Tropescilloscope: The Chessmaster

A character who is exceptionally skilled at manipulating events to their advantage using gambits that rely on subtlety and misdirection (much like in Chess). (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes What the Hell, Hero? Crapsack World Male Frontal Nudity The Brute Big Bad Duumvirate It Will Never Catch On Break the Haughty Developing Doomed Characters Creator Cameo Creative Closing Credits Kill 'em All Calling the Old Man Out Depraved Bisexual All There in the Manual The Quiet One Artistic License – Gun Safety The Dragon Heterosexual Life-Partners Tranquil Fury Earn Your Happy Ending Captain Obvious Death Glare Mama Bear Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Dark Action Girl Spiritual Successor Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday All Girls Want Bad Boys Reality Has No Subtitles No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Damsel in Distress Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Be Careful What You Wish For Groin Attack Failed a Spot Check Artistic License – Law Henpecked Husband Gory Discretion Shot Shout-Out Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Cat Scare Badass Grandpa Broken Pedestal Re-Cut Military and Warfare Films Call-Forward Disney Villain Death Tempting Fate Award-Bait Song I Have Your Wife Animated Credits Opening No Name Given Coming-of-Age Story Serious Business One Steve Limit Country Matters Karmic Death Cruel and Unusual Death Demoted to Extra Scare Chord Bittersweet Ending Arranged Marriage Plot Hole Hell Is That Noise Made of Iron Eiffel Tower Effect Wounded Gazelle Gambit Dumb Blonde Cool Guns Mood Whiplash Chase Scene Insane Troll Logic As the Good Book Says... Villain Opening Scene Hero of Another Story Fiery Redhead In Name Only Black and Gray Morality Superhero Break the Cutie Mundane Made Awesome Redemption Equals Death Pretty in Mink Mythology Gag Well-Intentioned Extremist The Smurfette Principle Self-Deprecation Vomit Discretion Shot Annoying Younger Sibling Sassy Black Woman Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Big Eater Darker and Edgier Jerkass Karma Houdini Off-into-the-Distance Ending Twist Ending Crazy Jealous Guy Animal Motifs Red Shirt Aside Glance Arc Words Cold-Blooded Torture NO INDOOR VOICE Ambiguous Disorder Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Police Brutality Spared by the Adaptation O.O.C. Is Serious Business Suspiciously Specific Denial Body Horror Action Prologue Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Politically Incorrect Villain Not So Stoic A Minor Kidroduction The Big Guy Artistic License – Military The '60s Villain with Good Publicity Vitriolic Best Buds Intergenerational Friendship Rich Bitch You Have Failed Me Unusual Euphemism Title Drop Determinator aka: The Determinator Evil vs. Evil Peek-a-Boo Corpse Lampshade Hanging Sacrificial Lion Famous Last Words "Well Done, Son!" Guy An Aesop Male Gaze Mighty Whitey Almost Kiss Author Avatar Composite Character Every Car Is a Pinto The Power of Love "Shaggy Dog" Story Attempted Rape Would Hurt a Child Creepy Child The Oner Storming the Castle You Killed My Father Green-Eyed Monster Parental Substitute Auto Erotica Heel–Face Turn Non-Indicative Name Even Evil Has Loved Ones Pimped-Out Dress Those Two Bad Guys Ironic Echo The Faceless The Reveal Stealth Pun Fish out of Water Drugs Are Bad Leitmotif Dies Wide Open Fate Worse than Death Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Taking You with Me Suspiciously Similar Substitute Sequel Hook Sole Survivor Death of a Child Stalker with a Crush The Stoner Film Series Word of God Face Death with Dignity Leaning on the Fourth Wall Freeze-Frame Bonus Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Television Movie Index Paper-Thin Disguise The Dog Bites Back Evil Counterpart Not Even Bothering with the Accent Vampire Fiction Make It Look Like an Accident Outrun the Fireball The Atoner Asshole Victim B-Movie Double-Meaning Title Stuff Blowing Up Action Genre One-Man Army Love Triangle Race Lift Ungrateful Bastard Jerkass Has a Point Deadpan Snarker Fainting British Films Trailers Always Spoil Defiant to the End Bullying a Dragon Retirony Light Is Not Good Dark and Troubled Past The '50s Kick the Son of a Bitch An Arm and a Leg Dwindling Party Dirty Coward Death by Irony Chekhov's Gunman Cassandra Truth Butt-Monkey Naïve Newcomer Naked People Are Funny More Dakka Too Dumb to Live Big "NO!" Man on Fire Random Events Plot As You Know Meet Cute Our Zombies Are Different Credits Gag Adorkable Fun with