Rarely Wizard's Chess

> Ron also started teaching Harry wizard chess. This was exactly like Muggle chess except that the figures were alive, which made it a lot like directing troops in battle. Ron’s set was very old and battered. Like everything else he owned, it had once belonged to someone else in his family — in this case, his grandfather. However, old chessmen weren’t a drawback at all. Ron knew them so well he never had trouble getting them to do what he wanted.
>
> Ron Weasley teaching Harry Potter how to play Wizard's Chess, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

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

The chessboard was a type of checkerboard that consisted of 64 squares (eight rows and eight columns) arranged in two alternating colours (light and dark). The colours were called 'black' and 'white' (or 'light' and 'dark'). The Chess pieces, or chessmen, consisted of one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. The chessboard and chessmen were exactly like ***Muggle*** chess pieces, except they were magically animated, likely using *Piertotum Locomotor*.

### Instructions

Players moved their pieces by speaking the name of the piece and the square it was to move to by algebraic notation. For example, 'Knight to E5'. Aside from the self-moving pieces, the rules of Wizard's Chess were exactly the same as ***Muggle*** chess. The moving pieces seemed 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.

### Sentience

The level of sentience of the pieces seemed to go beyond simply moving on orders, as they could fight and squabble if left unattended, and occasionally offered the players advice, implying speech or mimicry to convey their own opinions; the pieces in the Underground Chamber were stoic and simple-minded, possibly due the size of the pieces affecting the potency of the animation charm, or a choice by the caster.

## History

Ronald Weasley owned a Wizard's 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.
During the Christmas Feast in the 1991–1992 school year, Harry obtained his very own Wizard's Chess set in a number of Wizard Crackers, among other things. 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.

### Chessboard Chamber

Main article: Chessboard Chamber

In 1991, Minerva McGonagall chose to place an enormous Wizard's Chessboard in the third of the Underground Chambers acting as security for the Philosopher's Stone. When Harry, Ron and Hermione encountered the Chessboard while trying to beat Quirinus Quirrell (or Severus Snape whom they believed) to the Stone, Harry played as one of the black bishops, Hermione as a rook, and Ron as a Knight. Using his extensive knowledge of chess, Ron managed to get himself, Harry, and Hermione across, ultimately sacrificing himself to the White Queen so that Harry could checkmate the King. Fortunately, Ron later recovered.
One of the queens was displaced by the chaotic magic of the Calamity during the 2010s, causing members of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force to return it back to 1991 where it belonged.

## Known Wizard's Chess Openings

* **Dragon Variation of the Slytherin Defence:** A complex strategy, but devastating when used correctly. Many chess theory books have written about this legendary strategy. According to the Dragon Variation, player will castle Kingside in order to capture opponent most powerful pieces.

## Known players

Ron WeasleyHarry PotterHermione GrangerSeamus FinniganBill WeasleyPercy WeasleyMinerva McGonagall
## See also

* Wizarding Chess Trophy
* Wizard's Known Checkers

## Behind the scenes

* In the film adaptation of *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone (film)*, 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.

## Appearances

**The 5D-Shared-Combined Crossovers for An The-Good/Evil-Hybrid Wiki** has 1 image related to ***Rarely Wizard's Chess***.
* *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film) (First Entire Appearance)
* *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film) Template:Portrait
* *Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban* (film) (Mentioned only)
* *Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban* (film) Template:Portrait
* *Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire* (film)
* *Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire* (film) Template:Portrait
* *Harry Potter and The Order-Of-The Phoenix* (film)
* *Harry Potter and The Order-Of-The Phoenix* (film) Template:Portrait
* *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince* (film) Template:Portrait
* *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1*

## Notes and references

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film), Chapter 12
2. ↑  Chess on Wikipedia
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film), Chapter 13
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film), Chapter 16