Major characters in the story are Waverly Jong and her mother Lindo.

Her novels, stories, and essays brim with support for strong mother-daughter and woman-to-woman relations. According to Shodgrass, The huge following for Amy Tans writings attests to her success at feminist and universal themes. Finally, the writer turns to her favorite feminist theme. Amy Tan tracks the theme mother versus daughter throughout the story, displaying how their conflict emerges and develops. Generational and cultural gaps lead to misunderstanding between a mother and a daughter. However, chess can ruin the relationships between the two generations. Besides, chess improve logical thinking and transform a player into the strategist. It can be a chance to become famous and prove people that one is worth something. This story shows that chess can be more than just a game. Main themes of this story relate to chess as a game of life, generational and cultural gap. However, she realizes that chess became a part of her life forever. When Waverly finally protests against that, she becomes an average girl again. After that, her life becomes different, she becomes able to prove that she is better than Americans, and her mother starts using her to show off. Nevertheless, the situation changes when Waverly learns how to play chess. Since her childhood, the girl realizes that Chinese are different from Americans, and that they need to work really hard to prove they are not worse. Therefore, Waverly appears to be an average girl with average childhood. Readers notice immediately that there is a strong connection between them.

The story begins with the introduction of the protagonist, Waverly Jong and her mother Lindo.

Themes of the rules of the game