History Main / CrazyPeoplePlayChess

*** Morphy's case is a bit more complicated: he was a very talented attorney (he had the entire Louisiana Civil Code committed to ''memory'') and wanted to be remembered more for his legal career than his chess career (this was at a time when chess was considered a somewhat disreputable pasttime in the United States). He was frustrated that chess had overshadowed his law practice and gave up the game completely ([[BoringInvincibleHero he'd also beaten anyone even remotely in his league and would only play by giving odds of pawn and rook]]). Unfortunately he was never able to set up a successful law practice because his chess fame kept potential clients distracted from their actual cases.

** Akiba Rubinstein. Another famous player who was among the first of the endgame experts. His schizophrenia became so bad that, at one point, he would leave the chess table and literally go curl up in a corner and try to hide while his opponent was considering his next move. According to ([[BasedOnAGreatBigLie a completely unverified but nevertheless popular]]) legend, the Nazis didn't take him to the concentration camps (despite his Jewish heritage) because he was so delusional and pathetic that they didn't see the point.

* ''[[TwoThousandAndOneASpaceOdyssey 2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' -- A GeniusBonus for chess enthusiasts is found in the game that HAL 9000 and Poole play; although HAL predicts mate, there's actually a way for Poole to avoid it. A subtle hint at HAL's error-prone nature...

* ''2001ASpaceOdyssey'' -- A GeniusBonus for chess enthusiasts is found in the game that HAL 9000 and Poole play; although HAL predicts mate, there's actually a way for Poole to avoid it. A subtle hint at HAL's error-prone nature...

TropesAreNotBad, of course; if the portrayal is CrazyAwesome, thn no harm done.

TropesAreNotBad, of course, if the portrayal is CrazyAwesome, than no harm done.

->''It's easy to get obsessed with chess.''
-->-- '''Magnus Carlsen''', Highest rated chess player of all time

** A chess team from Bethelahem Mental Asylum (the place that gave us the word "bedlam") once defeated a team from Harvard University.

** Charles Bloodgood. Sent to jail for murdering his mother, he played thousands of correspondence games and games with other inmates. He also wrote a book on the Grob opening (1. g4). He was even given a furlough to go play in a chess tournament (he attempted to escape and was hauled back to prison).

-->-- '''Magnus Carlsen''', 2nd highest rated chess player of all time

** Reymond Weinstein, an International Master who had beaten noted players Reshevsky and Benko, was deported after assaulting a man, then institutionalized after killing another. He plead insanity and was sent to a psych ward. After he'd been in a psychiatric hospital for some time, he requested a transfer, because he was able to beat any of the other inmates in his own asylum at chess.

* Ami in Anime/SailorMoon plays an opponent who is such a lunatic that he paralyzes different parts of her body as she loses her pieces.

* The Sewer King in ''HeyArnold''.
** In a bit of subversion,he is '''horrible''' at playing:Arnold beats him in a few moves seven times in a row.He however admits having only rats to practice with...

** Alexander Alekhine, the 4th world champion. A brilliant player who took down Capablanca and who won his championship back from Euwe, himself a genius in his own right.

Expect the effect to be [[BeyondTheImpossible greatly intensified]] when certain chess variants are played instead, such as 3D chess, chess with a round board, chess with many new pieces, chess where you can't see your opponents pieces, 4-player chess, and even chess with random (and shifting) rules.

* Famously, in VladimirNabokov's ''Literature/TheDefense'', the chess grandmaster is so tormented that his whole life disintegrates. Even when he resolves to abandon chess for the sake of his sanity, he finds that he can't.

-->-- '''GKChesterton'''

Many writers view TabletopGame/{{chess}} players as not just [[SmartPeoplePlayChess brilliant]], but also mad as a hatter. As a result, this trope shows up in various works featuring chess or similar games such as go. Expect rants about conspiracies against the player, bizarre and borderline-OCD match behavior (such as demanding that spectators be seated in a symmetrical manner around the board, or throwing out people whose watches are ticking a bit too noticeably), and, in some cases, violent rage (culminating in [[RageQuit flipping the board]]) or total depression. Expect someone to proclaim at one point that 'It's only a game!', and more often than not, the madman will disagree.

