Web Animation / Top Chess

Top Chess is a YouTube channel, which makes videos focusing on Chess battles where the pieces are sapient, talking beings. The original videos were simply various chess scenarios, but as the series continued, the events became more and more interconnected, along with some of the pieces receiving character development and an overarching plot beginning to take shape.

Tropes applying to Chess Memes:

• Anyone Can Die: Every chess piece has died at least once in the series, always coming back the next episode, and it's not unusual for the games to end with the losing King being the last of his army left, and the winning King only having a few of his pieces. Taken to the extreme in Episode 51, where the kings are the only ones left.
• Ambiguous Situation: The Ad Bishop says "We are all Bishop". Whether this implies all bishops were the same entity or is simply a metaphor (given his "bishop race" comment) is unclear.
• Apocalypse How: At least a Class 3a, which befell mankind in an alternate universe in 1969.
• Bad Boss:
  • The kings are almost always willing to throw away any of their pieces if it means they'll get closer to achieving victory (especially those who earn their ire), belittle their minions, and memory wipe them on the regular. Downplayed with the fact the pieces are usually willing and that they hate losing their horses, queens, and later on, rooks.
  • The queens, whenever they take control, are even more willing to sacrifice pieces, usually being the ones to throw away rooks and knights in later episodes. Even the bishops, their simps, aren't safe
• Brain Uploading: What the chess pieces actually are, being people from an alternate timeline where humanity went extinct uploaded into chess pieces.
• Bolivian Army Ending: As typical with chess, the matches end right before the King gets captured/killed, occasionally even having it go black right as a gunshot is heard.
• The Bully: The kings verbally abuse their rooks in the first sixty two episodes. After the rooks single handedly force a draw, however, the kings stop...only to continue doing so against the Bishops.
• Character Catchphrase: Many.
  • "Checky checky check check", usually by the knight.
  • "Checkmate", usually by the King or Queen themselves.
  • "WAKANDA FOREVER!" and "EBOMBAY!" whenever a piece is ready to die.
  • "Save this check first" by the knight.
• Character Development: As described above, the kings do learn to treat rooks better... before throwing their hate onto the bishops.
• Christmas Episode: Episode 56.
• Dark Is Evil: The Black King.
• Death Is Cheap: All the pieces return back to life with zero problems. It's revealed the Kings and the creator of the videos bring them back after each game and brainwash them.
• Early Instalment Weirdness: The editing for the first few episodes is... all over the place. It's not until Episode 39 that the editing starts to be more consistent, with an increasing emphasis on the chess pieces explaining strategies or why they did (or should perform) a particular move.
• Enemy Mine: The kings start collaborating to stop bishop checkmates due to their mutual hatred of them. This turns out to go far deeper, as the kings report to the same boss and team up against their queens and the Ad Bishop.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The Kings both adore their knights, queens, and eventually, the rooks. Though the queen part is ambiguous with the revelation they're being memory wiped and that the kings try to stop them.
• Evil vs. Evil: The kings are both arrogant jerkasses who make the other pieces launch suicidal attacks and frequently belittle them, all over petty squabbles. However, they're more in cahoots that they initially let on.
• Forever War: The chess pieces are stuck fighting forever, without end.
• Freudian Excuse: The Ad Bishop ultimately justified his atrocities against the rest of the pieces during the Bishop Era to his and the rest of the bishop race's mistreatment over the previous episodes. Come Episode 130, the Ultimate Pawn would then explain that it does not nearly make up for him committing the biggest crime in the chess universe.
  Ad Bishop: You think I am doing wrong because I control the black side? Where were you when the black king always used to bully me and my brother bishop? They always used to sack me! Where the fu*k were you? And you call yourself the ultimate pawn? Why? Where is my justice?
  Ultimate Pawn: Shut up! Stop this nonsense! World is unfair, you can't complain about what's in your faith. The world is a fu*ked up place. It's not in your hand, you were created like this.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Ad Bishop, who went on to take over the creators of the videos and allowing him to dictate how will the chess game play out, as well as subjecting the kings to agonizing moments such as preventing them from speaking.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: The queens are usually authoritative, loud, and controlling of everyone around them, even the kings. Justified, as she is the most powerful piece and the kings frequently do stupid things.
• Hopeless War: What the matches usually are near the end.
• Hopeless Suitor: The bishops apparently simp for the Queen, but it amounts to nothing.
• Idiot Ball: Plenty of moments where a chess piece either leave themselves vulnerable to being captured with no tradeoff for the enemy or making a move that leaves another chess piece with no protection to the enemy, often to the detriment of their army.
