What are the motifs in Rules of the Game by Amy Tan?

The game of chess is a recurring idea in the story. The game of chess is explored in two distinct ways in the story. The first way is in a rules sense, where Waverly discusses the actual strategies of the game, such as "opening moves and why it is important to control the center early on," "the middle game," and "why it is essential in the endgame to have foresight." These are classic chess strategies, and read almost like an instruction manual.