History Main / SurpriseCheckmate

* In the teaser of an episode of ''{{Seinfeld}}'', Jerry gets one of these from the girl he's dating and [[ManHands breaks up with her because of it]].

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 you are checkmate, sir").

* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in the ''XiaolinShowdown'' episode "Oil in the Family," in which [[BrilliantButLazy Raimundo]] and an [[RuleOfCool intelligent, British-accented T-Rex]]. The T-Rex isn't playing to win: it's trying to trap/knock out Raimundo with the giant chess pieces so it can eat him. Raimundo, meanwhile, is focusing on the checkmating the T-Rex to win the showdown.

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

* In ''{{From Paris With Love}}'', the protagonist (and operative-in-training) does this to his ambassadorial boss, possibly to note the [[EstablishingCharacterMoment difference in their games]], literally and proverbially.

* While Macready is playing the "Chess Wizard" computer in ''TheThing'', he appears to be totally surprised when it checkmates him. He retaliates by pouring a drink into its circuits and shorting it out.

* ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'' - after a debate on belief between a monk and a military officer, the monk makes a surprise checkmate which he attributes to divine inspiration.

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

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

- This is even more unlikely than it seems. A piece that blocks one's own king from check cannot deliver checkmate, because the opponent could just capture that piece with the piece that was giving check. The second player must either capture the checking piece with a move that delivers checkmate, which would require that the first player be completely oblivious to the fact that the square he or she was moving to in order to give check was attacked multiple times, or actually move a piece that defends his or her own king from check and at the same time UNCOVERS an attack from another of his or her pieces which checkmates the enemy king.

* ''CowboyBebop'' episode "Bohemian Rhapsody". While playing a game of chess, Edward is completely surprised when her opponent puts her in checkmate.
** [[CloudCuckooLander It's Ed]].

* TheFilmOfTheSeries of ''Series/TheAvengers''. Steed moves his knight and puts Mrs. Peel's king in check, and she takes the knight with her queen, putting his king in checkmate.
* ''BladeRunner''. Under Roy Batty's guidance, J.F. Sebastian checkmates Dr. Eldon Tyrell in two moves, and Tyrell is surprised by it. Mirroring the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortal_Game Immortal Game]], Sebastian / Batty sacrifices a bishop to Tyrell before taking the game.
* ''FromRussiaWithLove''. While playing a high-level game of chess, a SPECTRE agent receives a secret message that he's needed elsewhere. His next move is so brilliant that his opponent immediately resigns. The opponent is clearly surprised, even though as an expert player he should have been able to see the move coming.

* The Movie, ''{{From Paris With Love}}'' The protagonist (and operative-in-training) does this to his ambassadorial boss, possibly to note the [[EstablishingCharacterMoment difference in their games]], literally and proverbially.

* ''BlazingSaddles''. 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.
* ''TheThing''. While Macready is playing the "Chess Wizard" computer, he appears to be totally surprised when it checkmates him. He retaliates by pouring a drink into its circuits and shorting it out.

Most of the time a "Surpise 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, walked his king into a checkmate in a winning postion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAWYQlElI4Q
* The infamous Kramnik/Fritz mate-in-one. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blunder_(chess)
* 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]].
* A check/checkmate situation does not necessarily involve the blocking pieve being then one checkmating the opposing king - it could also free the path for the checking piece or be used to take the opponent one's. Sounds a bit constructed, but happens quite regularily with new players.

* ''FromRussiaWithLove''. While playing a high-level game of chess, a SPECTRE agent receives a secret message that he's needed elsewhere. On his next move he checkmates his opponent. The opponent is clearly surprised, even though he should have been easily able to see the checkmate coming.
** Not actually a case of this, as the SPECTRE agent's move wasn't actually checkmate, but rather led to the opponent's immediate resignation. See the discussion [[http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/chess2/diary_13.htm here]] at 250, which also discusses how this game [[DidNotDoTheResearch differed from its real-life model]].

[[AC:Real Life]]

* HAL from ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' does the "number of forced moves" version. Notably, it was cheating and not all of them were really forced.

* This whole trophe is really a weird read for people who are a bit more into chess.
** Actually standard checkmate combinations in one, two or three happen quite a lot with new players. In fact a decently experienced player can almost rely on a new player to completely forget to protect a chesspiece and losing it for no compensation. A bit more experienced opponents will still fall almost reliably for standard combinations that also end up putting them into the material disadvantage.
** Also, its not true that chessmasters would actually be able to foresee three, or any other fixed count of moves. Thats how chess computers can approach the game, running at gigahertz speeds - but human brains, effectively being highly parallel computers working at the speed of about 2 hertz, wouldnt archive much this way. Instead, a chessmaster learns to recognize about 50,000 recurring standard motives that can occur in a chess game, and combines it with his "feeling" and "intuition" about the game, developed by playing the game for years and decades. This way a human chessmaster is able to do tricks like starting combinations over 20 moves that lead to a won endgame. And thats why even a professional player might sometimes miss a simple checkmate in one.

- It's even more unlikely than this. A piece that defends one's own king from check cannot deliver checkmate, because the opponent could just capture that piece with the piece that was giving check. The second player must actually move a piece that defends his or her own king from check and at the same time UNCOVERS an attack from another of his or her pieces which checkmates the enemy king.

However it is very justified if one of the players is not a chess expert.

* The climactic chess match in ''SearchingForBobbyFischer'' 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 veaten.

* ''TheAvengers''. Steed moves his knight and puts Mrs. Peel's king in check, and she takes the knight with her queen, putting his king in checkmate.

** Not actually a case of this, as the SPECTRE agent's move wasn't actually checkmate, but rather led to the opponent's immediate resignation. See the discussion [[http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/chess2/diary_13.htm here] at 250, which also discusses how this game [[DidNotDoTheResearch differed from its real-life model]].

* Used to [[PastimesProvePersonality define David Levinsen]] In ''IndependenceDay,''. 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.

* ''BlazingSaddles''. The Waco Kid is shocked when Sherriff 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.

[[AC:LiveAction T]]

* ''BladeRunner''. Under Roy Batty's guidance, J.F. Sebastian checkmates Dr. Eldon Tyrell in two moves, and Tyrell is surprised by it even though he's supposed to be a chess expert.

However it is very justified if one of the players is not a chess expert.