NWPL and Yankee Bookshop welcome Ben Mezrich back with another investigation—this time into the high-stakes world of chess. Josh Mezrich, Ben’s brother, will talk with him about his new book, Checkmate: Genius, Lies, Ambition, and the Biggest Scandal in Chess.

In September 2022, the unthinkable happened: nineteen-year-old American chess prodigy Hans Niemann defeated world champion Magnus Carlsen in a stunning face-to-face match. Within days, Carlsen accused Niemann of cheating—a bombshell allegation that rocked the chess world. As the scandal spiraled, Chess.com—the dominant force in online chess—launched a high-stakes investigation, igniting a global media firestorm.

But Checkmate is about more than a cheating scandal. It’s the story of a teenager willing to risk everything to rise to the top; a reclusive genius suddenly fighting to protect his legacy; and a centuries-old game transforming into a billion-dollar industry fueled by streaming, sponsorships, and Silicon Valley power players.

With exclusive access to the central figures, Ben Mezrich takes readers deep inside the weird, wild, and cutthroat world of competitive chess—where genius meets ambition, and every move could be your last.

Free and open to all! Seating is limited; first-come, first seated.

Ben Mezrich is the New York Times bestselling author of The Accidental Billionaires (adapted by Aaron Sorkin into the David Fincher film The Social Network), Bringing Down the House (adapted into the #1 box office hit film 21), The Antisocial Network (adapted into the 2023 film Dumb Money), and many other bestselling books.

Joshua D. Mezrich is an award-winning surgeon and Professor of Surgery at the University of Wisconsin. He is the author of Every Living Creature: How Xenotransplantation Will Change Our Lives, the history and promise of inter-species organ transplantation, published by MIT Press this spring.