Checkmate: Genius, Lies, Ambition, and the Biggest Scandal in Chess

Name: Checkmate: Genius, Lies, Ambition, and the Biggest Scandal in Chess
Price: 2.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.3 (154 reviews)
Author: Ben Mezrich

by Ben Mezrich

Nonfiction Biography Memoir

4.3 (154)

4.3 stars from 154 reviews

$2.99Deal80% off peak

Last checked: Jul 18, 2026

Price history: $14.99 – $14.99

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Price range: $14.99 – $14.99

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Perfect for you if...

You love high-stakes true crime where the stakes feel personal and the accused is genuinely difficult to judge.
You're fascinated by how niche communities (chess, gaming, academia) operate behind closed doors and protect their own.
You enjoy Mezrich's style of weaving individual ambition into larger cultural shifts, like tech disruption or generational change.

Maybe not for you if...

You need definitive answers and clear villains. The cheating allegation remains contested, and Mezrich doesn't resolve it neatly.
You have little interest in chess itself or don't care about the game's competitive ecosystem and rules.
You prefer slower, literary narrative styles over cinematic page-turners with rapid scene-switching.

About this book

In September 2022, nineteen-year-old American chess prodigy Hans Niemann defeated world champion Magnus Carlsen in a face-to-face match. Within days, Carlsen accused Niemann of cheating—an allegation that shook the chess world. Chess.com, the dominant online chess platform, launched an investigation that sparked global media attention. Checkmate tells the story behind this scandal: a teenager pursuing the top of the game, a world champion defending his legacy, and a centuries-old game transforming into a billion-dollar industry driven by streaming, sponsorships, and Silicon Valley investors. Ben Mezrich, author of The Accidental Billionaires and Bringing Down the House, draws on exclusive access to central figures to explore the competitive chess world where genius and ambition collide.

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Price History

Kindle price over time. Green zones = periods when the book was free.

$14.99 – $14.99

Currently on sale at $2.99 — 80% off peak. Price has dropped 1 time over the last 9 months.

Sales Rank

Amazon sales rank: lower number = better selling book. #1 is the bestseller.

Currently around #47K in the Kindle store — a steady mid-list seller. Climbing the charts — 60% improvement recently.

Rating & Reviews

Purple line = star rating over time. Blue area = total review count growth.

Currently 4.3★ from 154 reviews

Gaining approximately 39 new reviews per month. Steady word of mouth growth. Rating has dipped slightly from 4.7 to 4.2.

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Actual Predicted

This book is currently discounted at $2.99. It typically returns to around $14.99.

Prices shown in USD from Amazon US. We continuously pull new data to improve tracking. If dates look old, it usually means there has been no significant change since the last data point.

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