History Main / SurpriseCheckmate

Related to ChessMotifs, SmartPeoplePlayChess.

** The above is perhaps a CallBack to "The Curse of Fenris" in which Fenris spends centuries pondering a chess puzzle the Doctor set him, claiming he could win an apparently hopeless game with one move. The solution: [[spoiler: the black and white pawns team up against the king. While this is, of course, absurd, the deeper point is that Fenric lacks the imagination to realise the Doctor was lying. He devoted his vast intelligence to the problem, but couldn't even consider that there might ''not'' be a legal solution.]]

* In ''Series/DoctorWho'' "Nightmare in Silver" this is used on Artie, who is specified to have fallen for the Fool's Mate mentioned in Real Life. Subverted with The Doctor, who is told that he will be checkmated in five moves by the [[spoiler: Cyber Planner]]. He responds by claiming that there's a trap that will give him victory in three moves. His opponent sees no way this can be done, but is worried by the claim and [[spoiler: deactivates the Cybermen to use their processing power to see how this could possibly be the case. It turns out the moves The Doctor was speaking of weren't chess moves at all - it takes him three actions to remove the Cyber Planner from his mind, rendering the game meaningless]].

* While Macready is playing the "Chess Wizard" computer in ''Film/TheThing1982'', he appears to be totally surprised when it checkmates him. [[SoreLoser He retaliates]] [[DisproportionateRetribution by pouring a drink into its circuits and shorting it out]], which is an EstablishingCharacterMoment.

* Though not a checkmate, an example between [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony]] and [[ComicBook/MisterFantastic Reed]] during ComicBook/CivilWar came close enough. The two are having a debate whilst playing chess on 10 different boards or so, and at the end of the conversation, Reed's been put into check on all 10 boards ''simultaneously''.

* When ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'' was offered [[spoiler:leadership of the Pantheon]] by Agamemnon, while expressing his doubts, he surprised Agamemnon by putting him in check on a board that had stood untouched in his sanctum for four centuries, underlining his pressure on Agamemnon to be a little more forthcoming. After some soliliquising in response, Agamemnon follows up with a counter-check while putting Banner on the spot.

* In ''Literature/CardForceInfection'', Yuu and Chaud play a game of chess with a special rule, each player is allowed to come up with a special movement rule for any piece they want, and may reveal this rule at any time. Yuu uses his rule [[spoiler: move his own king into checkmate.]] Chaud is caught completely off guard.

* Averted by Reed in an episode of ''Series/CriminalMinds'' when he announces "mate in 12".
* In the teaser of an episode of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', George gets one of these from the girl he's dating and [[MinorFlawMajorBreakup breaks up with her because of it]].
* In ''Series/YouWish'', Gillian wishes for telepathy so she can deal with her kids better. She changes her mind, but she and Genie finish up the episode with a telepath vs. telepath chess game. She takes the wind out of his sails with the check-followed-by-checkmate variant.
* At the end of "Man Hunt" in ''Series/{{NUMB3RS}}'', Don and Alan team up against [[GoodWithNumbers Charlie]], who thinks nothing of grading his students' papers while they play. When Don points out that Charlie misspelled "anomaly," Charlie gets indignant, and he sticks to his guns over the next few moves, even when Alan reminds him that he's not infallible. Eventually, Don gets the dictionary, and before Charlie can collect his wits, Alan delivers checkmate. Admittedly, this is what it takes to beat Charlie at chess: two people playing him at once and a distraction.

