Wizard's Chess is the enchanted variant of the classic board game in which the pieces move of their own accord when commanded by the player. When a piece is taken, it is removed by the attacking piece, often in a barbaric manner where the losing piece is smashed violently by the winning piece.


Ron had a wizard chess set which he inherited from his grandfather. Unlike many of his hand-me-downs, the second-hand chess set was advantageous as the pieces trusted him. When Harry played with Seamus Finnigan's chess men, they did not trust his judgement and offered him advice.

During the Christmas feast, in a number of Wizard Crackers, Harry obtained, among other things, his very own Wizard's Chess set. He later broke it in by losing, once again, to Ron. (Although Harry saw this more as the fault of Ron's brother, Percy Weasley, who stood over his shoulder and gave him "advice"). Also Hermione loses at wizard chess, which Harry and Ron believe to be a good experience for her.

Main article: Chessboard Chamber
Tumblr lvsgurxjwX1qgt0vro1 500

The giant Wizard's Chessboard

During 1992 an enormous Wizard's Chessboard was the third-to-last layer of security for the Philosopher's Stone. Harry played as one of the white bishops, Hermione as a rook, and Ron as a Knight. Using his extensive knowledge of chess, Ronald Weasley managed to get himself, Harry, and Hermione Granger across, ultimately sacrificing himself to the Black General so that Harry could checkmate the King. Fortunately, Ron recovered.

Chess sets

"Exactly the same as Muggle chess except the figures are animated and can be directed like troops."

A chess set

The chessboard is a type of checkerboard that consists of 64 squares (eight rows and eight columns) arranged in two alternating colours (light and dark). The colours are called "black" and "white" (or "light" and "dark"). The Chess pieces, or chessmen consist of one king, one general, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. The chessboard and chessmen are exactly like Muggle chess except they are animated.

How to play

Players move their pieces by speaking the name of the piece and the square it is to move to by algebraic notation. For example, "Knight to E5". Aside from the self-moving pieces, the rules of Wizard's Chess are exactly the same as Muggle chess. The moving pieces seem to be reasonably sentient, as seen when Harry Potter began learning how to play the game, he used Seamus Finnigan's pieces, which offered him conflicting advice because they knew that he was not a good player.

Known players

Behind the scenes

  • In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the game was depicted with the chess pieces destroying each other (presumably to be fixed with Reparo at the end of the game), but in the book the pieces simply knock each other out and drag captured pieces off the edge of the board.
  • In the film the captured pieces were, in order: White Pawn, Black Bishop, White General, White Pawn, White Bishop, Black Knight, White Rook, White Knight, Black King.
  • Ron's chess set depicted in the film is a replica of the 12th century Lewis Chessmen.[citation needed]
  • Gryffindor student Kenny Markham was a Wizard's Chess fan and collected chess pieces.
  • In Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita, Professor Woland (alias Satan) and his retinue play with a supernatural chess set whose pieces are animate and move by themselves. Rowling has not stated if she had read The Master and Margarita prior to writing the Harry Potter series, but it is possible that the chess set in that novel was an inspiration for Wizard's Chess.