The Chess Game

[Mr. Reindeer]

As I’m rewatching the back half of S2, I thought it might be fun to analyze the Cooper/Earle chess match, even though it ultimately doesn’t go anywhere. I don’t know if there are any chess players on here. I enjoy playing, but I’m a hopeless perpetual novice with no head for strategy, so most of what I can contribute will be gleaned from online reading. Hopefully someone on here is a serious player and can correct me and add their thoughts!

I’ll keep updating as I go through the episodes.

1.

Pawn to King 4 (e4)

Earle’s opening move comes in the form of a note delivered to FBI headquarters, which Gordon gives Cooper in Episode 13. Earle says in his tape to Cooper in Episode 18 that this is an “emphatically traditional opening.” Indeed, the so-called King’s Pawn Game is the most common opening move. Here is what the board looks like:

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Pawn to Queen 4 (d5)

(later retconned to Pawn to King 4 (e5)) (see below)

Cooper responds via a posting in the personal columns of a national newspaper in Episode 19. Earle calls this move a reflection of Dale’s predilection for the tidy and fastidious, and in fact Earle correctly guesses Cooper’s move a day before it is even published, implying that Cooper is extremely predictable. In reality, this response to Earle’s opening move is known as the Scandinavian Defense or Center Counter Defense, and while a popular response to Earle’s opening move, is not without its detractors. Notably, a major proponent of this move was Pete’s patron saint, José Raúl Capablanca. One imagines that Earle was able to predict this move confidently because he knows Dale’s patterns after years of playing with him, and always beating him (“Hobgoblins, Dale...”).

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2.

Pawn to Queen 4 (d4)

Earle’s second move arrives in a letter sent to the Great Northern in Episode 18, accompanied by a tape. Note that Earle eschews the most traditional response to the Scandinavian Defense, which would be to take Cooper’s Queen’s Pawn (exd5). Instead, Earle’s move puts his own pawn at risk, transposing into the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit (the board won’t let me link to the Wikipedia page because the address contains a dash, but you can look it up ). On the tape, he correctly notes that this potentially leads them toward a “classical confrontation,” but also notes that Dale must be wondering what Windom’s true intentions are, as Earle is unlikely to be so transparent about his strategy. Note that Earle could have taken a pawn (and therefore a life) on this move, but since Cooper doesn’t know the stakes yet, Earle is deliberately toying with him, leaving him an opportunity to move his pawn from harm’s way in order to increase Cooper’s culpability in the death.

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Knight to Queen’s Bishop 3 (Nc6)

Although we never hear what Cooper’s second move is, he presumably publishes it in the personals column again, because by the end of Episode 20, Earle makes his third move. It appears from the chessboard Dale is analyzing in Harry’s office in Episode 21 that this was his move. However, note that this chessboard also depicts Cooper’s first move incorrectly (more on that below). This same configuration is seen again on the boards in Harry’s office and the conference room in Episodes 22 and 23.

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This move transposes the game into the Nimzowitsch Defense, apparently a “hypermodern” and rather bold move, albeit one with its supporters. It seems like Earle’s taunts about Cooper’s tidiness and predictability paid off, as he goaded Cooper into a more adventurous strategy that continues to leave his pawn exposed...one assumes that, absent Earle’s taunts, Cooper would have followed Earle’s last move more traditionally and engaged in a “classical confrontation.” The more common move would be to take Earle’s pawn (dxe4), which would have preserved his own pieces for the time being.

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[Mr. Reindeer]

Seems like I might have hit the image threshold for a single post, so continuing here...

3.

Pawn takes Queen’s Pawn (exd5)...or Pawn takes King’s Pawn (dxe5)

The continuity gets a little hairy here at the end of Episode 20. Earle makes his third move, taking his first pawn with the death of transient and Dale Cooper dead-ringer Erik Powell (Craig MacLachlan)...that much is indisputable. Unfortunately, the board seen at the end of this episode bears almost no resemblance to the gameplay we’ve been told (for instance, it appears that Cooper has put his Queen in play, Earle’s King’s Knight and King’s Knight’s Pawn appear to be missing entirely, and Earle’s King’s Pawn is back in its starting position, contradicting his first move).

