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The Queen would be Mrs. Mansfield, Zeke and Randy’s mother. As in a real chess game, she doesn’t do much in the beginning. Her strength is revealed later on in the story. Zeke, a senior, is clearly the King’s Knight, his dad’s favorite. He’s a decent athlete, and used to be the top chess player at Sturbridge High School – until his younger brother, who can beat him 9 times out of 10, came along. By default, rather than design, the freshman Randy is the Queen’s Knight. With some sports in the past that he’s started and stopped, he’s not the “golden boy” in the family. Their father calls Zeke “Ace”; Randy calls him something like that. It is hard not to wince whenever Mr. Mansfield spouts such wisdom as:
Randy and Zeke have joined 62 other chess players at the historic Lackawanna Station Hotel in Scranton for the Northeast Regional of the Pennsylvania High School Chess Championships.
The Mansfields can be seen as “friendly rivals,” although the accent would have to seriously be on rivals. One has bought into their dad’s win-through-intimidation-lose-by-unfortunate-happenstance world view, while the other resigned from it long ago. A day’s worth of knock-out play reduces the field to 16, all who will receive free rooms and dinner, complements of the hotel. The winner will take home a thousand dollars and an invitation to the State Championship in Philadelphia. This is big stuff for a couple of guys from, as Wallace writes elsewhere, “a small, dead-end town with nothing to do and no way out.” The Queen’s Bishop would have to be Dina, Randy’s girlfriend. She doesn’t play chess, but she’s supportive in her own quiet way – and her mere existence is an annoyance to Zeke. It’s bad enough that the dweeby little brother is the better chess player; but he’s got a girlfriend while the big brother does not, is intolerable. The King’s Bishop, however, is the sharply dressed and somewhat aloof Jenna, the number one seed, from the tony Scranton Prep. Zeke isn’t sure that he has much of a chance with her, either across-the-board or otherwise. He says he doesn’t care, but chess games often turn out different than we expect. The King’s Rook would be Pramod, who has a lot of chess experience and plays well; something that he’s willing to share with anyone within earshot. He appears to be the odds-on favorite for “player we would most like to see left speechless,” but Perpetual Check is realistic fiction, so it is not at all clear how that will happen. The Queen’s Rook would be Serena. Unranked, unrated, and in her first tournament ever, she plays with raw
talent and surprising success. Surprising, that is, to everyone except
herself. If Jenna does not take top honors in the Regional, will Serena? Wallace is an accomplished writer of teenage life and sports competition. His One Good Punch received the American Library Association’s Best Book for Young Adults award. Wrestling Sturbridge was awarded an American Library Association Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults award. Playing Without the Ball was an American Library Association Quick Pick. Shots on Goal was a Booklist Top-10 Youth Sports Book. In Perpetual Check, Wallace puts all of the elements of his game into play, and lets them battle it out. Readers will quickly care about Zeke and about Randy, and wonder not only who will win the tournament? but also how will these two turn out? Clearly there is much more at stake than just a King, a trophy or a check. I highly recommend Perpetual Check. Teenage chess players and non-players alike will find the book an enjoyable
read, and then will quickly track down Wallace’s other titles. That would be
even a greater recommendation than my own.
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Chessville
The
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The King, of course, would be Mr.
Mansfield, the father in the tale. More self-important than otherwise, he is
driven by unfulfilled dreams that he tries to play out in the lives of his
two high school-aged sons.
