History Memes / Chess

* Sacrifice... THE ROOK! [[labelnote:Explanation]] A running gag on IM Levy Rozman/GothamChess's Chess analysis videos where he announces rook sacrifices by SuddenlyShouting. It's an internet meme (and, frankly, just a good idea) that if you can sacrifice the rook for a great winning position, you should do so.[[/labelnote]]

* Sacrifice... THE ROOK! [[labelnote:Explanation]] A running gag on IM Levy Rozman's Chess analysis videos where he announces rook sacrifices by SuddenlyShouting. It's an internet meme (and, frankly, just a good idea) that if you can sacrifice the rook for a great winning position, you should do so.[[/labelnote]]

* Worstfish[[labelnote:Explanation]]An unofficial chess bot that's [[ZeroEffortBoss even weaker than Martin]] as it actively tries to lose. It's named after one of the most powerful chess bots, Stockfish, and even uses its AI -- except it picks the worst possible move in any situation instead of the best. Players have tried to ''lose'' to it on purpose, which is much harder than it sounds.[[/labelnote]]

* Mittens[[labelnote:Explanation]]A January 2023 Chess.com bot that appears to be a CuteKitten with a Glicko-1 rating (skill level) of 1. This is false information, for Mittens has an actual rating well into the 3500s and will ''[[CurbStompBattle wipe the floor]]'' with most seasoned players. A lot of its quotes imply that it's a transcendent being. When it was removed in February 2023, many players expressed their sentiments.[[/labelnote]]

* Martin[[labelnote:Explanation]]Designed for beginners, Martin is the worst bot on Chess.com, [[ArtificialStupidity making obvious blunders on the regular]]. Players seeking a SelfImposedChallenge will often give Martin a huge advantage, while commentators either dunk on how bad the bot is, or on the flipside, praise him as a MemeticBadass. He still gets this reputation even after a ''weaker'' bot in Oscar was released with a Glicko-1 rating of 200 compared to Martin's 250.[[/labelnote]]

* Martin[[labelnote:Explanation]]Designed for beginners, Martin is the worst bot on Chess.com, [[ArtificialStupidity making obvious blunders on the regular]]. Players seeking a SelfImposedChallenge will often give Martin a huge advantage, while commentators either dunk on how bad the bot is, or on the flipside, praise him as a MemeticBadass.[[/labelnote]]

** Google en passant. Holy hell![[labelnote:Explanation]]A copypasta meme from Reddit's /r/[=AnarchyChess=] shitposting sub-forum. It originated from a post in /r/chessbeginners where a user described an en passant capture and accused their opponent of cheating. Someone responded with "Google en passant" to explain what happened, and the original poster replied to it with "Holy hell". This is often followed by "New response dropped", "Actual zombie" and "Call the exorcist!"[[/labelnote]]

** The brick.[[labelnote:Explanation]]A combination of the "en passant is forced" meme and PIPI meme. It claims if you decline en passant, you will get a brick on your "pipi".[[/labelnote]]

* Bobby Fischer [[labelnote:Explanation]]Fischer is one of the greatest players of all time, but had irrational, paranoid, racist and misogynist tendencies inherited from his mother that developed later in life into mental illness. This contributed to his death after he refused treatment for a curable kidney infection. "Edgy" chess forums plumb these issues for humour.[[/labelnote]]

* Martin[[labelnote:Explanation]]Designed for beginners, Martin is the worst bot on Chess.com, making obvious blunders on the regular. Players seeking a SelfImposedChallenge will often give Martin a huge advantage, while commentators either dunk on how bad the bot is, or on the flipside, praise him as a MemeticBadass.[[/labelnote]]

** Google en passant. Holy hell![[labelnote:Explanation]]A copypasta meme from Reddit's /r/AnarchyChess shitposting sub-forum. It originated from a post in /r/chessbeginners where a user described an en passant capture and accused their opponent of cheating. Someone responded with "Google en passant" to explain what happened, and the original poster replied to it with "Holy hell". This is often followed by "New response dropped", "Actual zombie" and "Call the exorcist!"[[/labelnote]]
** En passant is forced.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Another meme originating from reddit, where posters proclaim that any time capturing en passant is possible, you are forced to do it. This isn't true. Users create scenarios where a player gives up a checkmate because they are 'forced' to take the opponent's pawn, or where taking en passant will then lose the game. Has spread to wider chess Twitter, YouTube, and streamers.[[/labelnote]]

* Knook[[labelnote:Explanation]]A hybrid of a knight and rook created for /r/AnarchyChess that has been adopted as a mascot. Its movement is a combination of those of the knight and the rook. (However, note that the concept of the rook+knight compound does not come from /r/AnarchyChess, as it was already a popular fairy chess piece; see the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_(chess) Empress (chess)]]" for more information.)[[/labelnote]]

TabletopGame/{{Chess}} is a game for {{Smart People|PlayChess}}, but also, loads and loads of [[MemeticMutation Memelords]].

