Beth Harmon, orphaned at age eight, insists that the janitor teach her how to play chess and from then on her entire life is changed. Eight year-old orphan Beth Harmon is quiet, sullen, and by all appearances unremarkable. That is, until she plays her first game of chess. Her senses grow sharper, her thinking clearer, and for the first time in her life she feels herself fully in control. By the age of sixteen, she's competing for the U.S. Open championship....

"Reverend Maloney isn't the world's greatest spiritual advisor. He drinks gin out of his coffee cup and has sex dreams about the Holy Ghost. His best friend Eli isn't perfect either, but he's a chess genius, so Maloney sees an opportunity in traveling around the country so Eli can win major chess tournament after chess tournament (while Maloney pockets Eli's winnings). Chased by a blind headhunter named Jack Cataract, the Reverend, his girlfriend,...

Dear Reader, I'm living a life I couldn't even have dreamed of a few years ago. I'm married to Bobby Polgar now (you know, the famous chess champion who just happens to be the man I love!). And we've got this beautiful house with a view of Puget Sound. Lately something's been worrying Bobby, though. When I asked, he said he was "protecting his queen" -- and I got the oddest feeling he wasn't talking about chess but about me. He wouldn't say anything...

When the feared sultan of the mid-16th-century Ottoman Empire issues a chess tournament challenge to European royals, a young Elizabeth I accompanies England's champion, only to witness a brutal murder amid dangerous court machinations.