The study on gender stereotypes and chess performance that Defne mentions in the book is real. It was published by Maass et al. in 2008 in the European Journal of Social Psychology, and then replicated by several other research groups in the following decade. Fun fact: it’s the study that first sparked my interest in chess.
In 2008 I was trying to decide what to focus on for my undergraduate thesis, and in one of my classes I came across the concept of stereotype threat: when people find themselves in situations in which their social group is stereotyped to be inferior, they are more likely to perform poorly (I highly recommend you check out Claude Steele’s original study on the topic, and anything by Nalini Ambady’s group, but if you run into paywalls the Wikipedia entry will do). I was immediately interested in the idea, and delighted to find out that there was a research group on stereotype threat in my uni. I started reading their studies, hoping to convince one of the profs to take me on as an advisee, came across the chess study, and the rest is history. Okay maybe not history, but: I’d learned how to play the game as a child (very poorly), but I’d never thought about the players much. I hadn’t known about the gender gap, but once I found out I began looking forward to seeing it bridged. The idea of a story set in the world of chess percolated through my head for years— until 2021. I was anxiously waiting for my adult debut to come out, and it was finally time for me to write “my chess book.” Full disclosure: when it comes to the chess, I took lots (AND LOTS) of poetic licenses to move the story along (plot before realism?) and if you noticed them . . . I’m so sorry. I hope you were still able to enjoy Mallory and Nolan’s journey.
(Also, in case you’re interested: the prof did end up taking me on!)