Chess clumsiness (was Ron and the Best Game of Chess )

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 39895

violetbaudelaire wrote:

>(BTW, to win the game in SS, Ron says he'll "take one step
>forward and she'll take me" SS- US page 283. I hope this is
>some error on JKR's part or an incomplete thought on Ron's, as
>knights *never* move just one step in *any* direction, and Ron's
>not much of a chess player if he thinks so.)

Seeing wizard chess in action, small and large versions, in the 
celluloid-that-must-not-be-named gave me a new thought about this.  Usually 
a chess player would say "I'll move my knight and she'll take me" or "I make 
my move," not "one step," because they don't step.  But Ron is used to 
animate chess pieces.  Maybe this is a linguistic turn wizard chess has 
taken from centuries of having pieces that are players; they do walk from 
spot to spot so that the term "move" has developed the synonym "step," both 
for pieces/players that can move in single steps and for knights, which 
can't.

Amy Z
tirelessly digging JKR out of her own holes

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Pascal avait son gouffre, avec lui se mouvant.
  -"Le Gouffre" (only Baudelaire poem I know <g>)
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