The Chessmaster: Difference between revisions

* Gandalf's ulterior motive for organizing the Thirteen Dwarves and Bilbo's expedition in ''[[The Hobbit (novel)|The Hobbit]]''. He needed to do several things: investigate reports of Sauron's rise to power over Mirkwood, defeat a dragon that Sauron could bend to his will and use in the war, re-establish the strong Human and Dwarfish kingdoms of the area, and get everybody allied with each other, so that they could repel an invasion from the east that would allow Sauron to flank and crush Gondor. In the end, {{spoiler|Smaug was killed, Sauron was driven to Mordor, and gave the world warning of his impending arrival, The Battle of Five Armies greatly weakened the Orc's presence in the north, and the Kingdoms of Dale and Erebor were re-established}}. This gambit would work beautifully during the War of the Ring, as the force of Easterlings and Orcs that actually made it through the north alive was ''much'' reduced.

* In [[Len Deighton]]'s "SS-GB", an [[Alternate History]] novel set in a Nazi-occupied Britian, the character Mayhew is a formidable Chessmaster who uses the German Nazi occupiers and the British anti-Nazi underground for his pawns, and is described as fond of "playing God and writing the future history books". In his master stroke, unfolding in the later part of the book, Mayhew gets the underground to {{spoiler|smuggle King George VI out of the Tower of London where the Germans kept him imprisoned}}; then Mayhew betrays the underground and gets the Germans to {{spoiler|set an ambush, shoot and kill the escaping King}}; then he gets the underground to {{spoiler|rouse the British people against the "Nazi Regicides"}} and create the myth of {{spoiler|a matryred, heroic King}} (when in fact {{spoiler|the poor George VI had been a totally broken man)}}; then he gets the{{spoiler|the young Princess Elizabeth crowned Queen-in-Exile at Australia}}; then he gets the various rivaling Nazi factions in charge of occupied Britian {{spoiler|to engage in bitter infighting, blaming each other for the fiasco, and ending with one group of Nazis summarily executing}} the leader of the other group; and meanwhile, Mayhew's part in all this remains unknown, and he remains on excellent terms with both the Nazis and the underground and free to start working on his next gambit.

* Dorothy Dunnett's "Lymond" novels derive their titles from chess and feature two very chessmasterly characters whose opposition culminates in a terrible game of chess.

* Mr. Guppy of ''[[Bleak House]]'' WANTS to be a chessmaster, but his plains fail due to lack of opposition.

* "Absolute Justice" from ''[[Smallville]]'' features the secret agency Checkmate, with the Chessmaster in question being {{spoiler|Amanda Waller}}, orchestrating a series of murders and news leaks in order to {{spoiler|get the older generation of superheroes in the Justice Society of America motivated to get active again, and inspire the new generation of heroes, because the planet will need its heroes in a coming apocalypse.}}

* Considering ''[[Columbo]]'' has been often refered to as a verbal chess match between Columbo and the murderer of the week, it only makes since that he face down an actual Chessmaster at least once in the series run. The second season episode, "The Most Dangerous Match" features a grand master of chess, played by Laurence Harvey, who kills his rival after realizing he has no chance of beating him in an upcoming world championship match.

* The [[Meaningful Name|appropriately named]] villain Chess in ''[[The Cape (2010 TV series)|The Cape]]''.

* Literal example in former World Chess Champion Arkady Balagan in ''[[Endgame]]''. He uses his talents to solve crimes.

=== [[Tabletop Games]] ===

* In ''[[Old World of Darkness]]'', Kindred in ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' makes this about as literal as it gets. Powerful elders are known to play chess against each other; sometimes by themselves, others by Dominating skilled chess masters to play for them. The Jyhad being what it is, few games are actually played for fun. In the more complicated games, each piece has a corresponding real world henchman, location, or valuable resource. When that piece is taken, play is halted so that the attacking player can arrange for the relevant resource to be seized. Should a player advance a pawn, he can promote it to a piece previously taken and the matching objective is restored or released. And according to Camarilla social mores, to quit or forfeit a match should the losses become to severe would result in such a massive loss of status that it becomes less painful for the loser to see it through to the end and lose his stakes rather than quit and become a laughingstock. Such games can become so complex as to be microcosms of the Jyhad and can take years, if not decades, to play out completely, moves being sent to each other through trusted agents, letter drops, burnt into the skin of the ghoul assassin you sent against him whose body is left on your doorstep, etc. Savvy characters can learn much about an elder's political situation and resources just by seeing his chessboard.

