6 Talk

Wizard's Chess

Hermione: "That's totally barbaric."

Ron: "That's Wizard's chess."

— Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley during Christmas season in 1991.^[src]

Wizard's Chess is the magical variant of the classic board game in which the pieces move of their own accord when commanded by the player. When a piece is taken, it is removed by the attacking piece. Players move their pieces by speaking the name of the piece and the square it is to move to by algebraic notation. For example, "Knight to E5". Aside from the self-moving pieces, the rules of Wizard's Chess are exactly the same as muggle chess. 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 player.

During the Christmas feast, in a number of Wizard Crackers, Harry obtained, among other things, his very own Wizard's Chess set. 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).

During 1992 a giant Wizard's Chessboard was the third-to-last layer of security for the Philosopher's Stone. Harry played as one of the black bishops, Hermione as a rook, and Ron as a Knight. Using his extensive knowledge of chess, Ronald Weasley managed to get him, Harry, and Hermione Granger across, ultimately sacrificing himself to the White Queen so that Harry could checkmate the King.

1 People who played Wizard Chess
2 Behind the scenes
- 2.1 Differences
3 Appearances

People who played Wizard ChessEdit

Ronald Weasley
Harry Potter
Hermione Granger
Seamus Finnigan
Unidentified Chessmasters and Headmasters of Hogwarts
Gryffindor Wizard's Chess champion
Gryffindor Wizard's Chess champion's friend
Slytherin Wizard's Chess champion
Slytherin Wizard's Chess champion's friend
Ravenclaw Wizard's Chess champion
Ravenclaw Wizard's Chess champion's friend
Kenny Markham (Most likely)
William Weasley
Percy Weasley

Behind the scenesEdit

The film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone depicted chess with the pieces destroying each other (presumably to be fixed with Reparo 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.
Ron's chess set depicted in the film is a replica of the 12th century Lewis Chessmen.
Gryffindor student Kenny Markham was a Wizard's Chess fan and collected chess pieces.

DifferencesEdit

Book	Film	PC/MAC Game	PS1 Game	GBC/GBA Game	PS2/XBox/Gamecube Game	LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
Harry is a bishop. Hermione is a rook. Ron is a Knight and later gets injured.		Ron defeats most of the pieces and gets injured. Harry defeats the rest. Hermione does not play.	There are three boards: Ron defeats most of the pieces and gets injured. Harry defeats the rest. Hermione does not play.	GBC: Ron defeats the Queen. Harry defeats the rest. Hermione does not play. GBA: Harry paralyses most of the pieces. Ron paralyses the last piece and stays on the board.	Ron defeats some pieces. Harry takes over.	Harry, Ron, and Hermione solve a series of puzzles while the pieces fight each other. Ron trips over the white king's sword after checkmate.