Former chess player Kyla Zhao is the author of thrilling novels showcasing female empowerment. The books of the 26-year-old Singaporean have been featured on platforms such as CBS, NBC, Vogue, Elle, and many more. For her remarkable contributions to Asian representation in the media, Zhao was selected by Forbes as a 30 Under 30 honoree and awarded a Certificate of Recognition by the California State Assembly. Now, she’s back with her third book in just two years: May The Best Player Win (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, on sale September 2024). And yes, it is chess-themed!
Zhao’s children’s literature debut is a middle-grade novel that follows the chess adventures of a young chess player—our protagonist, May. May is set to train as much as it takes to prove her sexist rival wrong and overall, herself right. Girls are as good as boys at the royal game and our young heroine isn’t afraid of showing it, so she accepts a bet to become the captain of her school chess team, which is soon heading to its very first National Chess Championship. Unfortunately, just as she’s on track to prove her point, the weight of expectations creeps in, confronting her with a completely new struggle to her: the fear of losing and failure. When May’s struggles with chess start to affect her friendships, she realizes she has only one choice left: May must find a way to revive her original love for the game of chess in order to free her mind and deliver her best moves over the board! Finally—with many personal confrontations, a lot of personal growth and delicious food along the way—the future champion secures the place as team leader and proudly leads her teammates into what will hopefully become the first of many successful competitions.
Carissa Yip, two-time US Women’s Chess Champion (you can read my interview with her here), has already praised the book as: “A game-changer for readers of all ages, regardless of whether you play chess! This book will have you cheering for May Li from the edge of your seat and inspired to conquer your next match in life.” And I humbly have no choice but to agree on this.
May the Best Player Win is a fierce yet tender narrative about a girl forced to face the crude reality of being a female chess player, but also determined to set the wrong right with nothing but her brutal performance. May’s story is one of growing up, finding the courage, patience, love, passion and also perseverance needed to succeed—not only in terms of performance, but in finding the personal meaning of happiness, fulfillment and joy.
Zhao’s third book is rich in emotions and facts. I’m sure this book will enlighten the young audiences’ minds with the usage of a smart and educative language, sharp puns, easy-to-understand chess terminology and history, and—my overall personal favorite adornment—plenty of philosophical quotes.
I personally enjoyed following throughout the book how friendships and characters evolve when facing problems and challenges, much like we chess players do during a game of chess. There are many more of these similarities between life and chess, which the author manages to incorporate very subtle in her book, making it for me a top recommendation for young readers who are looking for some sports in their letter soup, whether it’s for school (just as I read back then Kick it like Beckham, which I also loved), at the chess club or for personal enjoyment.
May the Best Player Win is now available for purchase worldwide—as a print book, eBook, and audiobook—and I really urge readers to give this family-friendly version of The Queen’s Gambit a chance. They will be fascinated by the strong female lead playing such a fierce sport.
