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