chess reference

[PavelMorozov]

hi,
for a quiz Im trying to find out if there's any reference to chess in 'the
return of the king'
can someone help me please ?
pavlik

[Kristian Damm Jensen]

Post by PavelMorozov
hi,
for a quiz Im trying to find out if there's any reference to chess in
'the return of the king'
can someone help me please ?
pavlik

The only thing I can think of is Gandalf in Minas Tirith

"The board is set, and the pieces are moving. ... But the Enemy has the
move, and he is about to open his full game. And pawns are likely to see as
much of it as any, "

and later Pippin:

. "A pawn did Gandalf say? Perhaps but on the wrong chessboard."

[Christopher Kreuzer]

<snip>

Oops. I forgot to read forward before replying. Sorry for duplicating the
post.

[Morgaine]

Yes, and this quote of Gandalf's is very reminiscent of "King's Chess",
otherwise known as Gwyddbwyll, Brandubh, etc. which appears in
proto-Arthurian Welsh lore as a chess-like game played between the King
and his Otherworld counterpart, in which the pieces seem to move by
themselves. Funny coincidence, that.

Post by Kristian Damm Jensen

Post by PavelMorozov
hi,
for a quiz Im trying to find out if there's any reference to chess in
'the return of the king'
can someone help me please ?
pavlikThe only thing I can think of is Gandalf in Minas Tirith

"The board is set, and the pieces are moving. ... But the Enemy has the
move, and he is about to open his full game. And pawns are likely to see as
much of it as any, "
. "A pawn did Gandalf say? Perhaps but on the wrong chessboard."
--
Regards,
Kristian Damm Jensen
"This isn't Jeopardy. Answer below the question."

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Post by PavelMorozov
for a quiz Im trying to find out if there's any reference to chess in
'the return of the king'

It's when Gandalf talks to Pippin in Minas Tirith:

"[Gandalf] fell silent and sighed. 'Well, no need to brood on what tomorrow
may bring. For one thing, tomorrow will be certain to bring worse than
today, for many days to come. And there is nothing more that I can do to
help it. The board is set, and the pieces are moving. One piece that I
greatly desire to find is Faramir, now the heir of Denethor. I do not think
that he is in the City; but I have had no time to gather news. I must go.
Pippin. I must go to this lords' council and learn what I can. But the Enemy
has the move, and he is about to open his full game. And pawns are likely to
see as much of it as any, Peregrin son of Paladin, soldier of Gondor.
Sharpen your blade!'" (Minas Tirith)

Later in the same chapter Pippin is talking to Beregond, a guard of the
Citadel, and we read the following:

"Pippin looked at him: tall and proud and noble, as all the men that he had
yet seen in that land; and with a glitter in his eye as he thought of the
battle. 'Alas! my own hand feels as light as a feather,' he thought, but he
said nothing. 'A pawn did Gandalf say? Perhaps but on the wrong
chessboard.'" (Minas Tirith)

So it seems that the denizens of Middle-earth played something akin to
chess, and Tolkien-the-translator used the common chess/battle/strategy
analogy to get the idea across. In the real world, chess in its modern form
in only a few hundred years old, though the origins go back thousands of
years.

Christopher