Rules of the Game by Amy Tan Summary

Rules of the Game is the story of a young Chinese-American girl who becomes a world-class chess player. The narrator, Waverly, called Meimei by her family, has a hard time living between the Chinese world of her mother and the outer, "American" world. When her brother Vincent gets a chess set at a church Christmas giveaway, their mother wants them to throw it out, but instead, Meimei teaches herself to play. She starts playing in the park with old men, and eventually in competitions. She is known as the new Bobby Fischer. However, at the end of the story, Meimei's mother is taking her around Chinatown, showing off, and Meimei balks at this. Thinking she is embarrassed of her background, her mother reacts very badly and at home, Meimei experiences coldness...