 

 

* One of the Nod mission briefings in the original ''[[Command & Conquer]]'' has Kane, the series' quintessential Chessmaster, actually playing a game of chess while explaining the upcoming mission to the player. He even ends the briefing, and starts up the operation, with a smile and a simple "Your move."

* In the final assassination mission of ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'', {{spoiler|Robert de Sable reveals that Al-Mualim has been manipulating Altaïr into killing everyone who knew the secrets of the Piece of Eden, so that none could challenge him when he would use it to take over the Holy Land}}. In his final moments, he comments that everyone, including Altaïr and the other Templars, were just "pawns in his grand game."

** Note though, that unlike some of the other examples in this game, he did not subscribe to the notion of comparing war to Chess with a pretty convincing argument. Such as how war is very rarely ever fought in a scenario where both sides are evenly matched, or that there are never only ever two forces active on the board and not all of them share the same goal of capturing the King. This Troper had to paraphrase quite a bit, as he doesn't have the book on-hand, but the way Mengsk puts it is much more eloquent.

{{quote|'''Mengsk:''' First, the opponents are hardly ever truly even. The Confederacy of Man had Apocalypse-class missiles and my homeworld did not; the Confederacy played that card until Korhal IV was a blackened glass sphere hanging in space. Hardly even. ... Second is the idea of equal forces. The truth is that a better gun inspires a chemical counterweapon, which then inspires a telepathic strike, which then brings about an artificial intelligence guiding the weapon. The pressure of war does bring about growth, but it is never the neat, linear growth that you learn about in the classroom. Third is the idea of a level playing field. The chessboard is limited to an eight-by-eight grid. There is nothing beyond this little universe. No ninth rank. No green pieces that suddenly sweep onto the board to attack both black and white. No pawns that suddenly become bishops.}}

** The final battle against the Brain's Brotherhood of Evil actually takes place in a large room that resembles a gigantic chessboard.

* Vlad Masters of ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' is fond of using chess metaphors to describe his [[Evil Plan]].

* Hilariously averted in an episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' where Mr. Burns hires an assassin to kill Grandpa. After two botched attempts, the assassin suggests a [[Rule of Three|third option]] which he describes "as complex and precise as a well-played game of chess." [[Gilligan Cut|Cut]] to him bursting into the retirement home with a machine gun and [[A-Team Firing|firing wildly in all directions.]]

* Lawrence Limburger had a couple of episodes playing several factions against each other in ''[[Biker Mice From Mars]]''. This had to involve a chessboard with the people involved and a lot of [[Evil Laugh]]ter.

** In the graphic novel, Finch {{spoiler|goes as far as to almost stumble upon V's lair, but decides his ordeal is over when he fatally shoots V. Of course, this was all part of V's plan...}}

** V also uses a Domino motif for his plan.

* The Kingpin is another Chessmaster, especially where [[Daredevil]] is concerned. (Daredevil seems to attract them—even the two-bit villain Mysterio became one when he took on DD.)

* [[Thanos]] is a staple Chessmaster in many cosmic [[Crisis Crossover|crossovers]] in the [[Marvel Universe]]. It's frequently [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] how other characters (especially heroes) exist solely to be manipulated by him for whatever agenda he might have at the moment.