Acronyms Camp Gay Daylight Horror The '70s Implacable Man Grey and Gray Morality Domestic Abuse Moment Killer Hollywood Darkness Mooks Missing Mom Even Evil Has Standards Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Ass Shove Rasputinian Death Room Full of Crazy The Stinger Punch-Clock Villain Revenge Authority Equals Asskicking timeperiod Genre Savvy Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Same Language Dub Fantasy Films A Father to His Men Refuge in Audacity Slasher Movie Works Set in World War II Parental Abandonment Funny Foreigner The Lost Lenore Documentary Blood Knight Woman in White Brick Joke Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Spanner in the Works Manic Pixie Dream Girl Lighter and Softer Improbable Aiming Skills Chekhov's Skill Unspoken Plan Guarantee Hypocrite Here We Go Again! Fingore Rule of Funny Toplessness from the Back Funny Background Event Neck Lift Japanese Films Put on a Bus Took a Level in Jerkass Early Installment Weirdness Flipping the Bird Celebrity Paradox Flashback No Ending Heel Realization Sadistic Choice Card-Carrying Villain Soundtrack Dissonance Match Cut Early-Bird Cameo Dual Wielding Visual Pun You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Eureka Moment Mind Screw Scary Black Man Continuity Nod Shower Scene Adapted Out Narrator Gone Horribly Right Amusing Injuries Mexican Standoff Reasonable Authority Figure Adaptational Villainy Eldritch Abomination Older Than They Look What You Are in the Dark Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Alas, Poor Villain Bound and Gagged Stock Footage Sir Swears-a-Lot Public Domain Feature Films The Chessmaster Took a Level in Badass Canadian Movies Men Are the Expendable Gender Insistent Terminology Double Entendre You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Riddle for the Ages The Casanova N-Word Privileges Cool Old Guy Extreme Doormat Casting Gag Psychopathic Manchild Hollywood Law Black Comedy Rape Knight Templar Catapult Nightmare Suddenly SHOUTING! Dull Surprise Humiliation Conga Sinister Minister The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Pragmatic Villainy Fanservice Boom, Headshot! Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Getting Crap Past the Radar The Place Roger Ebert: Great Movies List No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Central Theme Honor Before Reason Demonic Possession The Dreaded Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Sexy Discretion Shot Shipper on Deck Cloudcuckoolander Adaptational Attractiveness Unusually Uninteresting Sight Smoking Is Cool Apocalypse How Yandere Black Dude Dies First Car Fu The Film of the Book Foregone Conclusion Better to Die than Be Killed Intrepid Reporter Logo Joke Danny Peary Cult Movies List Black Best Friend Oh, Crap! Badass Normal Never Found the Body Gilligan Cut Not Using the "Z" Word Artistic License – Physics Motor Mouth The Alleged Car Hate Sink Russian Films Psycho for Hire Obfuscating Stupidity Bland-Name Product Pretty Little Headshots Posthumous Character Meaningful Echo Children Are Innocent Alliterative Name Cool Shades Bunny-Ears Lawyer Mr. Exposition Disappeared Dad Five-Man Band Hero Antagonist Say My Name The Bully Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Imagine Spot Closed Circle The Ghost Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Hong Kong Films The Cameo Ascended Extra Super Strength Product Placement The Cavalry Token Minority Kick the Dog Cain and Abel Downer Ending It Can Think Historical Villain Upgrade Monumental Damage Belligerent Sexual Tension Distracted by the Sexy I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Homage Guns Akimbo Beware the Nice Ones Pyrrhic Victory Diabolus ex Machina The Stoic Easily Forgiven Novelization Skewed Priorities Fantastic Racism Gorn Everyone Has Standards Red Right Hand French Films Italian Films Femme Fatale Pre-Mortem One-Liner Dramatic Irony Dark Is Not Evil Anti-Villain Epic Movie The Mole Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Drill Sergeant Nasty Sci-Fi Horror Deliberate Values Dissonance Berserk Button Biopic There Is No Kill Like Overkill Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Dogged Nice Guy Manipulative Bastard Gender Flip Off with His Head! The Remake Hair-Trigger Temper Punny Name Meaningful Name Offscreen Teleportation Badass in a Nice Suit In the Back Eyepatch of Power Chewing the Scenery Bond Villain Stupidity Half the Man He Used to Be Empathic Environment Face–Heel Turn All Just a Dream Evil Is Hammy Decoy Protagonist Those Two Guys Nothing Is Scarier