* Resign when you're lost[[labelnote:Explanation]]This was supposedly (he probably said something like "sign in the box") said by Hikaru Nakamura after a game in which he achieved a winning position, but messed up and only got a draw out of it.[[/labelnote]]
* Botez Gambit[[labelnote:Explanation]]A reference to Women's FIDE Master and Website/{{Twitch}} streamer Alexandra Botez, who has a habit of blundering away her Queen. For her part, Botez takes it in stride and [[SelfDeprecation isn't above making jokes about her name becoming synonymous with losing a queen]].[[/labelnote]]

* En passant[[labelnote:Explanation]]A move that is quite obscure, especially to self taught, entry level players, causing hilarious reactions when they first encounter it.[[/labelnote]]
** Google en passant. Holy hell![[labelnote:Explanation]]A copypasta meme from reddit's Anarchy Chess shitposting sub-forum. It originated from a post in /r/chessbeginners where a user described an en passant capture and accused their opponent of cheating. Someone responded with "Google en passant" to explain what happened, and the original poster replied to it with "Holy hell". This is often followed by "New response dropped", "Actual zombie" and "Call the exorcist!"[[/labelnote]]
** En passant is forced.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Another meme originating from reddit, where posters proclaim that any time en passant is possible, you are forced to do it. Which isn't true. Users create scenarios where a player gives up a checkmate because they are 'forced' to take the opponent's pawn, or where taking en passant will then lose the game. Has spread to wider chess twitter, youtube and streamers.[[/labelnote]]

* Bobby Fischer [[labelnote:Explanation]]Fischer is one of the greatest players of all time, but had irrational, paranoid, racist and misogynist tendances inherited from his mother that developed later in life into mental health illness. This contributed to his death after he refused treatment for a curable kidney infection. "Edgy" chess forums plumb these issues for humour.[[/labelnote]]

* Garry Chess & Chess 2 [[labelnote:Explanation]]The joke that Garry Kasparov invented Chess and that his name is actually "Garry Chess". Chess 2 is a hypothetical 'sequel' to Chess that is being created by Garry Chess, that can contain outlandish new rules & mechanics.[[/labelnote]]

* Anal beads.[[labelnote:Explanation]]In the 9th Sinquefield Cup, Grandmaster Hans Niemann defeated World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a stunning upset, followed by Magnus withdrawing from the tournament and posting a cryptic tweet with a video of José Mourinho saying, "If I speak I am in big trouble". This led to a lot of speculation about why Magnus withdrew and whether Hans was cheating. Eventually someone posted a joke theory that Hans was using anal beads that vibrated to give him information. The joke caught on thanks to its absurdity, spread outside the chess community in part because Elon Musk tweeted about it, and even broke into mainstream media (some of which treated it as a legitimate rumour.)[[/labelnote]]

* Knook[[labelnote:Explanation]]A hybrid of a knight and rook created for /r/anarchychess to confound its board analysis bot, and has been adopted as a mascot. Its movement is apparently in the L-shape of a knight, but extending one of the "arms" of the L for as many spaces as you want.[[/labelnote]]
* Mittens[[labelnote:Explanation]]A January 2023 chess bot that appears to be a CuteKitten with 1 ELO (skill level). This is false information, for Mittens has an actual ELO well into the 3500s and will ''[[CurbStompBattle wipe the floor]]'' with most seasoned players. A lot of its quotes imply that it's a transcendent being. When it was removed in February 2023, many players expressed their sentiments.[[/labelnote]]
* Martin[[labelnote:Explanation]]Designed for beginners, Martin is the worst bot on chess.com, making obvious blunders on the regular. Players seeking a SelfImposedChallenge will often give Martin a huge advantage, while commentators either dunk on how bad the bot is, or on the flipside, praise him as a MemeticBadass.[[/labelnote]]

* Sacrifice... THE ROOK! [[labelnote:Explanation]] A running gag on IM Levy Rozman's Chess analysis videos where he announces rook sacrifices by SuddenlyShouting, it's an internet meme that if you can sacrifice the rook for a great winning position, you should do so.[[/labelnote]]

** Google en passant. Holy hell![[labelnote:Explanation]]A copypasta meme from reddit's Anarchy Chess shitposting sub-forum. It originated from a post in /r/chessbeginners where a user described an en passant capture and accused their opponent of cheating. Someone responded with "Google en passant" to explain what happened, and the original poster replied to it with "Holy hell".[[/labelnote]]

