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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone/Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - Chess Mess
In the Chapter "Through the Trapdoor," Ron, Hermoine and Harry must play their way across a chess board. Ron says he'll be a knight. Later, he says he'll move one space forward, the queen will take him and Harry checkmates the king. Ron can't move one space forward if he's a knight; they only move in an L shape.
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Contributed By:
Freezy on 12-27-1999
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Comments:
Silvereye writes:
In chess, when one says the Knight moved one move/step/field, whatever forward, it's implied that it moved in the way the Knight is suppose to move.
115 of 125 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
Lord Voldemort writes:
It says on page 199 of the American paperback version, in the chapter called The Mirror of the Erised, "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." So that means wizard chess can't be different and it must be implied that Ron meant one move forward. P.S. Erised backwards is Desire. And the writing on the mirror says (backwards) I show not your face but your hearts desire.
82 of 93 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
Mr. Music writes:
When he said one space forward, he was talking to two people who never really learned how to play well. He meant he's gonna move once, not literally one space forward!
30 of 38 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
Mindy Doll writes:
THIS IS NOT A SLIPUP!!!! Ron doesn't mean he'll move just one space up, he means that he'll take one move
16 of 18 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
Sarah writes:
OK, first of all, you spell "Hermione" H-E-R-M-I-O-N-E. Sorry, I'm a perfectionist, what can I say? And he didn't literally mean "one space", he meant one move.
15 of 20 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
Hermes writes:
Maybe he meant that after he moved one space forward, they should continue. He doesn't have to refer to the two spaces to the side for him to go forward. The event of going forward is only part of the move event, so it may or may not be a slip-up.
10 of 13 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
Skyrunner1 writes:
Perhaps Ron had ALREADY moved two spaces to the left or right, and was preparing to move the final space when he turned to Harry and Hermione??? Consider this if you will...
13 of 20 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
Micky P writes:
Two squares along & one square forward, hmm, now let me see - wouldn't that be an L shape & also move only one square forward...
12 of 20 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
Kuja writes:
Ron was in the process of thinking about his move, meaning that he could have moved wherever as long as he didn't finalize it. He most likely moved the few spaces before the last in the L formation.
7 of 11 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
littlenicky writes:
Wizard Chess is the same as our chess, Rowling explained that earlier in the book. Ron is actually meaning that he'll take one -move- forward ... it would have sounded silly saying "I'll move one square forward and two to the left", especially if Harry and Hermionie know -anything- about chess at all. The queen moving to take Ron doesn't put her king in check. Rather, it leaves the king in a position so that if Harry moves correctly, the opposing king will -then- be in checkmate.
3 of 3 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
hpfanmajor writes:
ACtually, you can't make the move in chess if your moving puts your king in check. But it would be impossible to win the game if you could never stop protecting the king. Harry had to move to put the king in checkmate. That is a perfectly legitamat move. If, however, the queen moving is what put the king in check where Harry was standing, she would not be able to move.
2 of 2 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
da spanx ta writes:
they have been playing for a while it wasn't his first move so your list is incorrect. We have no idea where he is on the board.
5 of 9 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
Freezy writes:
By rules of chess, you cannot attack until the opponent has finished. So, she couldn't have pounced then. Sorry.
4 of 7 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
g.willikers writes:
You are definitely correct, this is a slip-up. It was stated that "muggle" chess and wizard chess are in fact the same, and Rowling's word-choice indicates that Ron as the knight did not execute a legal knight's move before the queen captured him. On page 283 in the paperback American (Sorcerer's Stone) version, Ron says, "...I'll take one step forward and she'll take me - that leaves you free to checkmate the king, Harry!" And a bit further down the page, it says: "He stepped forward, and the white queen pounced."
5 of 9 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
Red Dog writes:
Ron was talking to himself in the book figuring out the next moves. Now, with the knight able to move two spaces then 1 at a 90 degree angle to his orginal move then if Ron was figuring on moving two spaces left or right of his present space and walked those two spaces while explaining it to the others, then, yes, he'd have to take that final step forward to complete his turn so the White Queen could take him. I see no error in this as that one space at 90 degrees to the two space move earlier MUST be made to complete the player's turn. Of course, not all chess players move their knight in the "L" pattern. Instead you can move 1 space left, right, forward or back then a 45 degree move left or right of the square in the same direction you just moved. So it looks more like a _/ pattern. (Just an example of how a move could change and sound different and still get the same result.)
1 of 1 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
Kara writes:
huero_grande writes: Everyone is trying to show how they think Ron slipped up or how he didn't. But I think everyone is missing the real slip up here...it's not his wording and if he only moved one space(which is not a legit move in muggle/wizards chess) or if he meant he was making the legal move but the slip up is this...On page 283 in the paperback American (Sorcerer's Stone) version, Ron says, "...I'll take one step forward and she'll take me - that leaves you free to chec-kmate the king, Harry!" If anyone plays chess they know that the rules state you cannot make a move that leaves your King exposed for check-mate. Therefore the queen wouldn't move to Ron's knight because she would expose the King to Harry. The board would have to block either Ron or Harry or move the King so he is out of harms way and if it isn't possible without exposing the King then the game is over without the Queen taking Ron's knight. But then again, that wouldn't leave much drama. I don't think we are dicussing the same game of chess. It is true that a piece cannot move if doing so would put the king in check(mate). However, it does allow for the player to make a move that leaves the king open to a move that would put the king in check. Otherwise, no one would ever be able to win a game of chess!
1 of 1 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
BKred writes:
It doesn't say anything about moving two to the side.
7 of 14 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
Unown writes:
Wizard chess is the same as Muggle chess. Maybe Ron was moving and while he was walking the queen pounced.
4 of 9 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
huero_grande writes:
Everyone is trying to show how they think Ron slipped up or how he didn't. But I think everyone is missing the real slip up here...it's not his wording and if he only moved one space(which is not a legit move in muggle/wizards chess) or if he meant he was making the legal move but the slip up is this...On page 283 in the paperback American (Sorcerer's Stone) version, Ron says, "...I'll take one step forward and she'll take me - that leaves you free to chec-kmate the king, Harry!" If anyone plays chess they know that the rules state you cannot make a move that leaves your King exposed for check-mate. Therefore the queen wouldn't move to Ron's knight because she would expose the King to Harry. The board would have to block either Ron or Harry or move the King so he is out of harms way and if it isn't possible without exposing the King then the game is over without the Queen taking Ron's knight. But then again, that wouldn't leave much drama.
15 of 31 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
egg_dude writes:
Kara- You said that you have to be able to leave your king open for the other person to check it, but it clearly says, on page 283 (Paperback, American), "I take one step forward and she'll take me-that leaves you free to CHECKMATE the king," not CHECK.
0 of 2 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
Kaosfinik writes:
Stop pretending you're an English teacher or something....They never say anything about the rules being the same...
15 of 33 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
@ssKicker writes:
It doesn't have to say anything about two to the side, it automatically does that. But remember, they're in a hurry to stop Professor Quirrel(though they think it's Snape) from stealing the Philosopher's Stone. Do you think they're going to worry about cheating at chess? But then arises the question of WIZARD chess, maybe something bad happens if you cheat.
3 of 9 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
aza writes:
Maybe wizard chess is different than normal chess?!? Though it may state in a different part of the book that it's the same, I'm not sure!
4 of 13 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
Ken-Dawg writes:
Well, you are right, but Wizard chess might be different from ours.
2 of 14 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes
aigent42 writes:
That's implied.
1 of 19 people found this comment helpful. Did you? Yes


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