  • Or pulling off tactics that only end up backfiring, notably in Episode 88, where the black queen offered a rook to be captured by a white bishop so she can capture the opponent's queen that is obstructed by said bishop. Said bishop doesn't fall for the "sacrifice" and a white pawn instead moves to force the rook off, leading to said rook moving to a square that allows the bishop to capture it safely through a check.
  • Another example in Episode 169. After deciding against pinning a black knight threatening to kill a white rook to his queen (as it would result in the certain death of the white knight that suggested it), the white queen instead moves to give a "mate threat"... only for the black queen to point out that she was protecting the square the white queen intended to give the threat at, apparently being overlooked by both the king and queen. Not only does the white knight then get promptly killed, but so does the white rook, and White would end up losing the match not long after.
• In-Series Nickname: Practically every chess piece is referred to by a nickname just as much as their normal name.
  • "Horsey" for the knights by the kings.
  • "My simps" for the pawns from the kings and the bishops from the queens.
  • Rooky Boys by the kings to the rooks.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: A couple times, the kings have surrendered. Defied in Episode 54, where the Black King takes the White Kings surrender button just so he can win.
• Killed Off for Real: The fate of all those who break the fourth wall to many times, fading away and being replaced.
• Last Stand: Typically how the games end, with the losing King alone and either trying to force a draw or fight to the end in the hope of a victory.
• Light Is Not Good: The White King may be pearly white, but he's just as evil as his enemy.
• Never My Fault: The kings usually refuse to accept responsibility, frequently blaming their pieces when they find themselves in a losing position.
• Product Placement: Ad Bishop's role is to plug in sponsorships in the middle of chess games, notably on MMORPGs and mobile games that include War Thunder and, of course, Raid: Shadow Legends. Which the other chess pieces (except for the kings that absolutely loathe the sponsorship plug-ins) join in the advertising with either Ad Bishop taking over the chess piece or just joining in by themselves.
• Puppet King: The Kings, due to their relative weakness, are occasionally bossed around by the Queens. They're eventually revealed to also be working for the creator of the chess videos.
• Rage Against the Author: When Ad Bishop gets banished, he kills the creators of the videos and takes over the key editor so he can manipulate the other chess pieces, subjugate the kings as payback for their mistreatment of bishops, and give himself free rein to plug in sponsorships any time.
• Royal Favorite: The kings adore the knights, sometimes even prioritizing them over their queens. The rooks eventually become the kings "second-favorite" piece.
• Saying Too Much: A frequent problem with the kings, like mentioning their strategies. Special mention goes to Black King, who nearly makes his queen realize she's brainwashed.
• Start of Darkness: Ad Bishop claims these following events are what started his plan to exact revenge on the kings, even before the bishops became The Un-Favourite:
  • Episode 2: A recently captured white bishop that was shooed away for interrupting the White King's narration. (Yes, even the Early Instalment Weirdness is not immune to Ad Bishop's desire for revenge)
  • Episode 43: A black bishop being chastised by his allies for moving back its starting square to attack the white queen that is going to capture a rook, where a long castle with another rook could have protected said rook from the queen.
  • Episode 51: A white bishop that was ordered by the White King to stay still after capturing a knight and be captured by a pawn with the intent of weakening black's pawn structure after capturing said bishop. Even after pointing out that he could move back to protect a pawn that was under attack by the black queen, thus preventing the queen trade to remove the black queen's attack on a rook after the pawn capture.
• Status Quo Is God: The board always returns to its original position with everyone alive, because it is made to be so.
• Taking You with Me: The chess pieces often sacrifice themselves, usually shouting "WAKANDA FOREVER!" or "EBOMBAY!".
• The Unfavorite: Bishops become the most frequently abused pieces after Episode 64, with everyone hating them. One bishop plugs in sponsorships to piss the Black King off, which results in his banishment and eventual drive to revenge.
• Wham Episode:
  • Episode 64 has the kings start respecting their rooks, with the latter tossing the role of The Unfavorite to the bishops.
  • Episode 80 introduces Ad Bishop.
  • Episode 95 features the Black Rook and Knight leaving the board into the dark space beyond and discovering a blurry Ad Bishop advertising yet another MMO, proving Ad Bishop's continued involvement and the existence of other games. The episode ends with the Black King confronting Ad Bishop and saying he will find another way to end his advertisements.
  • Episodes 96 and 97 reveal the Kings brainwash their queens for Breaking the Fourth Wall or running away.
  • Episode 99 has the Ad Bishop returning to exact revenge, and the Queens killing each other to discover the truth.
  • Episode 100 drops several bombshells by revealing the chess pieces are people who were teleported into a computer and forced into videos, that all chess pieces who break the fourth wall to much are banished to fade away and replaced, and that the Ad Bishop killed the creators of the videos after being banished out of the dark space outside the board, beginning his plan for vengeance.