SOLVED. JV growing up story: boy finds out he's been playing chess with a GIRL! [s]

[Benjamin]

JV growing up/school story; I read it in the 90's. A boy moves somewhere new with his mom. He's angsty about something. He has a chessboard that he sets up in the hedge or bushes between his house and the neighboring property. I think chess was his connection with his absentee dad. Someone else finds the board and moves a piece while he's not there. He moves a piece in response, and they end up playing a chess game without meeting. It turns out to be a neighbor girl he thought he didn't like. The fact that he was playing chess with a GIRL blew my fourth-grade mind. The setting was somewhere really hot - maybe Arizona? - because both he and his mom drink a lot of orange juice. I think the cover had a large chessman knight on it or something.

[Benjamin]

Genre-wise, it was like Bridge to Terabithia in that the boy and the girl shared a secret place, he had a mild crush on the girl, and it was a bit dark and moody.

[Rachel]

Possibly Your Move, J.P.!? It's been a long time since I read it but the date is about right and it's definitely about a boy who plays chess.

[Benjamin]

No, in my book the boy doesn't like the girl at first and is even angry at her for messing with his chess board, but they end up friends by the end of the book. Also, chess is not the main focus; it takes place on the side (literally in the bushes). There's something going on at school that is the source of conflict, but I can't remember what.

[Liralen]

You might have some luck with these lists:

Best Books About Chess
Chess in Fiction
Best Chess Books
Chess-themed Fiction

[Benjamin]

Thanks, but I already tried those. The trouble is that the chess is a side story, not the central plot. I can't remember what the main storyline is. Also, those lists tend to be books for older readers, and this was younger JV.

[Juels]

Just Call Me Stupid by Tom Birdseye? He sets up his board in the oleander bushes in the backyard. There is a wall/fence between his yard and the neighbor girl's. He comes home one day and finds one of the pieces had been moved.

There is a preview on Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=Fon...

One of the alternate covers does have a white knight on it: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

[Benjamin]

@Juels That's it! Thank you, I have been looking for this book for weeks. The Google search result has the orange juice in it:

“And miss orange juice?” Paulette smiled and got the new bottle out of the refrigerator. She poured two glasses full, just short of the rim, then carefully raised hers.

[Juels]

You're welcome.