Very Loosely Based on a True Story Kids Are Cruel Contrived Coincidence Evil Is Petty It's Personal Tap on the Head Hypocritical Humor Never My Fault Romantic Comedy Bad "Bad Acting" Mad Scientist Reality Is Unrealistic Laughing Mad Establishing Character Moment How We Got Here Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Deus ex Machina The Great Depression Breaking the Fourth Wall Knife Nut Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Ambiguous Ending Fourth Date Marriage Ax-Crazy Beta Couple Corrupt Corporate Executive Adaptation Name Change Time Skip Fatal Family Photo Fan Disservice Romantic False Lead Big Fancy House Sports Stories Get Out! Back from the Dead Only in It for the Money Sealed Evil in a Can Rule of Symbolism Defrosting Ice Queen Betty and Veronica Daddy's Girl Badass Boast Wretched Hive Villain Ball Precision F-Strike Straight Gay Camera Abuse All Men Are Perverts One-Word Title Jitter Cam Bottomless Magazines Badass Longcoat Meaningful Background Event "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Immune to Bullets 20 Minutes into the Future Show Within a Show Death by Sex Roaring Rampage of Revenge Dirty Cop Aluminum Christmas Trees Spell My Name with an "S" Handicapped Badass Age Lift Affably Evil Love at First Sight Evil-Detecting Dog Dark Reprise Amoral Attorney For the Evulz Small Name, Big Ego Manchild Cowboy Cop Red Oni, Blue Oni As Long as It Sounds Foreign Video Credits Eagleland Kubrick Stare Obviously Evil Evil Sounds Deep Music Stories Jump Scare Big-Bad Ensemble Christmas Movies Index Unresolved Sexual Tension The '90s Your Head A-Splode Combat Pragmatist Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Serial Killer Arch-Enemy May–December Romance Blatant Lies The Ditz Costume Porn Faking the Dead Needs Wiki Magic Love Bond One-Liner Not So Above It All Ominous Latin Chanting Rousing Speech Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Catch-Phrase Film Noir A Date with Rosie Palms The Starscream Extremely Short Timespan Ms. Fanservice Darkest Hour Comically Missing the Point The Vamp Artistic License – Geography Actor Allusion Wrong Genre Savvy War Is Hell Dissonant Serenity The Ace No OSHA Compliance Madness Mantra Based on a True Story Instant Death Bullet Reckless Gun Usage Zombie Stories Good Is Not Nice He Who Fights Monsters Bloodier and Gorier Red Eyes, Take Warning Anti-Hero Cool Old Lady Insult Backfire Malevolent Masked Men All for Nothing Big Applesauce Curse Cut Short Dying Moment of Awesome Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Rated M for Manly Wham Shot Together in Death Mistaken for Gay The End... Or Is It? He Knows Too Much Leave the Camera Running "The Reason You Suck" Speech Irony Slap-Slap-Kiss MacGuffin Brainless Beauty True Companions Red Herring Stylistic Suck Blood from the Mouth Gratuitous English Martial Arts Movie Loophole Abuse A God Am I Corpsing Anyone Can Die The Hero Dies Babies Ever After Sequel Escalation Maybe Ever After Action Girl Training Montage The Alcoholic For Want of a Nail Badass Bookworm Abusive Parents Soft Glass Nice Guy Stealth Hi/Bye Ship Tease Offscreen Moment of Awesome Line-of-Sight Name Shirtless Scene The Mafia Genre Throwback Unwitting Instigator of Doom Chiaroscuro Screw This, I'm Outta Here! And Starring Heroic Sacrifice All There in the Script World of Ham Hooker with a Heart of Gold Destination Defenestration Psychological Thriller Greater-Scope Villain Only a Flesh Wound In Medias Res Would Hit a Girl Department of Redundancy Department Bald of Evil Playing Gertrude Heroic BSoD Improvised Weapon Adults Are Useless Thriller Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Undying Loyalty I Did What I Had to Do Have a Gay Old Time BFG This Is Gonna Suck Taking the Bullet Rule of Three Driven to Suicide Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Expy The Load Parental Incest Awesome, but Impractical Mystery and Detective Films The Hero Fat Bastard Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Index of Film Westerns Bolivian Army Ending Your Cheating Heart Frame-Up Unreliable Narrator Manly Tears Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Take a Third Option Important Haircut Neck Snap Killed Mid-Sentence From Bad to Worse Only Sane Man Overprotective Dad Does Not Like Shoes Interrupted Suicide Slasher Smile Nice Hat Smug Snake Anachronic Order Horror Comedy Hidden Depths Not Quite Dead Disproportionate Retribution Brutal Honesty Married to the Job Due to the Dead Left the Background Music On A.I. Is a Crapshoot Disney Death Historical-Domain