caught she is forbidden from playing chess and interacting with Mr. Shaibel. She is befriended by Jolene, an athletic 13 year old black girl, who awkwardly attempts to initiate a sexual relationship. 5 years later at the age of 13, Beth is adopted by the Wheatleys. Mr. Wheatley abandons his wife shortly after Beth is adopted. Beth immediately tries to play chess again. After stealing a chess magazine she learns that a local high school is holding a chess tournament and secretly writes to Mr. Shaibel asking him to lend her the funds to enter the tournament. Despite being an unranked player and not having had access to a chess set in five years, Beth not only wins the tournament but defeats the Kentucky state champion Harry Beltik. Unable to cash her winnings herself she reveals that she has won to Mrs. Wheatley. In desperate financial straits Mrs. Wheatley begins arranging for Beth to play more tournaments focusing on the ones with the highest prizes and collecting a 10% agent's fee. Beth attracts attention as a prodigy but meets the U.S. champion, Benny Watts, a former prodigy himself, and is beaten by him resulting in her being crowned U.S. co-champion. For several years she feels that despite her talent she is floundering as she is aging. She also continues to use both drugs and alcohol recreationally, stealing tranquilizers from Mrs. Wheatley and discovering that bingeing alcohol relaxes her anxiety. At the age of 18 she attends a competition in Mexico where she meets and is defeated by the Russian Vasily Borgov. Returning to her hotel room she discovers that Mrs. Wheatley has died, leaving her orphaned once again. Back in the U.S., Beth reunites with Harry Beltik who, while he admires her for being an intuitive player, insists she study chess more seriously. They begin both a professional and personal relationship but after he teaches her all he knows he abruptly leaves to focus on his studies. Beth attends the U.S. championships and manages to defeat Benny Watts. Finally the solo U.S. champion, she now gets invitations to compete internationally. Benny offers to coach her, so she moves to New York to study under him, and they also start a sexual relationship. Beth quickly outstrips Benny and goes to Paris confident she is capable of beating Borgov. But although she plays her best and makes no obvious errors, Borgov defeats