Xanatos Speed Chess: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Some characters have an amazing gift not only for convoluted plans but for revising them whenever new circumstances arise. And then pulling it off. Even a [[Gambit Pileup]] does not prevent this character from working around it to success.

While the plots can be as complex as a [[Gambit Roulette]]—or at least end up that way—they tend to function rather differently. The plotting character tends to be more [[The Trickster]] than [[The Chessmaster]]. We usually follow, if not the plotter himself, then characters near him, so we can see his continual and brilliant improvisations. This is also likely to be pulled off by heroes, rather than villains -- [[The Good Guys Always Win|one reason why it is likely to succeed]]. The other is that the plot is always teetering at the edge of failure, making its success more [[Rule of Drama|dramatic]].

 

 

Xanatos Speed Chess is one of the defining marks of the [[Magnificent Bastard]].

 

Compare [[Indy Ploy]], which is similar; the distinction here is that Xanatos Speed Chess involves changing an existing plan quickly, while an [[Indy Ploy]] involves there being ''no'' plan whatsoever.

 

* {{spoiler|[[Complete Monster|Kurata]]}} from ''[[Digimon Savers]]'' seemed to be very good at this, often losing individual battles to the heroes (after nearly defeating them to begin with) but ''always'' having some sort of backup plan that would ensure his ultimate victory.

* Attempted and failed by Zao in [[Sand Land]].

* Being a [[Complete Monster]] and a [[Magnificent Bastard]], [[Monster (manga)|Johan Liebert]] is able to change his plans on a whim. Because of this, his plans almost always work out...{{spoiler|[[Spanner in the Works|until the end.]]}}

* Why Hanbe from ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'' is considered a genius: he has a plan for every possible outcome.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* ''[[Sleeper (Comic Book)|Sleeper]]'' (along with its prequel ''Point Blank'') by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips is pretty much built out of this trope, with Tao and Lynch using ever more convoluted plans to entrap each other and manipulate [[Double Agent]] Holden (who has plans of his own).

* Marvel's [[Thor|Loki]] and his spiritual twin [[Dr. Doom]] are both masters of this trope and employee it regularly. Loki uses it more due to his preference for indirect manipulation and lies.

 

== Film ==

* Josh and his crew from [[Tower Heist]] (an [[Affectionate Parody]] of heist films like [[Ocean's Eleven]]) start out with a plan, but when things go south Josh proves himself a master of this trope.

* Details from the beginning of the ''[[The Lion King]]'' strongly imply that Scar's initial plan was to have Simba killed only, so he'd remove competition for the throne. It wasn't until the hyenas failure to kill Simba due to Mufasa's interference, as well as Banzai's sardonic question of whether Scar should kill Mufasa to get the throne that Scar even considered the idea of murdering Mufasa in the first place.

 

== Literature ==

** There is a set of four short stories, collectively a novella, where [[Timothy Zahn]] and Michael Stackpole collaborated. In very, very short it involved Thrawn going in disguise, reporting a Rebel meeting near the home of a criminal who supported someone that Vader hated but wasn't allowed to interfere with, and calling down the nearest Imperial forces. He ended up working a pair of planetary policemen into that plan, getting them in through a convoluted scheme and letting them arrest the man. We never, ever get to see his thoughts, but at the end he confesses to a trusted subordinate that he hadn't known about the policemen, but when he saw them and determined they were after that criminal, it was too good an opportunity to miss.

** In [[Outbound Flight]], Thrawn's plan is to destroy the Vagaari threat, and he uses all the new species and technology and ships he encounters for the first time over the course of the book to do so. ''All'' of them. Humans, a stolen gravity-well generator, Neimodians, droids, the Trade Federation, Darth Sidious, Outbound Flight, Jedi... ''all'' of them. Magnificent.

* Jeeves of [[P. G. Wodehouse|PG Wodehouse]]'s ''[[Jeeves and Wooster (novel)|Jeeves and Wooster]]'' pulled this off once or twice, when his first plans failed.

* The modus operandi of Havelock Vetinari in the [[Discworld]] books, especially later in the series.