* ''[[The Obsidian Trilogy]]'' presents us with Queen Savilla of Shadow Mountain. She saw her father make certain that all the Races of the Light lived in fear of the demonic creatures called the Endarkened, and was forced to retreat alongside him after all who feared the Endarkened forged an alliance that nearly destroyed them. After... [[Klingon Promotion|inheriting]]... the leadership of demonkind, Savilla literally spent centuries insuring that most of the surface world more-or-less dismissed Demons as something from the distant past, kept the various races distracted with their own issues, and most importantly keeping the High Mages of [[The Magocracy|Armethalieh]] and the Wild Mages scattered elsewhere from making common cause for any reason. All the while using agents, catspaws, and even breeding programs to set up the next war to her advantage.

** Chired Anigrel only seems an understudy compared to the Demon Queen he worshipped since childhood. Managing to both attain [[The Man Behind the Man|effective control]] of Armethalieh and come within moments of {{spoiler|handing the whole thing over to Savilla.}}

* Gaius Sextus in the ''[[Codex Alera]]'' is one of these, though the limitations of trying to do this without inexplicable perfect knowledge of all events is clear. A lot of people became extremely angry at these tendencies, and many people considered him less "masterful" than "feeble" and blamed him for the situation of Alera.

** Lord Kalarus tries to be one of these, but while he has a few tricks, he's not nearly in control as he thinks he is. A good example of this is {{spoiler|when he conspires with the [[Wolf Man|Cane]] to raid Alera to distract attention from his rebellion. He expects them to bring a few hundred raiders. They bring ''thousands'' and have no intention of leaving.}}

=== Live Action TV ===

* Most ''[[24]]'' [[Big Bad]]s. Though most of them are even better at [[Xanatos Roulette|roulette]].

* Likewise the team of [[Hawaii Five-O]].

* Linderman of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' seems to have his hooks in everything, especially DL and Niki. His apparent omniscience is helped along by being a collector of art... particularly art made by a guy who paints the future.

* ''[[Exalted]]'' has the most powerful gods spending their time playing "the Games of Divinity".

** These games explicitly don't have anything to do with manipulating anyone - that's the job of the Sidereal Exalted, who constantly act as Chessmasters to ensure Fate follows its proper course. [[Memetic Mutation]] has cast the Games of Divinity as a cosmic [[Xbox]].

** Other grand schemers of the forty-first millennium include the Eldar's Laughing God and the C'Tan known as The Deceiver, prompting fan debates over [[Xanatos Roulette|who is responsible for any given plot]], [[Gambit Pileup|what happens when they work against each other]], or [[Mind Screw|who is simply a guise of another]]. There are also the Eldar Farseers, who use their prescient abilities to manipulate galactic events in their favor, and the Chaos Space Marines of the Alpha Legion, renowned for using sabotage, propaganda, or infiltration when their colleagues would just charge in with weapons blazing.

** Possibly also the Emperor - it is hinted that not only did he anticipate the [[Great Offscreen War|Heresy]] but also plans to be reborn when his phsycial form dies (which may well be soon)

* In ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'', the elders are like this. Their schemes unfold over ''centuries''.

* ''[[Changeling: The Lost]]'' has the Contracts of the Board, which allow the user, by utilising some form of strategic game, whether it's chess or cards or Candyland, to read opponents, send orders, and tweak fate through correspondences and the odd bit of cheating.

** Also, the rulebook ''Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberations'' describes mind flayers - a.k.a "[[Cthulhumanoid|illithids]]" - and their leaders the Elder Brains as often being this. They are manipulating politics and slowly working towards reestablishing the illithid empire that was lost long ago.

** The Illumians, introduced in ''Races of Destiny'', are a species of humanoids organized into cabals where they study and manipulate the world around them, ultimately hoping to accumulate enough power and knowledge to ascend to godhood.

** Dragons play ''xorvintaal'', the Great Game in which they use mortal servants as chess pieces to compete for each others' hoards. The game itself is [[Calvin Ball|far too complex for mortals to understand]], but in the small term can shape entire lives. In the long term, it shapes ''continents'' - [[World War I]] would have been a particularly complex ''xorvintaal'' maneuver, with [[World War II]] being a good counter-move. Just as a consequence of powerful creatures to who [[We Are as Mayflies]] getting bored.