* In ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', when Leonard is trying to teach Penny to play chess, she walks all over him with a surprise checkmate.
* The same happens in ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', where Martin whitewashes his son with a series of unexpected checkmates. Frasier also had it happen to him on ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' against [[TheDitz Woody]] of all people.
* ''Series/TheFlash2014'':
** Barry's friends help him train his powers by playing chess, ping-pong and Operation with him simultaneously. Wells proves that his super-multitasking still needs work by checkmating him (though Barry "crushed it" in the other two).
** Wells does this again in a flashback while playing chess with Hartley / Pied Piper. He manages to go from being in check to checkmating his opponent in one move.
* An episode of ''Series/{{Psych}}'' had a couple of subtle examples. One is where young Shawn is seemingly distracted while his dad is trying to teach him chess before Shawn beats him in the flashback. The same happens when the two are playing the end of the episode (with the bet being if Shawn wins, he gets to use his dad's truck for a week while if Henry wins, Shawn has to wash said truck). Shawn wins again; the surprise comes from Shawn's casual demeanor and Henry looking surprised in both accounts.
* Happens twice in ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', once by Sheppard against [=McKay=] and by Zelenka against a bit-character. However, the first example is justified in that [[InsufferableGenius McKay]] underestimated [[ObfuscatingStupidity Sheppard]].
* This happens a couple of times in ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' episode "[[Recap/ColumboS02E07 The Most Dangerous Match]]", which is a chess episode about one grandmaster who murders another one.
** Early in the episode, Clayton and Dudek are playing chess in a hotel room and Clayton doesn't see the checkmate Dudek drops on him. It's a casual game instead of an official match, but still, in RealLife a grandmaster would not be surprised in that way.
** Gets goofier later, when Clayton, playing chess against a crowd of comers, wins one game by ''castling'' his way into a checkmate.
** And it gets really, really goofy right after that, when Clayton loses another game by stumbling into the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fool%27s_mate Fool's mate]], the quickest and absolute dumbest way to lose a game of chess. The idea is that he's getting rattled by Columbo's relentlessness, but come on.
* In one episode of ''Series/GreenhouseAcademy'', expert chessplayer Max is on the receiving end of one from Emma, an amateur. This is meant to illustrate that he underestimated her (which she may or not have [[HustlingTheMark subtly goaded him into doing]]), but you'd still think he'd see it coming.
* ''Series/RedDwarf'': In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIQueeg Queeg]]", the climactic chess battle between rival computers Holly and Queeg for [[AbsurdlyHighStakesGame control of the ship vs deletion]] ends with Queeg triumpantly announcing "Bishop to knight five. Double check and mate, sucker!" to which Holly can only meekly reply "Oh yeah. I didn't see that." Justified by the fact that Holly is suffering from Computer Senility and can barely even remember how to ''play'' chess, even confusing it with ''poker'' early on. [[spoiler:Except not. It's actually because Queeg ''is'' Holly, and the entire match was staged.]]
* PlayedForLaughs in the [[BeachEpisode Acapulco episode]] of ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho''. Professor Jirafales and Mr. Barriga are playing a game of chess with Don Ramón watching them. Don Ramón tries to give hints with some fake coughing, and when Mr. Barriga finally makes his move, the Professor checkmates him.
* In the ''Series/FamilyTies'' episode "French Lessons," Steven challenges Alex to a chess game even though Alex has won all of their 139 previous games, except the one that ended in a draw. Steven takes hours to make each move, and usually blunders when he does. By the end of the episode, the two have been playing all day, and Alex has captured most of Steven's pieces. Then Steven suddenly checkmates Alex. He's so thrilled to have finally won that he flips the board into the air.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode "Overdrive", Cyborg is able to checkmate Raven who freezes in shock.

* In ''You Wish'', Gillian wishes for telepathy so she can deal with her kids better. She changes her mind, but she and Genie finish up the episode with a telepath vs. telepath chess game. She takes the wind out of his sails with the check-followed-by-checkmate variant.

* In one episode of ''Greenhouse Academy'', expert chessplayer Max is on the receiving end of one from Emma, an amateur. This is meant to illustrate that he underestimated her (which she may or not have [[HustlingTheMark subtly goaded him into doing]]), but you'd still think he'd see it coming.

-> '''The Iron Bull''': You've got no towers, you're down to a single Mage, too bad you wasted time moving that pawn to... to... ''You sneaky sonuvabitch.''\\
'''Solas''': Mage to E-7. Checkmate.\\
'''The Iron Bull''': Rrrrrgh. Nice game.... ''mage''.\\
'''Solas''': And you as well... ''Tal-vashoth.''