** Victor Cachat specializes in these kinds of plays, usually with only a general plan to guide his decisions.

** The Mesan Alignment (and Albrecht Detweiler in particular) is playing its own game of Xanatos Chess, albeit on a much slower time scale. Just how successful they are remains to be seen.

* [[Big Bad]] Ublaz Mad Eyes and [[The Starscream|Starscream]] Rasconza play this in ''[[Redwall|Pearls of Lutra]]''.

* Trying to get someone else framed for a crime, especially for attempted murder, is probably harder than committing the crime itself, so I think we can forgive the culprit in ''The Missing Clue'', the last of the Usborne Whodunnits series for younger readers, for ultimately failing. But boy could he think on his feet. Being the screenwriter for a popular soap opera, he managed to frame his target not just once but, failing that, made a second fresh attempt within a single day while only touching the weapons once. With the series of arrests this triggers, he's then forced to not just make his third attempt - framing a third person by getting them to murder his target on live TV - but to write up an entirely new script in the same period of time. That's diligence.

* David from ''[[Animorphs]]'' plays a mean game too, which is only appropriate as Senna is his [[Expy]]. It takes him being saddled with the [[Villain Ball]] before the Animorphs are able to defeat him.

* ''[[Neuromancer]]'' - the AI Wintermute describes himself this way: "I try to plan, in your sense of the word, but that isn't my basic mode, really. I improvise. It's my greatest talent. I prefer situations to plans, you see..." The plot of the book never makes a big point of this, though: when Molly decides to take a detour and when {{spoiler|Case gets tricked by Neuromancer into thinking he's Wintermute}}, he doesn't manage to stop them.

* Crowley from ''[[Good Omens]]'' pulls this when two Dukes of Hell are sent to {{spoiler|drag him back down to... well, [[Captain Obvious|hell]]}}. After Crowley's [[Crazy Prepared|Plan A]] works on only ''one'' of his foes, he turns to Plan B, which fails in record time. Time for Plan C! ...Unfortunately, there ''is'' no Plan C. He comes up with Plan C on the fly, which boils down to tricking the Duke, Hastur, into {{spoiler|[[It Makes Sense in Context|chasing him into]] ''[[It Makes Sense in Context|phone lines]]'', winding back and forth over miles and miles of cable, and then timing his own escape ''perfectly''... back into Crowley's own apartment, where his own phone was ringing, at the ''exact moment'' before his answering machine picked up}}. The result? Hastur {{spoiler|is now trapped in Crowley's ''answering machine''}}. Doubles as a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for Crowley.

* Phaethon from [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[The Golden Oecumene|The Golden Age]]'' starts off with a straightforward plan, which unfortunately [[Didn't See That Coming]]. Fortunately, he's also an engineer and believes in triple redundancy. The rest of the book is basically him working down the Xanatos index one by one.

* Duke Vincentio in [[Shakespeare]]'s play ''[[Measure for Measure]]'' pulls this off. After his initial plan to rescue Claudio fails, he changes tack to a brand new strategy almost immediately.

* In the [[New Jedi Order]], General Wedge Antilles proves to have some skill at this on Borleias. He's trying to strategically lose to fool the Vong forces, while keeping his own as intact as possible, when the ''Lusankya'' and the ''Millenium Falcon'' come into system in exactly the wrong time and place. He couldn't let those be destroyed, so he has to rearrange forces that were in retreat to rescue them, while still preserving as much of his fleet as possible. And he does, and it is [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|awesome]].

{{quote|The tactic he needed clicked into Wedge's mind. In the span of a second, he evaluated it, tested it for major weaknesses, dismissed the weaknesses as irrelevant because of the Yuuzhan Vong's current state of confusion, and decided that he could probably use the tactic again - once - at a later time.}}

* Tavi from The Codex Alera by Jim Butcher is an exemplar of this trope. In book five, across the ocean from his home continent, surrounded by anthropomorphic wolves who easily outclass him, he plays a game of Xanatos Speed Chess with limited resources against a villain who has hundreds of thousands of extremely powerful fodder. AND WINS.