*** An example: Dragon A uses his magic to cause a volcano to erupt, wiping out an entire town but forcing Dragon B to evacuate her hoard and leaving her vulnerable to attack by PC mercenaries hired by Dragon A. This would be considered a crude, noobish maneuver. A master of ''xorvintaal'', such as Dragon C, would rush to the volcano, see a family trapped in a burning house, and use just enough magic to save the boy. Over the coming years Dragon C supports the boy as he hones his skills as an adventurer, nurturing his hatred of Dragon A until he's ready to form a party to avenge his parents, afterward continuing as a loyal supporter of Dragon C. That's a character whose entire life was played like a chess piece in a game he may never become fully aware of. And Dragon B? The mercenaries that would have attacked her were instead wiped out by a party sent by Dragon D, a young vassal of Dragon C who is now owed a favor by a powerful rival, who Dragon C only wants around as a buffer against Dragon E...

 

 

** The cake must go to {{spoiler|theShadow Broker}}. He {{spoiler|killed his master and took control of his information network. He uses that network to keep himself in power, playing rivals off against each other and controlling galactic espionage in order to prevent anyone gaining the upper hand, and thus making sure his service are no longer.}}

*** And he is still [[Out-Gambitted]] by {{spoiler|his replacement, Liara T'Soni}}.

*** Both Starcraft and Brood Wars actually have several of them. The Overmind definitely counts, maybe also Dugall. Alan Shezar and Ulrezaj also count, if you take [[Blizzard Entertainment]]'s bonus campaigns as canon. Oh, and ''of course'' {{spoiler|Duran}} (who also qualifies as a [[Magnificent Bastard]]).

* In ''[[Sonic Adventure Series|Sonic Adventure 2]]'', Shadow the Hedgehog allows Eggman to believe that he is gathering Emeralds as a favor for waking him from a [[And I Must Scream|50 year sleep that his only friend put him in before she is killed]], then tells Eggman he can hold the world ransom with the Eclipse Cannon on the Space Colony ARK, when really Shadow has been doing all this just so the Cannon could destroy Earth. Why? Because in SA2, Shadow the Hedgehog really, REALLY hates human beings and just wants them to suffer. So much that even when his plan fails, he is content to watch the Earth be destroyed anyways even if it's by a way that wasn't in his plan.

* Malefor from [[Spyro the Dragon|The Legend of Spyro]] trilogy is a shining example. He's such a good example, it's hard to tell what WASN'T a part of his plan did he really intend to kill Spyro in the raid or did he want him alive to {{spoiler|set him free?}} Did Spyro really free Cynder or did Malefor let her free so {{spoiler|he could use her to lure Spyro to the Well of Souls to free him?}} And to top it all off, the [[Hannibal Lecture]] he gives the two when they finally confront them even has them wondering whether they'd done anything but play right into his claws.

* ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'' has {{spoiler|Levin/Raksha}}, [[Gambit Pileup|amongst others]]. Those "pointless" [[Sidequest|side quests]] you've been doing? Not so much.

* There are two real chessmasters in [[Eien no Aselia]], and in general they don't really show up until the last 15% of the game. {{spoiler|Temuorin}} is the big bad and set up the whole plot and {{spoiler|Tokimi}} interfered so that the game doesn't get a downer ending.

* Lord Alden in ''[[Vanguard Bandits]]'' is a literal chessmaster, being the best player on the continent and rumored to be undefeated. {{spoiler|Then [[Love Interest|Milea]] beats him in her second time playing the game at all.}} Meanwhile [[Big Bad|big bad Faulkner]], is more of the moving and controlling of wars type of Chessmaster. And he's very, very good at it.

* Mitadake Saga: {{spoiler|Keiichi Hideki.}}

* Mojo Nixon from ''[[Princess Pi]]'' relies entirely on such plans committing evil deeds.