* If a player moves their king to a safe square, even if this exposes a check attempt on the opponent's king by another friendly piece, the opponent can move their attacking piece to the recently vacated square to block the check attempt (thus, not a checkmate).

* International Master and YouTuber Levy Rozman once showcased [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sew_n0SDjT0 a game played by one of his subscribers]] that not only ended in a Surprise Checkmate after check, but also the checkmating move was literally the only available legal move the player could make. Essentially, one player forced their opponent to checkmate them. Such an occurrence is extremely improbable, which caused great amusement to the audience.

** The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fool%27s_mate Fool's Mate]] [[note]]1. g4 e5 2. f4 [=Qh4=]++ being one way to attain it[[/note]] is a perfect example, though it only rarely happens because it requires a novice player to make a critical opening move mistake.[[note]] While opening with 1. g3 ... 2. [=Bg2=] is a hallmark of hypermodern play and a valid way to build a solid pawn structure while maintaining central square protection, opening with 1. g4 (aka Grob's Attack or simply "The Grob") is widely considered the worst possible opening move (except possibly for 1. f3, aka the Barnes Opening) as it loosens the entire kingside structure and prevents the critical h4 square any sort of defensive coverage. Incidentally, the aforementioned Barnes Opening can also lead to this checkmate via 1. f3 e5 2. g4 [=Qh4=]++[[/note]] Players caught off-guard by this rather surprising mate never fall for this one again, nor will any spectators who see it happen to the novice player.
** The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scholar%27s_mate Scholar's Mate]], or Shepherd's Mate, is another beginner's mistake that, unlike the Fool's Mate, is extremely common. The mate stems from the fact that f2 and f7 are very weak squares, defended only by each side's king.[[note]]The classical sequence is 1. e4 e5 2. [=Qh5=] [=Nc6=] 3. [=Bc4=] [=Nf6=]?? 4. [=Qxf7=]++ The easiest counter is 3. ... g6. If White reacts to that with 4. [=Qf3=] to reiterate the mate on f7, 4. ... [=Nf6=] is the best move. Black may even try playing 2. ... [=Nf6=], attacking h5 and e4. If White then plays 3. [=Qxe5=]+, Black can return the favor with 3. ... [=Qe7=].[[/note]]

* In ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'', a SPECTRE agent playing a high-level game of chess 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.

*** Before the ObviousRulePatch, there has been at least one incident where a player outright cheated with a shortened version of Shepherd's Mate, namely 1. e4 e5 2. [=Bc4=] [=Nc6=] 3. [=Qxf7=]++ This LoopholeAbuse was only possible because no one had expected someone using an illegal move to achieve checkmate. The only possible moves to defend against this were 2. ... [=Nh6=]? (a questionable move at best) or 2. ... [=Qe7=]

* In ''Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows'', Holmes and Moriarty play a game of chess while they discuss the philosophical underpinnings of Moriarty's world power play, all while their agents (Watson and Sim, and Moran and Rene, respectively) covertly wage battle under the cover of a ballroom gathering. Holmes scores this against Moriarty after detailing how his other machinations have led to a police seizure of Moriarty's considerably large war chest and [[InvoluntaryCharityDonation subsequent donation to charity]]. It also is a FiveSecondForeshadowing of Holmes's feint with the SherlockScan hand-to-hand combat projection game that the two then play, [[spoiler:hiding Holmes's intent of a HeroicSacrifice to ensure a finality to Moriarty's demise]]. There is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Syef-sWQu9k an extensive video]] breaking down the game itself, the grandmaster game from 1966 on which it is based, and how the game is used to tell the story and reveal the characters of the players.

* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. In "Games", [[VillainofTheWeek Belkov]] is introduced beating his ArtificialIntelligence Gambit at a chess game and jibing 'her' about it. He then congratulates her on a 'sneaky' chess move that appears to take him by surprise. This foreshadows the ending where Belkov is on the verge of escaping with his stolen fortune when Gambit (whom Belkov has ordered to self-destruct to remove all evidence) locks on a TractorBeam so Belkov will be destroyed as well. Belkov finds it ActuallyPrettyFunny that his computer has beaten him at last.