 

* The Doctor from ''[[Doctor Who]]'' is a renowned master of the [[Indy Ploy]]. However, on those rare occasions where he actually has a semblance of a plan, if things go awry he'll tend to only pause momentarily in shock before dashing off to salvage victory regardless. The [[The Chessmaster|Seventh Doctor]], who ''always'' had a plan, did this more often than not (including at least one long, drawn-out game with an Ancient Evil from the Dawn of Time).

** [[Arch Enemy|The Master]] has his own knack for turning bad situations to his advantage - witness {{spoiler|his magnificent comeback from ''accidentally'' destroying about a quarter of the universe to holding the rest to ransom}} in 'Logopolis'.

**** Unfortunately for him, {{spoiler|he gets [[Out Gambit|out-gambitted]] by Rassilon, Lord President of the Time Lords, who fixes the population of Earth with a wave of his hand. He then proceeds to tell the Master he's [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|outlived his usefulness]] and, well, the Master [[Heroic Sacrifice|decides to take his revenge]].}}

** The fifth season of the revived series ended with not one, but two, quite brilliant examples by the Doctor himself. {{spoiler|The first to save the universe and the second to save himself, both fully exploiting the possibilities of time travel in a way he doesn't usually try}}.

** Chuck, if you think about his true identity. He can play Xanatos Speed Chess with the best of them, though he is very secretive about it and never reveals his true intentions ( {{spoiler|Of course, being as he's GOD, this is quite easy for him and his intentions are always for the Greater Good}}).

* Lionel Luthor, obviously, from ''[[Smallville]]'' is breathtakingly good at this. To examplify: When Chloe is blessed/cursed with the gift of having anyone answer her questions truthfully, she does of course start asking Lionel questions. {{spoiler|He realizes what's going on after the first question and immediately counter-attacks her on her weak spots, thereby distracting a highly intelligent, pretty fearless and incredibly nosy young woman from using her golden chance to get into the secrets of a powerful, rich baddie. She could have asked questions every moment, she was just too stunned to do so.}}

*** Of course there were several instances where the audience thought this was happening, but it was really just the plan working perfectly (for instance, when the bad guy becoming wise to the con was actually part of the con).

** This trope only kicks in for them when their [[Batman Gambit]] is about to go awry, which is roughly once an episode. Their use of Xanatos Speed Chess is to draw the villain back to the gambit and/or away from discovering [[The Masquerade]].

* Annie in ''[[Community]]'' episode [[Community/Recap/S1/E09 Debate 109|Debate 109]] is able to thwart an attempted [[Batman Gambit]] by {{spoiler|passionately kissing Jeff, causing him to drop Simmons.}}

* The Cranes from ''[[Frasier]]'' are masters at this whenever they get into a tight situation (i.e., most episodes), as are Roz and Daphne. Granted, they frequently fail on a level or two by the end of the episode, but the skill and slickness with which they lie, manipulate events, think up new plans, and navigate a tangled thicket of cross-purposes and plot threads to keep everything running smoothly for 20 minutes of airtime is impressive to watch.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* [[Forgotten Realms]] God Cyric. His [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] and claim to master of Xanatos Speed Chess comes during a Trial where the other gods claim he is unfit for his duty as Greater God of Strife, Lies, Murder, and other nasty things due his (fake) holding of the [[Idiot Ball]] for years. The thing is, Cyric SET UP the trial as a way to get the gods to bow down and worship him through use of the Cyrinishad, his book of evil that convinced anyone, god or mortal, that Cyric was the greatest god ever and only true god. When his lackey failed to get the Cyrinishad on time and had the wrong book, Cyric immediately had two other ways of assuring he would win the Trial. And he did. The aforementioned lackey being made into a demi-god of lies, even though he couldn't tell a single lie due a curse from the goddess of magic. Cyric said this made him perfect, because the best lie is the most unbelievable truth, once again showing Cyric is a Xanatos master. Oh, and he also gained the loyalty of an [[Eldritch Abomination]] during the course of all this and tends to threaten his enemies with the thing occasionally.

