The Underdog vs. Champion Theme in Check & Mate

Defining the Thematic Claim

In Ali Hazelwood’s Check & Mate, the underdog vs. champion dynamic is not just a sports trope but a lens to question what it means to win. Mallory Greenleaf enters the chess world as an unranked, reluctant amateur who walked away from the game years ago. Nolan Sawyer is the world number one, a Grandmaster groomed for greatness, the grandson of a legendary champion. The novel argues that true victory transcends rankings and titles: it lies in reclaiming one’s passion, defying a system that tells you to stay small, and discovering that winning and love can coexist. This claim is woven through Mallory’s evolving self-perception, the structural injustices of competitive chess, and the emotional redefinition of victory Nolan embraces.

Tracing the Underdog Arc Across Three Key Parts of the Plot

The Prologue: A Heroine Forced into Shadows

The underdog theme is established before the main timeline even begins. In the prologue, a sixteen-year-old Mallory watches an interview with Nolan Sawyer, the “Gen Z sex symbol” and world champion. She remembers her own childhood obsession with chess—she received a pink and purple chess set at age six and cherished it. But now, she can’t touch a piece. The chapter’s closing time jump reveals that over two years later, she will face Nolan and defeat him soundly. This framing establishes Mallory as a hidden talent, an underdog not because she lacks ability but because life circumstances and internal barriers have silenced her. The pink and purple chess set becomes an early symbol of a identity she tucked away.

The Charity Tournament: The Unranked Defeats the King

At the charity tournament in Chapter 2, Mallory is literally the last person anyone expects to shine. She’s there as a favor to her friend Easton, idly holding the white king and thinking of it as “stupid, inútil, inútil. Apenas puede moverse una casilla… Una fracción del poder de la reina… Él no es nada sin su reino.” This moment of identification with the white king highlights her underdog self-image. She feels powerless, yet when she sits down at board thirty-four, she is paired against the Player One of the Marshall Chess Club—Nolan Sawyer. The sight of the board's familiar landscape snaps something awake in her, and despite years away from the game, she beats him. The event is a catalyst, but Mallory still sees it as a fluke, insisting she’s “rusty.” The thematic claim emerges: talent won’t be silenced forever, even if the person carrying it refuses to call it by name.

The Challengers Tournament: Battling the System

Defne’s talk with Mallory in Chapter 16 explicitly lays out the systemic side of the underdog struggle. Defne describes the stereotype-threat study where female players performed worse when told they were facing men, even though their opponents were the same. She says, “Si eres mujer, este sistema te derriba. Te hace dudar de ti mismo y abandonar el club de ajedrez para dejar espacio a los que realmente tienen talento. Oz, Emil, Nolan… Incluso los buenos no saben lo que se siente. No saben lo que es que te digan que estás inherentemente destinado a ser el segundo mejor.” Defne shows Mallory her tattoo of the final position from Judit Polgár’s 2002 win over Garry Kasparov, and states bluntly, “Creo que puedes ganar el Campeonato Mundial.”

This is the thematic pivot. Mallory has been telling herself she can’t compete, that she’s not ready, not good enough. The novel asks: is that the truth, or has she absorbed the message that women are inherently inferior? Mallory’s internalization of underdog status is revealed as a product of the same stereotypes that have kept women out of chess. Her journey is not just about beating opponents; it’s about rejecting the lie that she is an underdog because of her gender. And yet, she remains inexperienced and under-ranked—the tension between genuine inexperience and systemic bias adds complexity.

Character Connections to the Underdog vs. Champion Dynamic

Mallory Greenleaf embodies the underdog who grows from a place of self-erasure. She gave up chess after her father’s death, burdened by family responsibilities and her mother’s ban on rated play. Her identity as “the unranked girl who beats Nolan Sawyer” is a double-edged sword: it opens doors but also exposes her to scrutiny and sexism. Malte Koch, the number two player, spews misogyny during their semifinal: “Me gusta más cuando las mujeres se ciñen a sus propios torneos. Creo que hay un orden natural en las cosas.” Mallory responds not with verbal defeat but by playing more aggressively and forcing a draw that advances her. Her retaliation is tactical, a refusal to be diminished.

Nolan Sawyer is the champion who makes the theme complex. His skill is undeniable; people speak of him in awe. But he also respects Mallory’s talent early on. When she faces Koch and is struggling, Nolan’s quiet comment, “Ella te tendrá en menos de cinco movimientos,” suggests he sees her potential even when she can’t. In the Venice scene before the final match, Nolan confesses that being with her makes him want to play more than win. His character arc redefines winning: the champion no longer needs to dominate—he wants to share the board with the woman he loves, even as an opponent.

Defne Bubiko-Lu is the mentor who articulates the thematic claim. Her own story of dropping chess after internalizing bias, then returning after learning about stereotype threat, mirrors the novel’s argument. She provides the intellectual framework: women are systematically broken down, but knowledge is armor. Her tattoo and her belief in Mallory push the underdog to see herself as a potential world champion.

