Author Kyla Zhao’s Winning Strategy for Inspiring Young Readers

Author Kyla Zhao made all the right moves during her visit to Synergy School on October 10, 2025, captivating our Sun Room, Skylights, and Eastenders students. Kyla’s middle-grade novel, May the Best Player Win, tells the story of character May Li, a middle school chess team player whose love for and enjoyment of playing chess become overshadowed by the pressure to win. The novel tackles gender stereotypes as well as the high expectations often placed on children to perform well in and out of school.

Our students really appreciated how Kyla made her presentation fun and engaging. One student shared afterwards that it’s sometimes hard for them to focus for so long, but Kyla kept their attention throughout by playing interactive games. Kyla encouraged audience participation with guessing games about puns, chess, famous first lines, and more.

Beyond entertainment, Kyla delivered meaningful content that resonated deeply with students and teachers. Kyla explained how chess is a very male-dominated space (women make up only 11% of players globally) and shared how her childhood experience competing in chess tournaments inspired her to write May the Best Player Win. A student remarked that it was powerful when Kyla discussed how she loved playing chess but felt lonely as one of the few girls playing at a competitive level.

Students and teachers appreciated Kyla’s clear explanations about the writing process—from developing interesting characters and ideas for stories, to the reality that good writing takes many drafts. Skylights teacher Rea Inglesis noted that when Kyla showed six versions of the book’s cover, it “helped her make a great point about not getting hung up on first drafts and the iterative process of creating good work.”

One of the most memorable moments was when Kyla mentioned that she could touch her nose with her upper lip—and after the presentation, when a student asked her to demonstrate this skill, she did! The students were absolutely delighted by her willingness to be playful and authentic with them.

The enthusiastic questions and the line of students waiting to talk with Kyla afterward spoke volumes about the impression she made. Chess fever has gripped Synergy School, with students gathering around multiple chessboards in the school yards.

We’re so grateful to Kyla Zhao for sharing her time and talent with our Synergy School community.