Jay-Z Plays Chess in Black Is King
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The very first position we see by Jay in the movie, at about 26 minutes and 58 seconds in, shows him on the black side. Besides being thematically appropriate for Black Is King, this also means taking the second turn. (Whether this rule is racist is debated.) The showdown appears to have started as what experienced players call an Open Game, as evidenced by how his opponent seems to have pushed out his king’s pawn two squares out as his first move (a highly popular opening move that was famously favored by Bobby Fischer himself), and Jay has seemingly countered with his own king’s pawn. So far so good, Jay. This is among the most popular parries, and for good reason. We then see him move his queen’s pawn one square forward to back up his already-out-there king’s pawn, in what could be forming a Philidor Defense.
But in the very next shot (at 27:00) we see that Jay’s knight on his left-hand side is out with his king’s pawn still out in center, directly facing down his opponent’s king’s pawn, which is in turn diagonally ahead of the opponent’s knight. That is … not what we just came from. Did we flash forward a few moves? Is this a different game altogether? Is this what players call a simultaneous exhibition, with Jay playing multiple games at once? However you want to spin it, this is where we’re at: The two sides’ moves have been essentially identical, and symmetrical, in a compelling gameplay formation called a Petrov’s Defense. Still so far, so good—Jay is taking aggressive moves heralded by past masters.
In the next move we see, at 28:27, the picture quality seems to be purposefully a little fuzzy, as if to thwart viewers trying to follow the match, but it appears as though Jay’s opponent’s bishop is out and threatening Jay’s knight, which is along the diagonal white line to the king. Again, this state of play is completely different and likely could not have come from our last game, but I’ll roll with it.
Jay moves his right-hand rook’s pawn to additionally threaten the bishop. This is a solid move, known as the Morphy Defense, an effective counter to the setup known as the Ruy López, named for a Habsburg-era Roman Catholic priest who wrote one of the first definitive books about chess in Europe. This is a good defense for a few reasons: If his opponent’s bishop takes his knight or the pawn, Jay can in turn take the bishop. If he’d instead moved the knight to definitely save it from the bishop, it’s not like he’d be able to threaten the bishop anew with it, plus that would weaken the defense along the line that leads to his king. However! If his opponent were savvy enough, the opponent could set his next moves up in a way that he could endanger Jay’s king or (we shudder to think it) his queen.
Meanwhile, he ends the verse by hitting a chess clock beside the board, revealing that he has been playing with time controls all along. It’s not clear whether this is a form of speed chess or a more standard time limit ....
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