* In ''Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows'', Holmes and Moriarty play a game of chess while they discuss the philosophical underpinnings of Moriarty's world power play, all while their agents (Watson and Sim, and Moran and Rene, respectively) covertly wage battle under the cover of a ballroom gathering. Holmes scores this against Moriarty after detailing how his other machinations have led to a police seizure of Moriarty's considerably large war chest and [[InvoluntaryCharityDonation subsequent donation to charity]]. It also is a FiveSecondForeshadowing of Holmes's feint with the SherlockScan hand-to-hand combat projection game that the two then play, [[spoiler:hiding Holmes's intent of a HeroicSacrifice to ensure a finality to Moriarty's demise]].

* ''Series/{{Columbo}}'':
** In episode "[[Recap/ColumboS02E07 The Most Dangerous Match]]", Clayton fails to see the checkmate that Dudek drops on him. It's a casual game in a hotel room instead of a formal match, but still, they're both grandmasters. In RealLife a grandmaster would not be surprised in that way.

** Note that this is averted in the novel -- when Kronsteen gets a message from SMERSH ordering him to report ''immediately'', he's just placed his opponent in an unwinnable endgame, it's the opponent's move, and there's only three minutes left on the clock. The drama of the scene comes from Kronsteen choosing to wait out those three minutes while his opponent looks desperately for a way out (which Kronsteen knows he will not find) -- despite knowing that his superiors will be angry at even this tiny act of disobedience.

* In ''Film/{{The Avengers|1998}}'', 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.

As a check attempt severely limits the opponent's available options (move their king, capture or block the attacker), a classier (and more technically accurate) version is for the player to predict the number of moves until one player is forced into checkmate -- "checkmates Black in three moves", for example. That being said, even though it is expected that any decent player should be able to see at least ''one'' move ahead (which is to say that they can accurately predict their opponent's best move), SurpriseCheckmate is actually very common in real life and happens all the time in casual matches.

If the scene depicted is about professional chess players playing in a tournament, then SurpriseCheckmate is extremely improbable and will appear unrealistic to a savvy audience. If the scene is about regular people playing chess as a hobby, then SurpriseCheckmate is not only plausible, but also probable.

* In ''Film/BlazingSaddles'', the Waco Kid is shocked when Sheriff Bart checkmates him to end their game. Better justified than many examples because the Waco Kid is still [[TheAlcoholic drunk almost 24/7]] at that point in the movie, and thus isn’t as sharp or aware as he could be.

* When ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'' was offered [[spoiler:leadership of the Pantheon]] by [[ComicBook/ThePantheon Agamemnon]], while expressing his doubts, he surprised Agamemnon by putting him in check on a board that had stood untouched in his sanctum for four centuries, underlining his pressure on Agamemnon to be a little more forthcoming. After some soliliquising in response, Agamemnon follows up with a counter-check while putting Banner on the spot.

* Barring the unusual case of "discovered check"[[note]]A check caused not by the piece that moved, but another piece it moved out of the way of.[[/note]], if a player merely moves a friendly piece to block the attempt on their king, the attacker can probably immediately capture it, reasserting the original check and blocking the attempted counterattack (thus, not a checkmate).

This trope's LogicalExtreme is "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fools_mate fool's mate]]", a checkmate in two moves only possible if your opponent (a) [[GenreBlindness has never heard of fool's mate]] and (b) is unlucky/bad enough to perform the precise [[EpicFail terrible]] opening moves that make it possible.

* The ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' episode ''Chess Pains'' culminates in this trope.

* The same happens in ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', where Martin whitewashes his son with a series of unexpected checkmates.

An especially unlikely form is where one of the players announces 'check', directly followed by the other player countering it with a 'checkmate'. This is very improbable to occur in an actual game of chess for several reasons:

However, a checkmate after a check is perfectly plausible and there are famous cases where it has happened, both in official and unofficial games.