 

 

** Scott Tenorman Must Die is the most chilling example. Even the main group acknowledges how dangerous Cartman is here. To add to it, [[Batman Gambit|he even uses Stan and Kyle to rat out his (fake) plan to Scott Tenorman.]] So beyond everything, everyone knew Cartman was up to something. [[Complete Monster|He just took it to the next level.]]

** Kyle's also shown to be quite capable of this, usually as [[He Who Fights Monsters|direct opposition]] to Cartman's elaborate [[Complete Monster]] moments. This is best seen in Le Petit Tourettes where he orchestrates an entire series of events to stop Cartman's faking of the disorder.

* Xanatos isn't the only one ''[[Gargoyles]]'' has to offer. Fox, Thailog, and the Weird Sisters all play close to Xanatos's own level (Thailog even bested him once). Demona does some of this, though she's often so hot blooded and/or generally screwed up that she'll inadvertently sabotage herself. [[Evil Sorcerer|The Archmage]] doesn't have the same skill as the above, but he makes up for it with [[A God Am I|the sheer grandiose nature of his ambitions]]. Also, [[Ancient Conspiracy|the Illuminati]] are implied to be a whole ''organization'' of these (at least, the ones at the top are).

* James McCullen makes a good ''attempt'' at being this in the ''[[G.I. Joe: Renegades]]'' episodes, playing the Joes and Cobra against each-other {{spoiler|1=but gravely underestimates who it is he's really up against in Adam DeCobray.}}

* [[Bill Clinton]] fits this trope in his handling of the Monica Lewinsky scandal and his subsequent impeachment. What was intended to be Clinton's downfall instead lead to the downfall of his main political rival, [[Newt Gingrich]].

* William Pitt the Elder can be credited for founding [[The British Empire]] with [[Plunder|conquests]] in the Seven Years War. He was Britain's and maybe the world's greatest Chessmaster of the eighteenth century and at least verges on being a [[Magnificent Bastard]].

* Mayor Cory Booker, depending on your Alternate Character Interpretation, and invoked indirectly by Ice-T ("Who is playing whom?"). After Conan O'Brian made a joke about Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Booker banned Conan from Newark Airport as a joke (which, required the TSA to clarify the counter-joke that no, a mayor cannot actually do that due to some people believing it to be true and being outraged). This resulted in a back and forth exchange between the two and ended up involving various other mayors of New Jersey (who sided with Conan... probably a trope) as well as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (acting as [[The High Queen]] and telling the two to works things out as Conan had, she claimed, been acting differently due to a [[Real Life]] head injury). It resulted in the two airing out their 'grievances' on air... which involved Mayor Booker and six of his family as well as a few other New Jersey residents getting flown out to California for Conan's show, Conan and Universal giving a 100K donation (half Conan's personal money and half he got Universal to match... cause he's Awesome that way) to his charity, and a Newark joke box in which 500 dollars will be put in whenever Conan makes a Newark joke (which may or may not remain in continuity). To quote Conan, "Boy, that was a really expensive joke!"

* Sun Tzu wrote a good guide on how to be the Chessmaster called ''[[The Art of War]]''. Although the primary focus groups are generals and monarchs, nearly all of it can be generalized to any chessmaster activity.

* Niccolo Machiavelli's book ''[[The Prince]]'' is another guide to this trope (or else a parody of such politicians). While Sun Tzu focused more on military strategy, Machiavelli focused more on political strategy and how to use them in order to gain power and how to keep it for a long time.

* The I Ching is a great book for Chessmasters.

** Although to be fair his kingdom was a bit stronger and more powerful than it had been under his predecessors (it was only his father who saw the English presence in France reduced to just Calais) and that Louis was helped to a large degree by Charles of Burgundy being his own worst enemy ("téméraire" means "reckless, rash" as well as "bold"). Also, the larger half of the duchy of Burgundy ended up in the possession of the another powerful neighbor, the Habsburgs.

* [[Otto von Bismarck]], who orchestrated several ''wars'' among Europe to manipulate the populace and political power to unite the German states into the nation that exists today.