There are a few different reasons for this trope. Some writers may genuinely believe it, or may be alluding to specific RealLife players who were known for being a bit off. Others may be trying to develop AnAesop about the dangers of obsessions; the mad player in this case is almost always someone who spends almost all their time in isolation studying the game. There could also be anti-intellectual messages; if [[SmartPeoplePlayChess smart people play chess]] and chess players are nuts, then smart people in general must be crazy.

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!! Examples

* ''{{Film/Brainwashed}}'', based on the novel ''The Royal Game''.

* ''{{Literature/Zugzwang}}'', by Ronan Bennett, features a chess master named Rozental who begins the story on the verge of a complete mental breakdown.

* ''{{Series/Endgame}}'' is about a chess grandmaster who becomes a {{hikikomori}} and cannot leave his hotel due to paralyzing fear.

* Freddy Trumper in ''{{Theatre/Chess}}''. In some versions of the play, including the official one, his anti-Soviet rantings at a press conference convince the press as well as most of the Russians that Freddy is delusional. In the Broadway version, he gets worse, with Florence angering him to the point where he goes through a drawn-out breakdown while filming a TV interview.
** Trumper may be based on RealLife World Champion (and nut) Bobby Fisher.

* Several famous chess world champions and top players:
** Wilhelm Steinitz, the 1st world champion. Had a mental breakdown and was institutionalized. Allegedly tried to challenge God to a chess match, and believed himself to have telekinesis (only for chess pieces) as well as something like a wireless phone, over a hundred years before the latter existed.

** Bobby Fischer, the 11th world champion. The man who took down the Soviet chess machine. Also a raving anti-semite ([[BoomerangBigot despite being Jewish]]), ConspiracyTheorist who thought that the Soviets (and later, the Jews) were trying to assassinate him or at least screw up his games, and all-around nutjob.
** Akiba Rubinstein. Another famous player who was among the first of the endgame experts. His schizophrenia became so bad that, at one point, he would leave the chess table and literally go curl up in a corner and try to hide while his opponent was considering his next move. According to ([[BasedOnAGreatBigLie a completely unverified but nevertheless popular]]) legend, the Nazis didn't take him to the concentration camps (despite his Jewish heritage) because he was so delusional and pathetic that they didn't see the point.
** Carlos Torre-Repetto, a somewhat obscure player who was still able to beat Emmanual Lasker (2nd world champion). One day, while on a bus, he decided to strip completely naked for no apparent reason. On another occasion, he stripped and ran down a busy public street. He was eventually institutionalized.
** Aron Nimzowitch, another famous chess player who revolutionized the game. Would occasionally stand on his head during matches, claiming it helped him think. Unlike Fischer, his paranoia didn't extend to thinking that people were trying to kill him or ruin his games; he did, however, believe that restaurant chefs were conspiring to give him less food than everyone else.
** Paul Morphy, often considered to be one of the best chess players of all time, is often considered to have been at least a little mad. There's no real evidence for this, but it's why they call him 'The Pride and Sorrow of Chess'
** Henry Pillsbury, who won the 1895 Hastings tournament (a tournament of the elite players of the era. Both Steinitz and Em. Lasker were there). In a fit of insanity, he attempted to leap from a 4th floor hospital window. The syphilis that killed him is also commonly thought to have induced a mental breakdown.

** Alexander Pichushkin, who tried to kill sixty-four people (and did kill fifty-two), one per square on the chessboard. He was a casual player, who often enjoyed his matches in the same park where he buried his victims.
** Charles Bloodgood. Sent to jail for murdering his mother, he played thousands of correspondence games and games with other inmates. He also wrote a book on the Grob opening (1. g4). He was even given a furlough to go play in a chess tournament (he attempted to escape and was hauled back to prison).
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-->-- '''Viktor Korchnoi''', grandmaster

* In one episode of ''{{Leverage}}'', Ford has to play in a speed-chess tournament. His opponents include a guy who sleeps through the whole match and only wakes up in brief spurts to move. He still is trouncing Ford until Sophie intervenes.

* CriminalMinds had Caleb Rossmore, a chess champion unsub who copycatted the Zodiac killer.