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Hermione Granger: "That's totally barbaric!"
Ron Weasley: "That's Wizard's Chess."
— Watching a chess piece demolishing another[src]

Wizard's Chess is the magical variant of the classic board game Chess, in which the pieces are enchanted to move of their own accord when commanded by the player. When a piece is taken, it is removed by the attacking piece, often in a barbaric manner where the losing piece is smashed violently by the winning piece.

Description

Chess set

"Exactly the same as Muggle chess except the figures are animated and can be directed like troops."
— Description[src]
Wizards-chess-set-lrg

A Wizard's Chess set

The chessboard is a type of checkerboard that consists of 64 squares (eight rows and eight columns) arranged in two alternating colours (light and dark). The colours are called "black" and "white" (or "light" and "dark"). The Chess pieces, or chessmen consist of one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns.[1] The chessboard and chessmen are exactly like Muggle chess pieces except they are magically animated, possibly using Piertotum Locomotor.

Instructions

Players move their pieces by speaking the name of the piece and the square it is to move to by algebraic notation. For example, "Knight to E5". Aside from the self-moving pieces, the rules of Wizard's Chess are exactly the same as Muggle chess. The moving pieces seem to be reasonably sentient, as seen when Harry Potter began learning how to play the game, he used Seamus Finnigan's pieces, which offered him conflicting advice because they knew that he was not a good or experienced player.[2]

History

Ronald Weasley owned a wizard chess set which he inherited from his grandfather. Unlike many of his hand-me-downs possessions, the second-hand chess set was advantageous as the pieces trusted him. When Harry Potter played with Seamus Finnigan's chess men, they did not trust his judgement and offered him advice.[2]

During the Christmas feast, in a number of Wizard Crackers, Harry obtained, among other things, his very own Wizard's Chess set. He later broke it in by losing, once again, to Ron (although Harry saw this more as the fault of Ron's brother, Percy Weasley, who stood over his shoulder and gave him advice). In addition, Hermione Granger lost at the game much to her annoyance, for which Harry and Ron believed was a good experience for her.[2]

Chessboard Chamber

Main article: Chessboard Chamber
File:Tumblr lvsgurxjwX1qgt0vro1 500.gif

The giant Wizard's Chessboard

In 1991, Minerva McGonagall chose to put an enormous Wizard's Chessboard in the third of the Underground Chambers acting as security for the Philosopher's Stone. Harry played as one of the black bishops, Hermione as a rook, and Ron as a Knight. Using his extensive knowledge of chess, Ronald Weasley managed to get himself, Harry, and Hermione Granger across, ultimately sacrificing himself to the White Queen so that Harry could checkmate the King. Fortunately, Ron later recovered.[3]

Known players

Behind the scenes

  • In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the game was depicted with the chess pieces destroying each other (presumably to be fixed with the Mending Charm at the end of the game), but in the book the pieces simply knock each other out and drag captured pieces off the edge of the board.
  • In the film the captured pieces were, in order: Black Pawn, White Bishop, Black Queen, White Knight, Black Pawn, Black Bishop, White Knight, Black Rook, Black Knight, White King.
  • Ron's chess set depicted in the film is a replica of the 12th century Lewis Chessmen.[citation needed]
  • Gryffindor student Kenny Markham was a Wizard's Chess fan and collected chess pieces.

See also

Appearances

Notes and references

  1. Chess on Wikipedia
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 12 (The Mirror of Erised)
  3. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 16 (Through the Trapdoor)
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