History TheChessmaster / AnimeAndManga

** After covertly stealing Kowase's phone, [[ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine Maria blackmails him with a video of himself masturbating]] to fuel his paranoia, then encourages his punching bag [[ShrinkingViolet Yashima]] to not put up with his abuse. When she runs from Kowase later, this leads him to suspect Yashima of hacking his phone because of how OutOfCharacter this is. Maria then kidnaps Kowase while he's busy [[MisplacedRetribution trying to drown Yashima]] in his own home, [[StealthHiBye not one person seeing her enter or leave the house]].

** Seto Kaiba during the Death-T arc in the ''Manga/YuGiOh'' manga. He gets extra points for having an ''actual chess board'' right in front of him during most of the arc.

* Lelouch, the Hero of ''Anime/CodeGeass'', is almost a textbook example of the good-guy Chessmaster: highly intelligent WellIntentionedExtremist who excels at chess. When Mao gets the advantage on him, the point is emphasized by his clobbering of Lelouch at chess (by reading Lelouch's mind and revealing every single strategy Lelouch was thinking of at a single moment...including ones to misdirect Mao's telepathy).

* Chessmaster vs. Chessmaster example: Light vs. L in ''Manga/DeathNote'', creating a GambitPileup to no end. Unlike most chessmaster stories, this one usually lets the audience in on each move of the game. When we're suddenly denied this privilege, you can bet something hardcore is about to go down. At one point, a Chessmaster is drawn moving figurines of the ''dramatis personae'' around a chess board. L is even seen to toy with chesspieces when contemplating.

* Gendo Ikari from ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' even though [[spoiler: he was betrayed in the end by Rei]]. He also is this in the Rebuild series, literally after 14 years, in a ruined HQ, during the Third Impact!

* Gendo Ikari from ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' even though he was out gambitted in the end [[spoiler:by Rei, who also out-gambitted Seele]].

** After covertly stealing Kowase's phone, [[ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine Maria blackmails him with a video of himself masturbating]] to fuel his paranoia, then encourages his punching bag [[ShrinkingViolet Yajima]] to not put up with his abuse. When she runs from Kowase later, this leads him to suspect Yajima of hacking his phone because of how OutOfCharacter this is. Maria then kidnaps Kowase while he's busy [[MisplacedRetribution trying to drown Yajima]] in his own home, [[StealthHiBye not one person seeing her enter or leave the house]].

* The only two chapters we see Konata from ''Manga/OtoXMaho'' involve her advancing her exceedingly convoluted 7+ year long GambitRoulette to force her son Kanata to become a {{Magical|Girl}} [[GenderBender Girl]], which goes off without a hitch. The fact that she can pull off such a plan can only be explained by her being a Chessmaster.

** Midnight becomes one in the Key of the Starry Heavens arc. Managing to play Fairy Tail and the Legion Platoon against each other and use them to gather all the Infinity Clock parts, since evil people such as himself and his guildmates are unable to touch them individually.
** Future Rouge manipulates the Fiore's royal family into creating the Eclipse Project, making them think they could use the Eclipse Gate to destroy an army of 10,000 dragons when in reality it was to summon them so he can use the dragons to defeat Acnologia and allow him to Take Over the World as the new Dragon King.
** Eclipse Ophiuchus in the Eclipse Celestial Spirits arc manages to be one of the series' most manipulative villains, playing everyone from Fairy Tail to her fellow Eclipse Spirits like pawns from the very beginning, all to serve her true master the Eclipse Spirit King.

* ''Manga/FairyTail'' villain Jellal uses a circular chessboard with custom-shaped pieces to note when certain players are taken out of the game and new ones put in.

** TheEmperor of the [[PuttingOnTheReich Vandenreich]], [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Yhwach]], fits the role as well, having been indirectly responsible for events that Aizen wasn’t involved in.

* Naraku of ''Manga/InuYasha'' manipulates, schemes, lies, cheats and cons ''every'' member of the cast, pitting hero against hero and tricking them into doing his dirty work. The only time the heroes get to confront him face-to-face is when he wants them to, or when he think he's gotten strong enough to finally finish them off. The heroes spend a lot of time seeking out {{Cosmic Keystone}}s that could weaken him, but by the time they get there he either knows and has destroyed or is about to destroy it, or doesn't care because he's too strong for it to work against him anymore. The pinnacle of Naraku's plans comes when he plans for the heroes to kill him as part of a scheme to exist forever. His schemes ''finally'' fall apart here: [[spoiler:he wanted Kagome to make a selfish wish on the Shikon-no-tama, which would allow him to draw her into the jewel and the two of them would exist inside it in eternal battle. He didn't count on Inuyasha making it to her and convincing her otherwise though, so once Kagome made an unselfish wish]], Naraku's plan was broken and he stayed dead at last.

* Taikobo from ''Manga/SoulHunter'' is the most heroic Chessmaster you'll ever find. He acts like a complete idiot and failure, but uses that to manipulate every single person he knows. Dakki also matches up as one, just in the more pure evil style, causing the two to constantly butt heads as their pawns clash.

* The only two chapters we see Konata from ''Oto x Maho'' involve her advancing her exceedingly convoluted 7+ year long GambitRoulette to force her son Kanata to become a {{Magical|Girl}} [[GenderBender Girl]], which goes off without a hitch. The fact that she can pull off such a plan can only be explained by her being a Chessmaster.

* Yukihito Tsuge, the BigBad of ''Anime/Patlabor2TheMovie'', nearly drives Tokyo into civil war while operating completely behind the scenes.

* Yukihito Tsuge, the BigBad of the second ''Anime/{{Patlabor}}'' film nearly drives Tokyo into civil war while operating completely behind the scenes.

** Several people such as [[SmugSnake Orochimaru]], [[AloofBigBrother Itachi]], [[MagnificentBastard Tobi]], and [[KnightTemplar Danzo]] are all impressively skilled chessmasters, however, [[spoiler:[[TheManInFrontOfTheMan Black Zetsu]] is the champion of Chess mastery in the series, '''having orchestrated the entire History of Shinobi''' for the purpose of resurrecting Kaguya.]]

* ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'': While Sophia Ascart appears to be [[CuteBookworm the least aggressive person]] in Catarina's harem, she's not being passive. She's just being ''sly''. In the anime, when Sophia is put in charge of writing a school play in [=S2E02=], it's implied that she uses it as an opportunity to help Nicol seduce Catarina. First, the actress meant to play the wicked stepsister mysteriously "gets sick" and Catarina is the only person left to fill the role. Second, when Catarina ad-libs her lines, Sophia "conveniently" presents a hastily-rewritten script that gives Catarina an expanded role and a LoveInterest via a dark knight. When the other characters try to offer themselves to portray the role, Sophia turns down their offers so quickly that it's clear her responses were premeditated, meaning that her brother is "conveniently" the only person who can fulfill the role.

* ''Manga/BlackClover'': Near the finale, [[spoiler:[[TimeMaster Julius Novachrono]], the seemingly eccentric and benevolent Wizard King of Clover Kingdom, reveals himself to be [[BigBad Lucius Zogratis]] and was setting up for his plans to take out Lucifero, granting him enough power to start a self-imposed holy war dubbed "Judgement Day" and recreate all the casualties into immortal superhumans, purging humanity of discrimination and prejudice. The setup began a ''few decades ago'' and he plays {{Batman Gambit}}s to a level where every move from just about everyone else falls perfectly into his plan.]]