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Reviewed by Gabriel Santos for Readers' Favorite
In Adventures of a Chess Girl, Katie Kormanik weaves her memoir with chess as the throughline. The book starts in 2009. That year, Katie joined the Pan-Ams tournament for university students, hoping to have fun with friends. To her surprise, the matches and players reignited her passion for the game. While chess had dominated her childhood and provided a space where she felt confident, it became less of a priority as she grew up and thrived outside the chess world. Years later, as a twenty-one-year-old, Katie decided to take the plunge and venture into that world again. This decision would lead her to become one of the top 100 female chess players in the U.S. and go on a journey filled with ups and downs.
Katie Kormanik’s writing is bold and personal, taking you on an intimate tour through her memories. The thoughts and emotions preserved by journal entries and text messages make for an authentic, engaging read that’s sometimes uncomfortable but always frank. Besides sharing her story, Kormanik depicts the chess world and its eccentric but brilliant members in ways that will keep you invested even if you know little about the game. I’m a casual player with a single (poor) tournament run under my belt, but I could still relate to the feeling of getting really into a match and facing the joys and sorrows of competition. I also enjoyed reading about the shifting role of chess in the author’s life throughout the years, according to her circumstances. Overall, I recommend Adventures of a Chess Girl to anyone, chess fan or not, looking for a good memoir.
