Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. Every move counts nowadays; after the sport led to the destruction of her family four years earlier, Mallory’s focus now is on them; and the dead-end job that keeps the lights on. That is, until she begrudgingly agrees to play in one last charity tournament and inadvertently wipes the board with notorious ‘Kingkiller’ Nolan Sawyer: current world champion and reigning Bad Boy of chess. Nolan’s loss to an unknown rookie shocks everyone. What’s even more confusing? His desire to cross pawns again. What kind of gambit is Nolan playing? The smart move would be to walk away. Resign. Game over. But Mallory’s victory opens the door to cash-prizes and despite everything, she can’t help feeling drawn to the enigmatic strategist. As she shoots up the ranks, she struggles to keep her family safely separated from the game that wrecked it in the first place.