* Sacrifice THE ROOK! [[labelnote:Explanation]] A running gag on IM Levy Rozman's Chess analysis videos, it's an internet meme that if you can sacrifice the rook for a great winning position, you should do so.[[/labelnote]]

* Sacrifice THE ROOK! [[labelnote:Explanation]] A running gag on IM Levy Rozman's Chess analysis videos, it's an internet meeme that if you can sacrifice the rook for a great winning position, you should do so]][[/labelnote]]

** Anish Giri drawing.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Giri is known to draw a lot, like when he went through the entire 2016 Candidates Tournament without a single decisive result. This led to jokes about him preferring draws over wins (or, occasionally, just being unable to win). Giri himself has posted a few self-deprecating tweets referencing his frequent draws.[[/labelnote]]
** Bongcloud Attack / 2. [=Ke2=][[labelnote:Explanation]]A terrible opening famous for its role in the satirical opening guide ''[[http://i.4pcdn.org/tg/1401479151063.pdf Winning With the Bongcloud]]''. People like to jokingly claim it's a GameBreaker.[[/labelnote]]
** Outstanding Move[[labelnote:Explanation]]A screenshot from the moment a presenter declares a move "outstanding" while using a chessboard diagram to re-enact a chess match. Now used as a reaction image to express a genuine or, in some cases, sarcastic response to a plan.[[/labelnote]]
** Resign when you're lost[[labelnote:Explanation]]This was supposedly (he probably said something like "sign in the box") said by Hikaru Nakamura after a game in which he achieved a winning position, but messed up and only got a draw out of it.[[/labelnote]]
** Botez Gambit[[labelnote:Explanation]]A reference to Women's FIDE Master and Website/{{Twitch}} streamer Alexandra Botez, who has a habit of blundering away her Queen. For her part, Botez takes it in stride and [[SelfDeprecation isn't above making jokes about her name becoming synonymous with losing a queen]].[[/labelnote]]
** PIPI in your pampers[[labelnote:Explanation]]A phrase from a [[https://i.imgur.com/H3bsuRl.jpg poorly-written rant]] posted by Tigran L. Petrosian after Wesley So accused him of cheating. The full thing is used as a copypasta.[[/labelnote]]
** The Tennison Gambit Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Variation[[labelnote:Explanation]] [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E2xNlzsnPCQ A bizarre chess "tutorial"]] from the equally bizarre ''WebSite/YouTube'' channel WebVideo/BosnianApeSociety, in which a text-to-speech Indian chess guru explains a variation of the Tennison Gambit (1.e4 d5 2.[=Nf3=]) that ends with White [[EverythingExplodesEnding launching an intercontinental ballistic missile into the other side of the board.]] The "real" version of this trap, where the black queen is captured by the "ICBM" (aka White's queen), quickly became a popular opening trap among newcomers to chess. [[/labelnote]]
** En passant[[labelnote:Explanation]]A move that is quite obscure, especially to self taught, entry level players, causing hilarious reactions when they first encounter it.[[/labelnote]]
*** Google en passant. Holy hell![[labelnote:Explanation]]A copypasta meme from reddit's Anarchy Chess shitposting sub-forum. It originated from a post in /r/chessbeginners where a user described an en passant capture and accused their opponent of cheating. Someone responded with "Google en passant" to explain what happened, and the original poster replied to it with "Holy hell".[[/labelnote]]
*** En passant is forced.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Another meme originating from reddit, where posters proclaim that any time en passant is possible, you are forced to do it. Which isn't true. Users create scenarios where a player gives up a checkmate because they are 'forced' to take the opponent's pawn, or where taking en passant will then lose the game. Has spread to wider chess twitter, youtube and streamers.[[/labelnote]]
*** The brick.[[labelnote:Explanation]]A combination of the "en passant is forced" meme and PIPI meme. It claims if you decline en passant, you will get a brick on your "pipi".[[/labelnote]]
** Bobby Fischer [[labelnote:Explanation]]Fischer is one of the greatest players of all time, but had irrational, paranoid, racist and misogynist tendances inherited from his mother that developed later in life into mental health illness. This contributed to his death after he refused treatment for a curable kidney infection. "Edgy" chess forums plumb these issues for humour.[[/labelnote]]
** Max Deutsch and his algorithm[[labelnote:Explanation]]Max was an "obsessive learner" who liked to take on monthly challenges, with the last one being the overambitious "beat World Champion Magnus Carlsen at chess after a month of practice". He used a weird strategy that revolved around trying to write a machine learning algorithm and memorize what it did (the latter part is completely unrealistic). To make matters worse, the algorithm hadn't even finished running before Max played Magnus and predictably got crushed. This led to Max being ridiculed by the chess community and eventually becoming a meme, with most mentions being jokes about (1) his algorithm running for an absurd amount of time, and/or (2) him actually becoming the best chess player ever once it finishes running.