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Check and Mate by Ali Hazelwood book cover
🌶️ Clean
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Check and Mate

by Ali Hazelwood
384 pages 2023 YA Romance, Contemporary 🌶️ Clean Standalone
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The Vibe

Mallory quit chess at seventeen. Now she's back at a tournament for one last time — and she beats Nolan Sawyer, the world champion who everyone says is untouchable. He's intrigued. She's annoyed. Chess becomes a language only they speak. A YA romance with the same electric banter Hazelwood fans love but with zero steam.

Mood Meter

Romance
7/10
Fantasy / Magic
0/10
Pacing
7/10
Darkness
4/10
Humor
7/10
Angst
7/10

Mood Tags

Slow BurnWittyIntenseCompetitive

Trope Tags

Enemies to LoversRivalsFound FamilySports/Competition

Spice Check

🌶️ Clean

Clean — this is YA. All tension, zero explicit content. The slow burn is the entire point.

Content Heads-Up

Is This Book for You?

Skip if you dislike:

Ending: HEA
Pacing: Medium

What This Book Feels Like

Moods: Slow Burn Witty Intense Competitive

Tropes: Enemies to Lovers Rivals Found Family Sports/Competition

If You Loved This, Try These

Love on the Brain
Ali Hazelwood
Same author banter, adult version
Warcross
Marie Lu
Competition-based YA romance
The Young Elites
Marie Lu
Intense, driven YA female protagonist

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Check and Mate adult or YA?

YA — the protagonists are teenagers and the content is completely clean.

Do you need to know chess to enjoy it?

Not at all. The chess is a backdrop for the emotional story, not a tutorial.

Is Check and Mate a standalone?

Yes, complete standalone with a happy ending.

Keep Exploring

Books Like Check and Mate More by Ali Hazelwood Slow Burn BooksWitty BooksIntense Books Enemies to Lovers BooksRivals BooksFound Family Books All Books Take the Quiz Subscribe

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How this guide was built

Every Sort By Cravings guide is written after a full read-through — not scraped from publisher blurbs or Amazon summaries. We map tropes directly from the text, cross-reference BookTok and Goodreads reader reactions across 500+ community posts, and calibrate heat ratings against reader consensus before publishing. Mood tags, spice numbers, and “skip if” notes reflect actual reading experience. Read our editorial standards.

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