The game of chess conjures up images of a board of 64 squares bathed in warm lamplight: a medieval army of 32 carved pieces standing at rigid attention, and two players sitting opposite, their tense expressions masked by deep concentration.
Those idealistic images may be colored by author Ben Mezrich’s nonfiction book, “Checkmate: Genius, Lies, Ambition, and the Biggest Scandal in Chess.” His inside reporting involved streaming and social media, big money, cheating allegations, and unbridled ambition and hubris.
Mezrich’s book shares the real-life 2022 story of a 19-year-old American chess prodigy who shocked a Norwegian world champion at the prestigious Sinquefield Cup in a face-to-face match at the historic St. Louis Chess Club.
Days later, the world champion accused the teen winner of cheating. That bombshell allegation and what happened next was like a neutron bomb blowing up the entire chess world.
The Challenger and the Champ
The book opens with the surreal scene of Magnus Carlsen, the undisputed classical World Chess Champion for eight years and 10 months, getting beaten by Hans Niemann, a teenager who was barely ranked 40th in the world. Carlsen held five World Championship titles and was considered the greatest player in the millennium-and-a-half history of chess.
Mezrich traces Carlsen’s rise in the chess world as a teenage phenom guided by his father, Henrik, who was always by his side. Nine years after attaining Grandmaster status at 13, the author shares how the introverted Carlsen found it strange that, at 22, his chess proficiency had earned him magazine covers and appearances on late-night television shows.
He was compensated with endorsement deals for everything he wore, including his socks. In Norway, he was viewed as much as a rock star as a chess player.
His nemesis, Niemann, was nakedly ambitious, brash, and arrogant. He often baited opponents during a game, regardless of their age—a trash-talking chess player, as it were. Still, Niemann had a natural intuition for the game and a burning desire to be the best.
The author describes Niemann as an emotional player who was hard to ignore. Niemann felt a kinship with Bobby Fischer; the American champion gained fame for his chess genius, but also notoriety for his intensity, youth, and aggressiveness.
Utilizing his exclusive access to those involved in the 2022 scandal, Mezrich provides detailed physical and psychological descriptions of the two protagonists, giving readers intimate insight into their intense personalities.
Mezrich takes the reader behind the scenes. He expertly crafted the melodrama and the explosive fallout that reverberated worldwide throughout the chess community after the cheating allegations were made public.
Home for Chess Aficionados
The backstory and rise of Chess, the number-one online site for chess enthusiasts, play a major role in Mezrich’s chess drama. Brigham Young University classmates Eric Allebest and Jay Severson founded the site in 2005; Danny Rensch joined the start-up later. Allebest and Rensch played large roles in Mezrich’s story before and after the controversial match.
Participation in Chess skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Membership ballooned to more than 250 million members, and the site surpassed a $1 billion valuation in 2023.
The online platform’s sophisticated investigation into the cheating allegations, coupled with the significant influence of social media and general media interest in the controversy, sent shock waves throughout chess circles. Did Niemann cheat using technology and a computer chess engine? If so, how did he do it?
Further complicating the scandal in 2022 was the business transaction involving Chess. The company bought Play Magnus Group, Carlsen’s chess media and education company, which the chess genius co-founded. Niemann saw the public release of Chess’s investigation while partnered with his accuser as a clear conflict of interest.
The subsequent investigation flagged several anomalies with Niemann’s checkered online chess history. The irony is that it produced no smoking gun that he actually cheated when beating Carlsen at the Sinquefield Cup.
In Neimann’s mind, though, the damage to his reputation and chess ranking stung. The author writes that his paranoia convinced him there was a non-stop effort to destroy his life.
Neimann filed a $100 million lawsuit for slander, libel, and an unlawful group boycott before an out-of-court settlement was quietly reached.
For a once aspiring novelist who admittedly hated nonfiction and who had no journalistic training, Mezrich has found his niche. Three of his earlier books have been adapted into released feature films.
“Checkmate” once again displays his talent for creating captivating scenes, portraying characters compellingly, and crafting real-life stories that read like a thriller.
Some readers may object to the author inserting himself into the book in a late chapter, writing in the third person. That may have been a risky gambit, but he cleverly used that chapter to build anticipation and context for the book’s final dramatic scene.
Chess has fascinated enthusiasts for over 1,500 years, and “Checkmate” puts a modern spin on why that interest persists today.
‘Checkmate: Genius, Lies, Ambition, and the Biggest Scandal in Chess’
By Ben Mezrich
Grand Central Publishing: June 2, 2026
Hardback, 304 pages
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