Most parents walk into a high-conflict divorce playing checkers. They react to the last move. They answer the message that just came in. They win the argument in front of them and lose ground they'll never get back.

Chess, Not Checkers is about the other way to play.

It's a practical guide to thinking strategically when the stakes are your children, your finances, and your future: understanding how the system actually works, building a record that protects you, writing messages a judge could read, recognizing bait and choosing not to take it, picking the battles worth fighting, and managing yourself so you don't damage your own case. It closes where it has to; with your kids, who are watching how you play, and with what winning actually looks like when the game is over. Written by someone who learned all of it the expensive way.

I wrote this book for fathers because that's the chair I sat in, and because it's an audience with very little written for it. The framework itself isn't about fathers. It's about thinking strategically rather than reactively when the stakes are your children, your finances, and your future, and it applies to any parent in a high-conflict situation. Readers who come to me for coaching work through this same framework, whatever side of the case they're on.

In mediation and parenting coordination, I don't take sides. Ever. That's the job, and it's separate from the writing.