When eight-year-old Beth Harmon's parents are killed in an automobile accident, she is placed in an orphanage in Kentucky. Plain and shy, Beth learns to play chess from the janitor in the basement and discovers she is a prodigy. Though penniless, she is desperate to learn more--and steals a chess magazine and enough money to enter a tournament. Beth also steals some of her foster mother's tranquilizers to which she becomes addicted. At thirteen, Beth wins her first chess tournament. By sixteen she is competing in the U.S. Open Championship and by eighteen she is the U.S. champion and Russia awaits.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.