Character And I Must Scream Actually Pretty Funny Silent Movie I'm a Humanitarian Historical Hero Upgrade Our Vampires Are Different No Antagonist After the End Crazy-Prepared From Nobody to Nightmare Bury Your Gays Science Fiction Films Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Stepford Smiler Never Trust a Trailer Dressing as the Enemy Four-Temperament Ensemble Vomit Indiscretion Shot Bowdlerise Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds The Bad Guy Wins Drives Like Crazy Death Seeker The '80s Bilingual Bonus The Voiceless Made of Explodium Tagline Film Noir Index Real Life Writes the Plot Historical In-Joke Spiteful Spit '80s Hair Humans Are Bastards Only One Name Market-Based Title Alpha Bitch Adaptation Distillation Worthy Opponent Final Girl Anachronism Stew Eye Scream Dropped a Bridge on Him Bloody Hilarious And the Adventure Continues No-Sell Rape as Drama The Un-Reveal Abhorrent Admirer She's Got Legs Fire-Forged Friends Friend to All Children Agony of the Feet Idiot Ball Kill It with Fire Blackmail Adult Fear Overly Long Gag Really Gets Around Covers Always Lie Grievous Bottley Harm No Celebrities Were Harmed Loads and Loads of Characters German Films Cat Fight Exact Words Heroes Want Redheads Not So Different Canon Foreigner Ambiguously Gay Jerk Jock Villainous Breakdown Shut Up, Hannibal! Gold Digger Laser-Guided Karma The Sociopath Brother–Sister Incest Once More, with Clarity! Chekhov's Gun Bad Boss Anguished Declaration of Love Scenery Gorn Bar Brawl Book-Ends Broken Bird Obstructive Bureaucrat Setting Update Big Brother Instinct Redshirt Army Expository Hairstyle Change Improbable Weapon User Rewatch Bonus Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Does This Remind You of Anything? "Awesome McCool" Name Lock and Load Montage As Himself Bloodless Carnage Retired Badass Australian Movies Cluster F-Bomb Affectionate Parody Despair Event Horizon Bavarian Fire Drill Artistic License – History Dirty Old Man Freudian Excuse Facial Horror Deconstruction Scenery Porn Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Call-Back Character Development Animal Title Index Hoist by His Own Petard Let's Get Dangerous! Wicked Cultured Crucified Hero Shot Dutch Angle Genre Shift Bare Your Midriff Bait-and-Switch Vacation Films Armor-Piercing Question The Lancer Plucky Comic Relief I Need a Freaking Drink Enemy Mine Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Beard of Evil Faux Affably Evil Broken Aesop Only Known by Their Nickname Ripped from the Headlines The X of Y Slashed Throat Large Ham Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Evil Brit Shell-Shocked Veteran Deliberately Monochrome Fanservice Extra Curb-Stomp Battle Adaptational Heroism Exactly What It Says on the Tin Advertised Extra An Axe to Grind Captain Ersatz Reality Ensues folderlabel Recycled IN SPACE! Pay Evil unto Evil Noodle Incident Happily Married Beauty Is Never Tarnished Woman Scorned Adaptational Badass Antagonist Title Adaptation Dye-Job Foreshadowing Parental Neglect Throwing Your Sword Always Works Villain Song Star-Crossed Lovers Dramedy Gainax Ending Drowning My Sorrows Shoot the Shaggy Dog Shown Their Work Action Survivor Big Damn Heroes Framing Device Death by Adaptation Guile Hero My Beloved Smother Pet the Dog Conspicuous CG Real Life Those Wacky Nazis Evil Laugh Did Not Get the Girl Retcon Translation Convention Air-Vent Passageway Accidental Misnaming The Musical Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Disguised in Drag Morality Pet Hope Spot Truth in Television Papa Wolf Mugging the Monster The Smart Guy Fatal Flaw Big Bad Artistic License – Biology Totally Radical Whole Plot Reference Names to Run Away from Really Fast Fake Shemp La Résistance Protagonist Title Batman Gambit Victoria's Secret Compartment Epic Fail Deal with the Devil Up to Eleven Not What It Looks Like Jerk with a Heart of Gold Bi the Way It's All About Me Villain Protagonist Horror Films What Happened to the Mouse? Wham Line Poor Communication Kills Author Appeal The Chick My Greatest Failure Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Pragmatic Adaptation Silence Is Golden Cool Car Ghost Fiction Properly Paranoid Informed Ability Determinator Bring My Brown Pants Didn't Think This Through Black Comedy Mr. Fanservice Becoming the Mask Police are Useless Race Against the Clock My God, What Have I Done? She Cleans Up Nicely Accidental Murder Major Injury Underreaction Dramatic Gun Cock Rule of Cool Evil Plan Foil Take That! Mercy Kill Last-Name Basis Adaptation Expansion Sanity Slippage Running Gag