Surprise Checkmate: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

In fiction, checkmate more often than not comes as a complete surprise, leaving the losing player baffled and the winning player smug about his intellectual superiority. Often paired with a handsome remark ("I believe, sir, that this is checkmate"). This works very well if the work is emphasizing the loser's obliviousness, but quite a few works use this trope to emphasize the winner's skill and foresight, no matter how unrealistic that might be. (Also, giving the audience a clear view of the board is only optional.)

Related to [[Chess Motifs]].

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* In the ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' episode "Bohemian Rhapsody", Edward is completely surprised when her opponent puts her in checkmate. Her opponent is also surprised when Ed announces a move that will one-mate him, but then decides to not do it. Of course, Edward is an idiot savant with no formal chess training and her opponent is senile, so either of them being surprised at the other isn't really that surprising.

** Though considering he ''is'' Roy Mustang, it's entirely possible he'd deliberately played poorly ''just'' to surprise him with his true skill that one time.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* One issue of ''[[Black Panther]]'' has him facing off against the Kingpin in chess, using the game as a metaphor for their coming conflict. Kingpin gets him in check and talks about how he'll always be several steps ahead, and is then immediately checkmated. When this appeared on ''Scans Daily'' a suggestion for followup dialogue was given.

'''T'Challa:''' Indeed. You will find that I [[Badass Boast|do not play by your rules.]] }}

* Though not a checkmate, an example between [[Iron Man|Tony]] and [[Fantastic Four|Reed]] during [[Marvel Civil War|Civil War]] came close enough. The two are having a debate whilst playing chess on 10 different boards or so, and at the end of the conversation, Reed's been put into check on all 10 boards ''simultaneously''.

== [[Film]] ==

* ''Knights of the South Bronx'' has an especially [[Egregious]] example: the final game ends with three consecutive checks from one of the boys, followed by a checkmate from his opponent.

** See the discussion [http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/chess2/diary_13.htm here] at 250, implying the opponent may have thrown the game. It also discusses how this game differed from its real-life model (despite [[Did Not Do The Reseach|the research being done]], implying it was intentional).

** In the book, the agent in question was already one move away from forcing his opponent to concede when he received the message, and everyone present knew it. He was questioned by his superiors about the fact that he didn't report in until after he finished the match. Kronstein replied that if he left a tournament when he was minutes away from victory after receiving a note, everyone would assume the note was from the KGB (As his public knew he wasn't the kind of person who'd leave a match unfinished), which he was obliged to conceal. He then covered up his rather abrupt departure after the match by publicly claiming that the note said one of his children was seriously ill (moving said child into the hospital for a week to support this alibi).

* Used to [[Pastimes Prove Personality|define David Levinsen]] in ''[[Independence Day]]''. Levinsen is playing chess with his father, and announces checkmate without any fanfare, even getting up and leaving as his dad is protesting that it's ''not'' checkmate. After further (futile) analysis, Dad is forced to concede defeat a short time after David is gone. Later on, David uses a chess metaphor to explain what the aliens are doing as they position their ships. He sees the terrifying checkmate before it happens, in enough time to save several major characters.

** [[Truth in Television]], as many players will utterly deny being in a mate, proposing move after move that the winner will then point out to be invalid moves as they fail to remove the deadly check or relocate the king into a ''different'' check.

* In ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'', the Waco Kid is shocked when Sheriff Bart checkmates him to end their game. This is particularly hard to believe because it occurred when there were very few pieces on the board and it should have been easy to see the mate coming.

* The climactic chess match in ''[[Searching for Bobby Fischer]]'' does not end in a checkmate, but the two players keep moving pawns down files well after the losing player should have realized he was beaten.

** Justified in that the losing player was playing a game he wasn't used to (speed chess), and is also about ten years old to boot: he's an excellent player, but he's still a kid. He just missed it.

* The ''[[Frasier]]'' episode ''Chess Pains'' culminates in this trope.

* Averted by Reed in an episode of ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' when he announces "mate in 12".

* In ''You Wish'', Gillian wishes for telepathy so she can deal with her kids better. She changes her mind, but she and Genie finish up the episode with a telepath vs. telepath chess game. She takes the wind out of his sails with the check-followed-by-checkmate variant.

 

== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==

* ''[[FoxTrot]]''. Roger loves chess and invariably loses, despite his eternal hope that he'll win next time. Crowning example: he lets Jason have the first move, and Jason proceeds to rattle off a winning string of notation (The ''[[Press Start to Game Over|four-move Scholar's Mate]]'', [[Genius Bonus|if you're paying attention]]) without Roger setting up the board.

** The exact surprise can vary. For one Sunday comic, Roger spends multiple panels realizing the game is over no matter what he does. Andy wearily says, "Face it, Roger -- you win." He begs for one more game anyway.

 

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* In one episode of ''[[Futurama]]'', two robots are playing chess. All the pieces are in their starting position, and the robot playing white announces a checkmate in some large amount of turns. The astounded robot playing black exclaims that he's lost again and offers the robot playing white a rematch.

 

* Most of the time a "Surprise Checkmate" only happens when a player is in time trouble. (Time trouble does not happen in fiction often). However, there are examples of it happening when a player is not in time trouble:

** In Japanese chess Habu, an enteral Meiji, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAWYQlElI4Q walked his king into a checkmate] in a winning position.

** Two more cases of grandmasters walking into mate-in-one can be found [http://streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.com/2007/01/worst-move-on-board.html here].

* Pretty much any time a 4-move checkmate or one of its variants happens is a surprise to the losing player.

** And sometimes, it's a surprise to BOTH players, like in [http://turneringsservice.sjakklubb.no/viewgame.aspx?TID=TromsoBymesterskap2012-TromsoSjakklubb&GROUP=&gameno=43 this game]. White wins a piece in move 14, but opens up the opportunity for a four move checkmate.

* Obviously occurs far more often when one player is a new to the game.

* Although it's rare, there have been games at the master level where a check was answered by a checkmate. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1009425 Chessgames.com] lists six such games between 1850 and 2002.

 

[[Category:Game Tropes]]

[[Category:Surprise Checkmate]]