Smart People Play Chess: Difference between revisions

While this is a popular trope with [[The Chessmaster]] and the [[Magnificent Bastard]], it's not limited to them, and having a ''[[The Ditz|dumb]]'' character (try to) play chess [[Hilarity Ensues|is good for laughs]]. A variation is having a pair of idiots play [[Checkers|draughts]] with a chess set.

 

 

If the normally very bookish character ''really'' [[Beware the Nice Ones|loses his temper]], he might end up [[Flipping the Table]] instead.

* The fact that [[The Chessmaster]] is ''named'' [[The Chessmaster]] is an example.

* [[Chess with Death]] is also an example. It's about trying to out-think Death with a game, but why do we name it after chess? This trope.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* Kaname from the ''[[Vampire Knight]]'' manga.

* In ''[[Kaichou wa Maid-sama]]'', Hirofumi Koganei challenges several Seika Academy students to a game of chess to prove his superior intelligence, noting that he is the fourth best player in Japan. Takumi Usui [[Curb Stomp Battle|curbstomps]] him handily.

* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V]]'', there's [[Arc Villain| Jean-Michel Roget]], the Director of Sector Security in ARC-V's version of Neo Domino City, in the Synchro Dimension. A man who fancies himself [[The Chessmaster]] Roget seems fond of actual chess. He always has a chessboard with him, and is able to represent a Duel's progress through the board by moving the pieces accordingly to the situation as if he was the one dueling, going he was playing it, speaking in monologues of how he is "ahead" of "his" opponent. However, in reality, this is a [[Downplayed]] example, as most of his plans and actions so far were foreseen by Declan (a far better Chessmaster), thus making Roget not so smart at all. of course, he's a great deal smarter than a lot of his moronic henchmen, one of which ignores Roget's orders due to his own ego; Roget is also smart enough to ''fire'' him for it.

* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', a heated match ended in 1 win for Mustang, 97 losses to Grumman, and 15 draws. Breda and Falman also have signs of this.

* Played with in ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]'': Hyperintelligent Inspector [[Spell My Name with an "S"|Runge/Lunge]] tells some subordinates to not "waste time with such a boring game."

* Invoked in ''[[Legend of Galactic Heroes]]'' with Yang Wenli, who proves himself time and time again to be one of the smartest and deadliest men alive and occasionally is seen playing chess. Inverted in that he kind of sucks at it.

 

== Comic Books ==

* [[Fantastic Four|Mr. Fantastic]] and [[Dr. Doom]] can play a game of chess ''in their heads'', while wandering Doom's castle in Latveria, while having various other deep discussions, with some [[Xanatos Speed Chess]] besides (i.e. Doom launching an attack on the other three with Reed having set some countermeasures in motion).

* In an issue of ''[[Justice League]]'', Mr. Terrific plays two games of chess against Red Arrow and Black Canary... blindfolded!

 

== Fan Works ==

* Related to the ''Justice League'' entry above: ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3648035/1/ The Big Question.]''

 

* During the Matchmaker scene in Disney's ''[[Mulan]]'', the heroine briefly passes by a game of [[wikipedia:Xiangqi|Chinese chess]], then makes a move that clearly benefits one side.

* ''[[Star Wars]]'' features R2-D2 and Chewbacca playing holographic chess ("dejarik") during the trip to Alderaan, suggesting R2's intelligence, Chewbacca's temper, and C3PO's timidity. And an [[Fridge Brilliance|early example]] of Chewbacca's [[Genius Bruiser|high intelligence]]. It's only later that we see him doing starship repair and rebuilding destroyed protocol droids.

* All of the live-action ''[[X-Men (film)|X-Men]]'' movies prominently feature scenes of chess. The first two feature Professor Xavier and Magneto playing against each other, a tradition started in ''X-Men First Class''. Later, this becomes a metaphor for their struggle over the future of mutantkind

* In the second [[Sherlock Holmes (film)|Sherlock Holmes]] film, Holmes and Moriarty frequently play against each other.

* Inverted in ''Bad Company'', in which Chris Rock's character is adept at chess. He's street smart, but not book smart.

 

== Literature ==

* Happens regularly in [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' novels:

** Lord Vetinari has an elegant Thud! board in his main viewing room, and plays it remotely with a friend in Uberwald.

** The Assassin's Guild are also said to play "Stealth Chess", a chess variant with an additional "assassin" piece. Vetinari is a grandmaster of this game.

** [[Da Chief|Samuel Vimes]] can't ''stand'' chess; he doesn't understand why the pawns don't overthrow the kings and set up a republic. While a bit [[Book Dumb]], Vimes is still one of the <s>smartest</s> savviest people on the Disc.

