This pattern is included in Joyful Colorwork Socks: 25 New Knitting Patterns for Fun & Whimsical Footwear Featuring Pets, Games, Food, Hobbies & More which was published in November 2024.
Available as a book or ebook in most book stores.

These Checkmate socks were designed to celebrate our love of playing board games with friends and family. Whether you prefer
playing chess or checkers, the simple pleasure of evenings sitting around a table playing board games together should be celebrated
with a cozy, easy-to-knit pair of socks! Using the checkerboard as my inspiration for the design, I felt a gradient contrast color yarn
would hold our attention longer when knitting this simple pattern rather than using just two plain colors.

These socks are knit from the top down using just two yarns. Starting with a ribbed cuff, the pattern has a fun and easy-to-knit checkerboard square pattern repeated throughout
the leg and foot. There is a short row heel, so the colorwork pattern can be knit without disruption along the foot.
Stitches are decreased for the toe and then grafted together.

Sizing
1 (2, 3)
To fit (foot circumference): 8 (9½, 10¾) inches / 19–21 (22.5–24.5, 26–28) cm
Finished circumference: 7 (8½, 9¾) inches / 17.5 (21, 25) cm

Yarn
MC: Fingering weight, Lang Yarns Jawoll Sock (75% wool, 25% nylon/polyamide), 230 yds (210 m) per 50-g skein
CC: Fingering weight, Happy Sheep Magic Sock Wool (70% superwash wool, 30% polyamide), 437 yds (400 m) per 100-g skein
Shown in
MC: Black 04 (2 skeins)
CC: Rainbow 01 (1 skein)
Any fingering-weight sock yarn can be used for these sock patterns as long as you can obtain the same gauge. Other substitutes for the gradient sock yarn would be Zauberball
from Schoppel Wolle, Lang Yarns Jawoll Magic Degrade or Knit Picks Stroll Gradient.

Gauge
36 sts x 44 rnds = 4 inches (10 cm) for ribbing and stockinette.
34 sts x 38 rnds = 4 inches (10 cm) for colorwork.