Surprise Checkmate: Difference between revisions

== [[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.

 

== [[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.

* In the teaser of an episode of ''[[Seinfeld]]'', Jerry gets one of these from the girl he's dating and [[Minor Flaw, Major Breakup|breaks up with her because of it]].

* 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]] ==

 

== [[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.