Chess is a game for
Smart People, but also loads and loads of
Memelords.
- Anish Giri drawing.ExplanationGiri 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.
- Bongcloud Attack / 2. Ke2ExplanationA terrible opening famous for its role in the satirical opening guide Winning With the Bongcloud
. People like to jokingly claim it's a Game-Breaker. - Outstanding MoveExplanationA 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.
- Resign when you're lostExplanationThis was supposedly 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. (He probably said something like "sign in the box".)
- Botez GambitExplanationA reference to Woman FIDE Master and Twitch streamer Alexandra Botez, who has a habit of blundering away her queen. For her part, Botez takes it in stride and isn't above making jokes about her name becoming synonymous with losing a queen.
- PIPI in your pampersExplanationA phrase from a poorly-written rant◊ posted by Tigran L. Petrosian after Wesley So accused him of cheating. The full thing is used as a copypasta.
- The Tennison Gambit Intercontinental Ballistic Missile VariationExplanation A bizarre chess "tutorial" from the equally bizarre YouTube channel Bosnian Ape Society, 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 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.
- En passantExplanationA way of capturing that is quite obscure, especially to self-taught, entry-level players, causing hilarious reactions when they first encounter it.
- Google en passant. Holy hell!ExplanationA 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".
- New response just dropped. ExplanationOriginally used to refer to the many various other responses to "Google en passant", which has mutated itself to becoming a part of a chain after endless parody.
- Actual zombie ExplanationA Reddit user who posted regarding the overuse of en passant jokes and it spilling outside of the AnarchyChess subreddit, after getting the usual "new response just dropped", added this. It since then became a part of the chain itself.
- Other responses following the chain from "Actual zombie" include "Call the exorcist!", "Bishop goes on vacation, never comes back", and "Queen sacrifice, anyone?".
- En passant is forced.ExplanationAnother 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.
- The brick.ExplanationA set of chess workout rules (1 mistake = 5 pushups, etc.) included the rule "don't take en passant = drop a brick on your cock". It's since been adopted as an unofficial Reddit rule - if you decline en passant, you take a brick to the pipi.
- Fake chess moves (Il Vaticano, vertical castling, etc.)ExplanationSpecifically, "Il Vaticano" is a purported special move where if two bishops are on the same rank with two pieces between them, the bishops can use their turn to take those pieces. Vertical castling supposedly occurs when the e-pawn promotes to a rook, then it can castle vertically with the king. Both are often mentioned in the same breath as en passant as legitimate moves.
- Bobby Fischer ExplanationFischer is one of the greatest players of all time, but had irrational, paranoid, racist and misogynist tendencies 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.
- Max Deutsch and his algorithmExplanationMax 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.
- Garry Chess & Chess 2 ExplanationThe 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 and that may contain outlandish new rules and mechanics.
- I literally don't care.ExplanationAfter 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 Blatant Lies, and sometimes it's used to portray Nakamura as a really carefree player.
- Chess, when played perfectly, always ends in a draw. ExplanationA 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).
- Anal beads.ExplanationIn 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).
- Magnus cheats.ExplanationA 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.
- Chess speaks for itself.ExplanationAfter 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.
- Oh no, my queen.ExplanationIM Eric Rosen is known for setting traps during his streams where 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.
- London System hateExplanationThe London System is a solid, principled opening series of moves often used at beginner and intermediate level, which gives it a reputation of being "boring". Chess memers see this and trash it to extreme levels.
- When you see mate in one, look for better.ExplanationA 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.
- My king can't move to c2, why?ExplanationOne 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.
- KnookExplanationA 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 Wikipedia article "Empress (chess)" for more information.)
- MittensExplanationA January 2023 Chess.com bot that appears to be a Cute Kitten 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 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. It was not exactly surprising to many when the the bot was reintroduced as part of Chess.com’s “Best Of 2023” event.
- MartinExplanationDesigned for beginners, Martin is the worst bot on Chess.com, making obvious blunders on the regular. Players seeking a Self-Imposed Challenge 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 Memetic Badass. He still keeps this reputation even after a weaker bot in Duolingo's Oscar was released with a Glicko-1 rating of 200 compared to Martin's 250.
- WorstfishExplanationAn unofficial chess bot that's 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 as the player must set up their pieces such that Worstfish's only options for legal moves will end up checkmating the player.
- Gavin from Third GradeExplanationOne /r/chess user described how their daughter was getting into chess at school, and aimed to beat her schoolmate Gavin from third grade, whom they called "the strongest player". Gavin from Third Grade is now revered as the best player in the world by the online fandom.
- Joke puzzlesExplanationThere exists chess puzzles that primarily exist for humor, such as those with only one legal move, or using slant interpretations of the rules.
- Sacrifice... THE ROOK! Explanation A running gag on IM Levy Rozman/GothamChess's Chess analysis videos where he announces rook sacrifices by Suddenly Shouting. 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.
- If I take, then takes, takes, takes.../Hikaru drawing arrowsnote GM Hikaru Nakamura, who often streams games on Twitch, has a tendency of thinking out loud, often calculating and rattling off a long chain of moves at a time (using "takes" as a term for captures) and using Chess.com's function to draw the moves as arrows on the board. Because of just how bewildering his diagrams look to even most chess players, it's become a huge part of his image as a result and is sometimes associated with people overthinking things.