** It's probably worthwhile to note that, at the same time as all those groups work against each other, Tzeentch is playing an additional 1000 games of Speed Chess against himself, and at least 100 more against each of the other Chaos Gods. When you have literally thousands of Gambit Roulettes in action all at the same time (and almost all of them are solely because you love doing it), you tend to have to do a bit of multitasking. Then again, Tzeentch IS the [[Magnificent Bastard]].

*** And insane. Or, possibly worse, very ''very'' sane.

** Actually averted the better one gets at the game- there's a limit to how much strategies can be modified without bending one's deck and game out of shape. Good play is more like using this trope to back up a straight [[Batman Gambit]].

** This is the only way to play the card game ''Fluxx'', because the rules of play and victory conditions are constantly changing.

 

== [[Theatre]] ==

{{quote|'''Roxane:''' On his brow he bears the genius-stamp;

He is proud, noble, young, intrepid, fair...

'''Cyrano:''' Nothing; 'tis... ''(He shows his hand, smiling)'' This scratch! }}

 

== Toys ==

* ''[[Bionicle]]'': Makuta didn't take the rescue of the Matoran of Metru Nui into account, though managed to get past that. When part of his plan called for leaving his body, he didn't expect it to be destroyed by the end, but he still managed to keep his plan going smoothly, {{spoiler|[[Grand Theft Me|taking over]] [[A God Am I|Mata Nui's body]] and the Matoran World within it at the end of 2008's arc}}.

 

== Video Games ==

*** {{spoiler|Eject the station's bridge, which houses her mainframe. The player responds by gaining access to the bridge and manually purging her from the computers.}}

** The second game originates from the player's actions in the first game. {{spoiler|The incubator that the player jettisons in the first game is discovered and found to be overrun by SHODAN's spawn... and SHODAN herself had a backup on the computers. This probably happened by chance, however, and not through SHODAN's plan.}} SHODAN acts more as a [[Manipulative Bastard]] in the sequel, however, manipulating the player with less of a multitiered plan.

** He probably gets it from Master Xehanort. {{spoiler|Wanna know about the Keyblade Wars? Recreate them. Need someone to turn into the X-Blade for you? Grab some orphan no one will miss. Orphan not quite what you need, but it's too late to drop him? Cut his heart in half and see if that works. Getting on in years and the plan's not quite done? Find some [[Unwitting Pawn]] to commit [[Grand Theft Me]] on. Pawn, orphan, and their [[Spanner in the Works|spanner-friend]] wise up to all this? Lure them to your home turf and take them out that way.}} It's actually ''way'' more complicated than even that, but this guy is [[Crazy Prepared|on top of ALL OF IT]].

*** Perhaps it should be renamed "Xehanort Speed Chess"?

* Though it's hard to tell what he's thinking, Jon Irenicus in ''[[Baldur's Gate|Baldur's Gate II]]'' seems to do this. His original plan is simply to experiment on Imoen and the player character in his own personal lair. However, this runs into trouble when Shadow Thieves attack him, his prisoners escape and, on top of all of this which he could have handled simply by virtue of his great power, the local wizard authorities get wind of the unsanctioned use of magic and teleport in to arrest him. Killing hundreds of them is not the path of least resistance even for him, so he suddenly decides to go peacefully, but making sure they also arrest Imoen. They are both taken to a wizard asylum, {{spoiler|which Irenicus soon takes over, continuing his experiments with Imoen and waiting for the player character to come after him.}} The player character already has two potential motives for doing this - wanting revenge on Irenicus and to rescue their "little sister" - but a third one is added when Irenicus somehow appears in their dreams and speaks of {{spoiler|unlocking their potential as a descendant of a god, speaking as if the player character could gain great power though he really has no interest in giving it to them but rather just stealing it away. Unless that's just the Bhaal in you talking and not Irenicus at all.}} (This is also, in a way, the game masking its [[But Thou Must!]] plot element. You ''have'' to go after Irenicus and Imoen, but at least you get to pick your motivation out of a fair selection.) The player may make various choices along the way and {{spoiler|choose to ally or not with two characters who are actually Irenicus's pawns, but the end result is the same - in a non-contrived way - and they end up just where Irenicus wants them.}}

** Also {{spoiler|Amelissan}}, the [[Big Bad]] in the expansion. She's playing the Five and all the Bhaalspawn against each other to destroy all, and when the player character appears literally out of nowhere, rather than letting them mess up her plans she immediately turns them into her principal pawn. Of course, [[Xanatos Gambit|if the PC failed to kill one of the others, she'd just have got rid of the PC and could go on with her other tools as planned before]]. Of course, this has the unintended side effect of singling out and even training for herself an opponent more powerful than all the others...

* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Sephiran]] of ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn'', to a lesser extent [[Magnificent Bastard|Lekain]] of the same game.

** Still not sure if Bastian is utilizing this trope or [[Gambit Pileup|another one...]]

{{quote|'''Zidane:''' Why send me?

'''Kuja:''' Because Oeilvert has a magic barrier, and I'm sending you because you're too stupid to use magic. }}

* In ''[[Modern Warfare]] 2'', {{spoiler|General Shepherd}} proves to be a mean player of this. Sure, he didn't expect {{spoiler|Price}} to {{spoiler|fire a nuke at Washington D.C.}}, but he capitalized on it ''very'' quickly in the subsequent cutscene; before {{spoiler|the nuke even hits, he's already convinced the Secretary of Defense that the nuke was fired by Makarov, and gets government approval to track Makarov down with what is essentially a blank check.}}

* Happens in ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'' whenever two AI's go up against each other, perhaps the most epic instance being Durandal vs Tycho in ''Marathon 2''. Durandal pretty much always ''eventually'' wins.

*** {{spoiler|The real [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] part here was the attempt on the part of the Reapers to [[Make Sure He's Dead|recover his dead body]].}}

*** It is worth noting that Sovereign was only killed when his gambits failed - Shepard {{spoiler|alerting the Fifth Fleet, killing his Dragon and then killing his avatar}}

** {{spoiler|Shepard escaped capture and took out the Relay? Wait until ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' comes out.}}

** {{spoiler|From previews, some conjuncture...Port in over Earth, while Shepard is there, and take over the planet via superior force. With the humans out of the way, take over the galaxy one step at a time, also making sure to use minions to destabalize everyone else.}}

* This is part of what makes Malefor from [[The Legend of Spyro]] such an effective [[Chessmaster]]. Spyro turns out to be alive and frees his [[Dragon]] from his control? {{spoiler|Trick Cynder into luring Spyro to the Well of Souls and freeing him.}} In fact, taking Cynder in the first place may have been an adjustment in response to {{spoiler|Spyro's egg not being present at the Dragon Temple.}}

 

* Kotomine of ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' has a pretty good one of these in Heavens Feel. Plan A: start with sending Lancer to figure out who everyone is, where they are and how strong. {{spoiler|Crap, after roflstomping True Assassin he got his heart pulled out and eaten.}} Ok, uh, well we still have Gilgamesh, and he's pissed about the serial killings going on. {{spoiler|Damnit, he got eaten too.}} Fine, we'll set up {{spoiler|Sakura, the monster eating everyone}} to turn into the gate and destroy the world. Uh oh, the [[MacGuffin Girl|Core of the Grail]] just got hijacked, time to [[Enemy Mine|team up with Shirou to recover it.]] Oops, True Assassin came after him and humans can't kill Servants with the tools he has. {{spoiler|Guess we'll destroy Zouken's body, using my fake heart as a decoy and ''then'' drive off Assassin.}} Woops, the Grail doesn't like me and {{spoiler|just destroyed my heart.}} And, breaking the narration, he still makes it to the end of the path and ''still'' nearly unleashes a plan that is in fact ''much worse'' than the scale of what he was trying in the first two. Plus, Shirou's ideology has been neatly discarded, and Kotomine really hated it.

** Archer's plan in "Unlimited Blade Works". His repeated gambits to {{spoiler|kill Shirou and set up either himself and Rin or a Rin/Saber team as the winners of the Grail War by playing Caster, Kotomine and the protagonists against each other}} are truly inspired.

* Maou from ''[[G Senjou no Maou]]'' has a gift for revising convoluted plans on the fly, being an expy of [[Code Geass|Lelouch]], which is how he keeps beating the protagonists, even until the very end.