** A running joke is that Death hates playing chess because he can never remember how the knight moves.

* In Raymond Feist and Janny Wurts' ''Empire'' trilogy, characters who are good at chess are inevitably good tacticians, especially the lords of House Anasati, and their utterly unbeatable [[True Neutral]] genius advisor.

* "Stones" (a fictional game that bears a resemblance to the Chinese boardgame Go) fulfils this trope in ''[[Wheel of Time]]''. Morgase Trakan, Pedron Niall, and Thom Merillin are all master Stones players and excellent strategists and politicians, and often make observations about other characters based on their ability at the game. Matrim Cauthon is a strategic whizz and rather a good Stones player, but too impatient to beat the best players. The villainous Moridin is described at a master not just of Stones but of every game of skill he's ever bothered to learn and, [[Chessmaster]] that he is, tends to visualize his entire [[Evil Plan]] as a vast boardgame where he controls all the pieces on both sides.

* One of [[Artemis Fowl]]'s covers was a chess prodigy. The guard, also a chessmaster (not [[The Chessmaster|that kind]]), didn't believe it, and challenged him to a game. Artemis [[Curb Stomp Battle|beat him in six moves]].

* In ''[[The Dark Tower]]'' series, Smart Tacticians Play Castles.

* [[One-Shot Character]] Kurt from ''[[The 39 Clues]].''

* A short story, "Check ... and Mate," focused on main character Freddy bonding over chess with his girlfriend's father, who'd regarded the young fellow as an [[Upper Class Twit]] until discovering he was '''very''' good at the game. Freddy, for his part, hadn't much liked chess back when his grandfather taught him, but now his prospective father-in-law was such a excitingly challenging opponent....

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** Subverted in the 1st season episode "The Corbomite Maneuver", which has Spock making chess references left and right, trying to use it as an analogue for the situation the ship finds itself in. Kirk eventually realizes that the best game analogue should actually be poker, and proceeds to bluff the alien ship about what would happen if he fired on the Enterprise. The alien buys it (or is at least intrigued enough by the bluff to play along).

* ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]''

* Inverted in ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody]]''. Maddie is smart and London is really, really dumb, yet Maddie can't beat London at chess.

* ''[[The Suite Life On Deck]]'' had an example similar to the Zack and Cody one. After losing an arm wrestle to Bailey's redneck boyfriend, Cody suggests that he's probably not so good at more intellectual endeavors such as chess. Wrong.

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* Inverted in ''[[FoxTrot]]'': the [[Bumbling Dad]] Roger is almost always clueless, and he's the only one in the family that enjoys chess. Jason, the smartest of the family, only plays when Roger ropes him into a game, and wins in three moves.

 

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* White Wolf's ''[[Exalted]]'' brings us Gateway, a Chess-extract used to teach military strategy and politics to the children of the Scarlet Dynasty. Most members of the Dynasty are Terrestrial Exalts... superhumans with sometimes reflexive mastery over elements, regular skills (each individual with their own 'prodigy' knacks), and lives that often extend up to and beyond three centuries. the 'Hunting Cat' rule variation allows Gateway to serve as a meditative game of solitaire, while monks use the 'Spirit Frog' rule variation as an allegory to teach philosophy and ethics. It might be aptly said that Gateway is what Chess would be, if Chess were designed by people who had gotten bored with Chess.

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Saints Row]] The Third'' has the chess matches between Pierce and Oleg.

* ''[[Escape From St. Mary's|Escape From St Marys]]'': This is the game of choice for the "A level" students in the game.

 

== Web Comics ==

** Aquaman is also shown playing against Shayera Hol—reportedly, she used to give Batman a run for his money, but now she's barely even trying, demonstrating how much of a funk she's been in.

* [[Subverted]] in ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' episode "The PTA Disbands": Bart is seen in the park playing several games of chess at once; he loses all of them. A parody of a scene in ''Knight Moves''.

* In one episode of ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'', Cyborg and Raven, generally portrayed as the two smartest team members, are shown playing chess with each other.

** The [[Big Bad|Brotherhood of Evil's boss]] and his [[The Dragon|Dragon]] are seen playing chess as their minions engage the various international Titans.

* Done subtly on ''[[Phineas and Ferb]].'' [[Mad Scientist]] [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate|Dr.]] [[Herr Doktor|Doofensmirtz]] seems to be a fan of chess. When he is bored, he suggests that he and Perry use his travel chess set. He even schemes to freeze every evil scientist nemesis and turn them into a live [[Human Chess|Animal chess set.]]

* [[Family Guy]]: Brian/Stewie play chess during their cross-country trip with Quagmire.

 

== Real Life ==

 

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[[Category:Index of Exact Trope Titles]]

[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]

[[Category:Game Tropes]]

[[Category:Intelligence Tropes]]