[[/labelnote]]
** Garry Chess & Chess 2 [[labelnote:Explanation]]The joke that Garry Kasparov invented Chess and that his name is actually "Garry Chess". Chess 2 is a hypothetical 'sequel' to Chess that is being created by Garry Chess, that can contain outlandish new rules & mechanics.[[/labelnote]]
** I literally don't care.[[labelnote:Explanation]]After Hikaru Nakamura lost a bullet game to Chessbrah by running out of time, Nakamura insisted that "I don’t even care" and "He can take that but I don’t care. I literally don’t care". There was some drama after that, which won't be recounted here because the important part is that the "I literally don't care" quote was memed as a result. Sometimes it's used as BlatantLies, and sometimes it's used to portray Nakamura as a really carefree player.[[/labelnote]]
** Chess, when played perfectly, always ends in a draw. [[labelnote:Explanation]]A quote often used sarcastically to describe games between low-rated players that end in a draw (usually via only having two kings left or other insufficient material scenarios, or a player blundering a stalemate from a winning position).[[/labelnote]]
** Anal beads.[[labelnote:Explanation]]In the 9th Sinquefield Cup, Grandmaster Hans Niemann defeated World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a stunning upset, followed by Magnus withdrawing from the tournament and posting a cryptic tweet with a video of José Mourinho saying, "If I speak I am in big trouble". This led to a lot of speculation about why Magnus withdrew and whether Hans was cheating. Eventually someone posted a joke theory that Hans was using anal beads that vibrated to give him information. The joke caught on thanks to its absurdity, spread outside the chess community in part because Elon Musk tweeted about it, and even broke into mainstream media (some of which treated it as a legitimate rumour.)[[/labelnote]]
*** Magnus cheats.[[labelnote:Explanation]]A derived copypasta that ups the absurdity by claiming that Magnus has always used the anal beads, and withdrew after finding out that Hans stole his design.[[/labelnote]]
** Chess speaks for itself.[[labelnote:Explanation]]After a game where Hans Niemann unexpectedly beat Magnus Carlsen, this comment was Niemann's only statement in the post-game interview. The phrase rose to prominence after Niemann beat Carlsen again in a later tournament, causing Carlsen to start a scandal by dropping out and insinuating that he thought Niemann was cheating. Niemann himself leaned into the meme, at one point saying "the lawsuit speaks for himself" after suing his accusers.[[/labelnote]]
** Oh no, my queen.[[labelnote:Explanation]]IM Eric Rosen is known for setting traps during his streams where [[SchmuckBait he appears to blunder a piece while setting up sneaky checkmates]]. He'll usually announce this by sarcastically saying that he's about to lose the piece in question; as a result, this caught on with players as a way to describe piece sacrifices.[[/labelnote]]
** When you see mate in one, look for better.[[labelnote:Explanation]]A play on the chess adage "When you see a good move, look for a better one." The joke here is that mate in one (that is, a move which immediately checkmates the opponent) is ''the'' best move you can possibly play, so someone that "looks for better" actually just missed the opportunity to win.[[/labelnote]]
** My king can't move to c2, why?[[labelnote:Explanation]]One newbie player (who had apparently been viewing a previous move and didn't understand how they couldn't have affected it) asked for help with this. It's since become a running gag that the king just can't move to c2.[[/labelnote]]
** Knook[[labelnote:Explanation]]A hybrid of a knight and rook created for /r/anarchychess to confound its board analysis bot, and has been adopted as a mascot. Its movement is apparently in the L-shape of a knight, but extending one of the "arms" of the L for as many spaces as you want.[[/labelnote]]
** Mittens[[labelnote:Explanation]]A January 2023 chess bot that appears to be a CuteKitten with 1 ELO (skill level). This is false information, for Mittens has an actual ELO well into the 3500s and will ''[[CurbStompBattle wipe the floor]]'' with most seasoned players. A lot of its quotes imply that it's a transcendent being. When it was removed in February 2023, many players expressed their sentiments.[[/labelnote]]
** Martin[[labelnote:Explanation]]Designed for beginners, Martin is the worst bot on chess.com, making obvious blunders on the regular. Players seeking a SelfImposedChallenge will often give Martin a huge advantage, while commentators either dunk on how bad the bot is, or on the flipside, praise him as a MemeticBadass.[[/labelnote]]
** Bongcloud[[labelnote:Explanation]]A FanNickname for moving the king forward on the second move. This play is really bad, as it hinders development for the queen and bishop, makes the king vulnerable, and voids the right to castle.[[/labelnote]]
** Joke puzzles[[labelnote:Explanation]]There exists chess puzzles that primarily exist for humor, such as those with only one legal move, or using [[LoopholeAbuse slant interpretations of the rules.]][[/labelnote]]