 

== Web Comics ==

* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'', Gil needs to get into the castle and have it be known that he did—so his father knows, and doesn't attack it. His [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20081103 plot to convince the crowd that he's Gilgamesh Wulfenbach] convinces them that he's putting on a show. So—he tells them they're right, and by this means lures them to the castle and breaks the truth them only there. (With some unexpected backup from his friends.)

** Additionally, in chapter 6, both Tarvek and Anevka Sturmvoraus seem to be playing Xanatos Speed Chess with each other for control of Sturmhalten and The Other, executing back up plan after back up plan. Tarvek even says in [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060906 this strip] that "None of this was in my original plan, but it's all working out so beautifully!"

* Helen Narbon, of ''[[Narbonic]]'', is another case where the fanbase—and even the characters in the strip—are never fully certain if Helen is playing Xanatos Speed Chess, [[Gambit Roulette]], or if she's just luckier than anyone has any right to be. At several points, it seems Helen, herself, is not certain.

{{quote|{{spoiler|'''Artie''': My last thought before blackout is this: That every aspect of my nature--my mind, my sense of ethics, the body in which I currently reside--seems, now, engineered for this moment, for shielding this woman from impact. I have never been able to fathom the disjointed workings of Helen's mind. Did she surmise that someday she would be in danger? Did she create me specifically to save her life? And, if she really can plan this far ahead, why couldn't she just find a way to avoid the whole stupid situation? I always knew I'd die with a headache.}}}}

** It doesn't help that some Sunday strips have suggested mad scientists may be able to see the future to a limited degree.

** And demonstrates ([[Idiot Ball|Sort of?]]) his prowess... on the OTHER [[The Chessmaster|Chess Master]], [http://www.erfworld.com/2009/10/summer-updates-039/ here].

* ''[[Freefall]]'': Sam Starfall wanted to get Florence into (and safely back out of) the heavily guarded campus of Ecosystems Unlimited, and maybe ''borrow'' some things while they're there. This means improvising and readjusting his plans when circumstances ask for it, like [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01604.htm stuffing crickets in his pants], [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01669.htm releasing them into the fire detection system], and [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1700/fc01682.htm creating a makeshift disguise].

* The scene taken from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' to demonstrate speed chess is actually a poor example, being at best an aversion. Bun Bun is not actually manipulating events, he is simply moving dolls on a chessboard to reflect events outside his influence, a fact that enrages him when it's pointed out.

* The leader of a team of magical thieves in ''[[The Dragon Doctors]]'' starts off with a straightforward plan to rob a hospital of valuable materials, but are continually stymied by one lone surgeon defending the hospital. Elizabeth (the leader) continually adapts her plan towards a profitable solution even as all her teammates are taken out one at at time, and if it hadn't been for a slip-up she'd have still gotten away with it.

 

== Web Original ==

** The villian in "The Big Idea" tries to play this, but needless to say, ends up failing miserably."

* The [[Villain Protagonist]] of ''[[The Salvation War]]'', Michael-lan, is a master of this trope.

 

== Western Animation ==

{{quote|'''Dragonelle''': Sir, I take personal responsibility for the failure of Chaos Strike.

'''Dread''': Mmm, you're too hard on yourself, my dear. The great pyramid has been desecrated, and the explosion's left no evidence to trace the crime to us. Tensions in the region will rise, as planned. Besides, the test of the Dread probes was a qualified success, certainly more R&D is required. But I believe our ultimate victory is right at hand. }}

 

== Real Life ==

** With an occasional meteor or other massive natural disaster as a [[Spanner in the Works]].

* [[American Civil War]] general, George B. McClellan. He believed that victory went to the commander who outsmarted his enemy. McClellan was always trying to decide what old Lee would have done and then come up with a really elaborate counterstrike that would wreck his plans. But his methods led to a loss as to what the ''objective'' was, leading him to pass up opportunities where all that was needed was a direct attack following a plan no more complicated than "keep shooting until the other side is all dead".

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Improvised Index]]

[[Category:The Plan]]

[[Category:Plots]]