Leo the fox has a $5$ by $5$ checkerboard grid with alternating red and black squares. He fills in the
grid with the numbers $1, 2, 3, \dots, 25$ such that any two consecutive numbers are in adjacent squares
(sharing a side) and each number is used exactly once. He then computes the sum of the numbers in
the $13$ squares that are the same color as the center square. Compute the maximum possible sum Leo
can obtain.
1. **Identify the color of the center square:**
   - The center square of a \(5 \times 5\) checkerboard grid is the square at position \((3, 3)\).
   - Since the grid alternates colors, and assuming the top-left corner is red, the center square \((3, 3)\) will also be red.

2. **Determine the color pattern:**
   - The grid alternates colors, so the red squares are at positions where the sum of the row and column indices is odd (since the top-left corner is red).

3. **Count the number of red squares:**
   - In a \(5 \times 5\) grid, there are 13 red squares and 12 black squares.

4. **Understand the movement constraint:**
   - Leo places the numbers \(1, 2, 3, \ldots, 25\) such that any two consecutive numbers are in adjacent squares (sharing a side).
   - This implies that moving from one square to another changes the color of the square (since adjacent squares have different colors).

5. **Sum of numbers in red squares:**
   - Since the numbers are placed consecutively and adjacent squares have different colors, the numbers in the red squares will either all be odd or all be even.
   - The sum of the first 25 natural numbers is \(\frac{25 \times 26}{2} = 325\).
   - The sum of the numbers in the black squares will be the sum of the even numbers or the sum of the odd numbers, depending on the starting number.

6. **Sum of odd numbers from 1 to 25:**
   - The odd numbers between 1 and 25 are \(1, 3, 5, \ldots, 25\).
   - The sum of the first \(n\) odd numbers is \(n^2\).
   - There are 13 odd numbers between 1 and 25, so their sum is \(13^2 = 169\).

7. **Conclusion:**
   - The sum of the numbers in the 13 red squares (same color as the center square) is the sum of the odd numbers from 1 to 25, which is \(169\).

The final answer is \(\boxed{169}\)