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The board at the beginning of Episode 21 appears to be different from Episode 20 and again makes no sense in light of what we know of the gameplay to date. It’s best just to ignore these boards as incoherent prop errors; however, the one takeaway from the board in Episode 20 appears to be the piece that Powell is pointing toward, indicating that his pawn took a piece on space e5. This is also what we see on the boards in the sheriff’s station in Episodes 21, 22 and 23 (which are otherwise accurate to the gameplay we’ve heard...this is the error I mentioned above). They depict Earle’s move as dxe5. This move would only make sense if Cooper’s first move had been Pawn to King 4 (e5), which it wasn’t, per the personal column. (Note also that, on the Dead Man’s Board in Episode 20, Cooper’s King’s Pawn is still in its starting position.)

Since Earle’s move is never actually spoken and the chessboard props are unreliable, I’m sticking with what we know of the gameplay so far and assuming Earle’s move is exd5, which is the only thing that makes sense. This move exposes Earle’s pawn to Cooper’s Queen, attempting to lure the Queen into play, which is a solid strategy at this stage, even if it risks ceding White’s control over the center.

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Earle’s chessboard seen at the end of Episode 21 again shows Cooper’s Knight at c6, further supporting this being Coop’s second move. Although this board is more accurate than the one in the scenes with the corpse, there are still several pieces out of place (e.g., Earle’s King’s Bishop’s Pawn appears to have made an improper move to g3, which it could only have done if taking one of Cooper’s pieces; Cooper’s King’s Bishop’s Pawn appears to have advanced a square). It’s possible that some pieces got accidentally bumped because leaves keep blowing on the board! (Earle’s King’s Pawn is not only too far back, it’s occupying four squares at once.) This board once again shows Earle taking Cooper’s King’s Pawn, once again contradicting the move we saw published in the personals in Episode 19.

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Note that we again see the Dead Man’s Board in a forensic photo in Episode 22, with the layout very different from what we previously saw in Episode 20, and having no resemblance whatsoever to the gameplay on the series. On this board, it appears that Earle has moved his King’s Knight, his Queen’s Knight is missing entirely, and he appears to have lost a couple of Pawns. Cooper’s King’s Pawn is advanced two spaces but untouched, and his Queen’s Pawn appears to still be in starting position. Absurdly, Harry takes particular note of the piece Powell is posed to point at...which is Earle’s King’s Knight’s Pawn, still in its starting position! Even disregarding all the inconsistencies with the actual gameplay, having the corpse point at a piece that hasn’t moved from its starting position is absolutely silly and would have no significance.

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[mtwentz]

Just chiming in to say this is a great idea of a project to undertake during quarantine! I would help but I haven’t played chess since 1984

[Mr. Reindeer]

Pawn to Queen’s Knight 3 (b6)

Cooper enlists Pete’s help in Episode 22. This is the move Pete makes in Episode 23 after much deliberation, which he says will guarantee some sleepless nights, and ensures that Earle won’t be able to take a piece for five or six moves. At this point, it seems Coop’s opening move has been definitively retconned to Pawn to King 4 (e5), despite what the personals column said in Episode 19. Not only have the boards in the sheriff’s station reflected this move for three episodes straight, Pete’s move makes no sense if Cooper’s initial move was P to Q4, because Pete’s move would allow Earle to take Cooper’s Knight (dxc6) on the next move! See below board, which would reflect the positions of the pieces after Pete’s move, if Cooper’s initial move were as posted in the personals:

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Here are the positions if we accept that Cooper’s initial move has been retconned, as reflected by the chessboards in the sheriff’s station:

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From here on out, the chessboards seen on screen which are meant to reflect the actual gameplay are all accurate to this retconned version of the game.