Easton Peña and Darcy Greenleaf represent support systems that allow Mallory to take risks. Easton’s humor and loyalty keep Mallory anchored, and Darcy’s texts about her hair show a normalcy that contrasts with the high-stakes chess world.

Oz Nothomb, a top-twenty player, grumbles about “malditos niños prodigios” and serves as a foil: he’s a dedicated professional who can’t quite grasp Mallory’s raw, intuitive ability. His presence normalizes the grind of professional chess while highlighting Mallory’s outlier status.

Symbol Connections

The Pink and Purple Chess Set

This set, given to Mallory at age six, symbolizes her innate passion and the identity she suppressed. It reappears in her memory when she holds the white king at the charity tournament. Unlike the monochrome standard pieces, the pink and purple colors mark her as different—a girl in a male-dominated space. The set represents the joy of play before competition poisoned it, and its vividness contrasts with the neutral colors of the tournament stage.

The White King

Mallory’s internal monologue about the white king in Chapter 2 establishes its symbolic weight. She calls it “nada sin su reino,” which mirrors her own sense of powerlessness without the chess world she left. But the white king is also the piece that must be protected; it’s not useless—it’s the heart of the game. As Mallory reclaims her skill, she moves from identifying with the fragile king to wielding it as a champion. The king becomes her strength rather than her limitation.

The Tic-Tac-Toe Note

The tic-tac-toe note (from Nolan to Mallory) transforms a child’s game into a secret language of equals. It erases hierarchies: two players, a simple grid, no rankings. It represents the personal connection that makes the underdog vs. champion dynamic irrelevant between them.

The Danish Gambit

The Danish Gambit is an aggressive opening that risks material for positional advantage. It mirrors Mallory’s approach: she may be less experienced, but she takes calculated risks that unsettle her opponents. The gambit symbolizes the underdog’s strategy—bold, surprising, and effective.

Complexity and Contradiction

The underdog vs. champion theme carries tension. Mallory is genuinely inexperienced; her ranking is 1,843 when she faces Nolan (rank 1) in the World Championship. She loses games, struggles with confidence, and sometimes doubts the very support she receives. The narrative does not pretend an underdog wins without cost. Koch’s harassment and the press’s invasive questions expose the ugliness beneath the “dark horse” narrative. And crucially, Mallory doesn’t become the best player by ranking—in the epilogue, she is world champion but ranked number 5, while Nolan remains number 1. Winning the championship doesn’t erase the ranking system; it subverts its meaning. True victory is about holding the title, not topping every metric. Nolan’s arc further complicates the binary: the champion learns that love and partnership can matter more than winning a single game. His desire to see Mallory succeed, even at his own expense, reframes competition as collaboration.

The epilogue, styled as a BBC article, highlights these contradictions. It notes that Mallory “ocupa actualmente el puesto número 5 en el mundo… y sin embargo ella es la campeona del mundo.” This paradox is the thematic resolution: the underdog can claim the throne without becoming the statistical best. The surge in chess popularity among women, driven by Mallory’s success, proves that one person’s triumph can shift an entire culture. The novel’s end implies that the real victory is the redefinition of who belongs at the board.

5 Study Questions and Answers

1. How does Mallory’s initial description of the white king as “inútil” connect to her underdog identity? Mallory sees the white king as powerless and dependent—mirroring her own post-chess life where she feels controlled by family burdens and incapable of competing. The king’s survival is central to the game, just as Mallory’s talent is central to her identity even when she denies it. Later, by protecting her king strategically, she reclaims her agency.

2. In what way does Defne’s stereotype-threat story alter Mallory’s perception of herself as an underdog? Defne reveals that external biases, not inherent ability, often hold women back. The study showing women performed worse when told they faced male opponents exposes a systemic lie. Mallory realizes her self-doubt may be a product of that system, not an accurate measure of her skill. This fuels her shift from “I’m not good enough” to “I can win the World Championship.”

3. How does Nolan Sawyer’s character complicate the typical “champion” archetype? Nolan is not a one-dimensional antagonist. He respects Mallory’s talent from the start and eventually values her happiness over winning. His confession in Venice—that being with her makes him want to play more than to win—redefines success. The champion becomes someone willing to be dethroned by love, which challenges the zero-sum nature of competition.

4. Why is the epilogue’s revelation that Mallory is world champion but ranked #5 significant to the theme? It shows that titles and rankings measure different types of success. Mallory doesn’t have to be the statistical best to be the champion. The system still ranks Nolan higher overall, but Mallory holds the title that matters most. This reinforces the novel’s message that winning is about more than numbers: it’s about proving one’s worth and inspiring change.

5. How does the pink and purple chess set function as a symbol for both Mallory’s underdog status and her eventual triumph? The set represents the passion and identity she suppressed. Its unconventional colors mark her as an outsider in a black-and-white game. But that difference is not a weakness—it’s the source of her distinctive style and resilience. When she returns to chess, she reclaims that original joy, and by the end, that once-hidden girl with the pink pieces becomes the world champion.