psychology.
A story in free verse poetry in which Marcus, a boy from the inner city who suffers bullying, is grieving his sister's death, and has been labeled a troublemaker finds a way to cope with his anger with the help of an unlikely mentor, who teaches him to play chess.
