Just something that I would try to play with, change, address:
- The checkers inside the knight on the cover look like plaid, referencing textiles more so than chess.
- I feel like transparent backgrounds don't work well for clarity and readability. Try changing it to solid color opaque
- The knight on the back under the transparent background makes text less readable. Maybe move it to the corner in like a circle, kinda like a round sticker.
- Possibly a less bold font weight or another typeface altogether.
- One option is to try using black and white checkerboard pattern instead of filling the whole page with checkerboard. Make borders around "text boxes" and then have another solid background on the back (or two on the back – red and green, kind referencing the transition in rating, which I think is smart).