Pete references José Raúl Capablanca and Emanuel Lasker’s 1914 match in St. Petersburg when contemplating his move. Lasker actually bested Capablanca, coming in first in the tournament and beating Capablanca in a very famous game, so this actually wasn’t a proud moment for Pete’s hero (who like Cooper was playing Black, and apparently played too passive a game). Perhaps Pete is using Capablanca’s defeat as a learning tool rather than a guide. If Cooper’s response to Earle’s initial move was indeed e5, then this would have been the same opening as that match. This is called an Open Game, and is possibly the most common response to the King’s Pawn Game. Earle’s second move, leading toward a “classical confrontation,” would then have been luring Cooper into the Danish Gambit, which Cooper rejects on his second move, pivoting into the Nimzowitsch Defense, as discussed above.

Pete’s move doesn’t on its face seem to have any relation to the Lasker-Capablanca conflict, nor does it seem to be a move with much support in the general chess community. At this point, we seem to be out in the wilderness: this is most definitely not a classical confrontation. And maybe that’s the point. By asking Pete to devise a game where the fewest possible pieces are lost, Cooper has revised the rules of the typically utilitarian game, wherein pieces are routinely sacrificed in the name of broader strategy. It would be interesting to see a great chess strategist try to play under Cooper’s rules in real life, and see what the results would be. I’m not well-versed enough to be able to project what Pete’s overall strategy is, but I would love it if someone on here were able to posit a theory! It’s worth noting that, although Pete claims Earle can’t take a piece for five or six moves, the Black Queen’s Pawn is exposed, and Earle could technically take it on the next move if he really wanted to kill someone else, but this would be terrible strategy, as he would be sacrificing his Queen very early in the game.

In Episode 24, Earle’s board now accurately reflects the same state of play as the sheriff’s station boards (with Cooper’s retconned first move). Earle’s reaction to Pete’s move is that it’s a trick, and he realizes Cooper has gotten help and is playing a stalemate game. Meanwhile, Pete stresses about the fact that a stalemate with no pieces lost is impossible: he references a “classic Herbstmann” (referring to famed chess composer Alexander Herbstmann) which leaves Black with six pieces. Pete claims he can improve on this, but even if they keep twelve pieces, six people die. (This is a strange line. Each side has sixteen pieces, so if Pete managed to keep twelve, then only four people would die. This is presumably a really careless writing mistake.) Cooper says to place an emphasis on royalty as he believes Earle is impatient and doesn’t want pawns.

4.

Knight to King’s Bishop 3 (Nf3)

Getting more theatrical, Earle drops off his fourth move at the Hayward house in Episode 24, while cosplaying as Will’s late classmate Gerald Craig. This move transposes the game into a sort of variant on the Scotch Game.

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Pawn to Queen’s Rook 3 (a6)

Pete calls in this move in Episode 25. Cooper correctly notes that it exposes the pawn to Earle’s King’s Bishop, but that Earle is unlikely to take the pawn as he would be sacrificing his Bishop “and most of his initial advantage” (Cooper’s Queen’s Rook would be able to take the Bishop on the next move).

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5.

Bishop Takes Queen’s Rook’s Pawn (Bxa6)

Earle takes his second pawn with the death of Rusty Tomaski, roadie and beer-lover (Ted Raimi), in Episode 26. Cooper notes that Earle didn’t tell them his move and is playing off the board. There are two possible moves by which Earle might have taken a pawn: this move (which Cooper noted as a possibility when Pete called in the last move in Episode 25, but he assumed Earle would not make such a strategically unsound move), and Queen takes Queen’s Pawn (Qxd7), which would have been even crazier to do. In either instance, Earle is forfeiting a valuable piece for a mere pawn. However, the Bishop has less value than the Queen, so this is the more sensible move between the two. Indeed, based on the brief glimpse we get of Earle’s chessboard before he shoves the pieces off the table, this is exactly what he did. Clearly, at this point, he’s far more interested in killing people and toying with Cooper than playing a serious game.

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The game is over, with no resolution. Thanks for playing! I’d love it if anyone on the board who’s an actual strategist could chime in and contribute their thoughts on any of the above.