Oh my gosh! It's insane how many checkered patterns I'm seeing now! I'm going to have to stop ;-)

This one is interesting, the lamp shade is a checkered pattern and Grey is in the shot and we know that right after this is when Red discovers Grey betrayed him.

I like this discussion. We've always felt that this was a giant game of strategy and as a chess game it makes the most sense. Especially given Red's fondness for chess shown to us from the beginning. The scene in the park in "Wujing". Red's famous line, sitting in front of the chess board playing by himself, "I prefer to play with myself in private." LOL! But it made you remember that scene.

An interesting thing about the current season has been what I've  seen as Red's sort of falling off as his usual ten steps ahead way of working. He may be the strategist and Kate was the cleaner, but it seems like he has sort of lost his usual flair without her being around. Could she have had a larger role in his strategizing than we have seen? A now-missing, but important, piece on his chessboard?

Now I need to read up on fairy chess! LOL!

clocks and chess games

Really interesting references.  I will try to remember the chess board motifs that have stood out to me.
And Think we have seen checks and/or plaids with many blacklisters so that kind of validates our ideas that with each blacklister, another step in the overall endgame is achieved.

I would like to introduce another element to this:  that of clocks.  As you know Ive been looking at clocks and times and have started to document these although I've been distracted by RL lately.  But what of the clocks in chess?  I attach a link below to an article in wikpeadia on chess clocks and their use.  If you scroll down you will see the types of clocks used which include the Fisher clock (for Bobby Fischer, as Tuxie400 pointed out there is that well known line by Red about Bobby Fischer's 1972 tournament, the whole point from Red to Denislov was to look at the end game); and the looking glass clock.  

I've only just knitted these ideas together today so have to think through some more but its fascinating enough to hold my attention and get me focused on it.  Suppose all of these many references to time tie in to the chess game theme?  I don't know loads about chess, but I've read that if certain moves are not made within a certain period of time, that player automatically loses....interesting to contemplate within he context of The Blacklist...."we don't have much time"  "we are out of time" and the like....moves had to be made within a certain timeframe....

OK for some reason the link won't work, I will try in a separate posting as I need to grab it again....

edited to correct:  its "hour glass" clock not "looking glass clock" time control in my reference above....

Last edited by lara1 (3/12/2017 10:34 pm)

here's a more detailed article on "Time controls" in chess, which to me sets out the different types of time controls and their importance to the game, a little bit clearer....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_control

lara1 #25 - What a wonderful connection! I never thought about the clocks and the chess connecting, but that makes so much sense.  The visual clues have given us some exciting breakthroughs! 

Last edited by Tuxie400 (3/13/2017 11:42 am)

Here's a better picture with the whole display:

First Row:
1 Red/white/blue verticals: Tango (T) Keep clear of me
2 White/blue verticals: Alpha (A) Diver underwater. Vessel unable to move from current location. Warning to other vessels to keep clear. 
3 White background/blue cross: XRay (X) "Stop carrying out your intentions and watch for my signals."

Second Row:
1 Blue/white checkered: November (N) Negative*
2 (no flag; ship model)
3 Blue/white/red/white/blue striped: Charlie (C) Affirmative*
* (N and C together ("no" and "yes") is used as a distress signal.)**

Third Row:
1 Blue border/white center/Red in center: Whiskey (W) "I require medical assistance."
2 Blue/white circle/pennant shape: the number two (2)
3 Blue background/white criss cross: Mike (M) "My vessel is stopped and making no way through the water." (also Morse Code)

**A distress signal indicates that a person or group of people, ship, aircraft, or other vehicle is threatened by serious and/or imminent danger and requires immediate assistance. 

• Flying the international maritime signal flags NC  

Colleen - I read the article, and it also speaks of a cottage located on acres of virgin forest....LOL, Tuxie400, I think your fairy chess find is the one!  more and more things pointing to it.  

Tatiana - do I read that correctly that one of the flags is actually called "whiskey" and it means in need of medical assistance!  WOW.  I guess that foreshadowed what happened to Red.  If only we could get this all lined up in advance.....but its so difficult to take in everything!

lara1 wrote:

clocks and chess games

Really interesting references.  I will try to remember the chess board motifs that have stood out to me.
And Think we have seen checks and/or plaids with many blacklisters so that kind of validates our ideas that with each blacklister, another step in the overall endgame is achieved.

I would like to introduce another element to this:  that of clocks.  As you know Ive been looking at clocks and times and have started to document these although I've been distracted by RL lately.  But what of the clocks in chess?  I attach a link below to an article in wikpeadia on chess clocks and their use.  If you scroll down you will see the types of clocks used which include the Fisher clock (for Bobby Fischer, as Tuxie400 pointed out there is that well known line by Red about Bobby Fischer's 1972 tournament, the whole point from Red to Denislov was to look at the end game); and the looking glass clock.  

I've only just knitted these ideas together today so have to think through some more but its fascinating enough to hold my attention and get me focused on it.  Suppose all of these many references to time tie in to the chess game theme?  I don't know loads about chess, but I've read that if certain moves are not made within a certain period of time, that player automatically loses....interesting to contemplate within he context of The Blacklist...."we don't have much time"  "we are out of time" and the like....moves had to be made within a certain timeframe....

OK for some reason the link won't work, I will try in a separate posting as I need to grab it again....

edited to correct:  its "hour glass" clock not "looking glass clock" time control in my reference above....

 I haven't read any further yet today -lunchtime- but I had to say that I have been struck by the many times that Red has been distracted or delayed from continuing with whatever it is that he is pursuing. What I mean is the things like Liz shooting Connolly, Liz's pregnancy, kidnappings, Kirk's reappearance, Red's poisoning, etc. are delaying tactics that keep him preoccupied elsewhere. I never thought of them in context of a giant chess game, but now that it's come up, I think that may be why these things keep happening. Since removing Kate, Red has been suffering delay after delay, his opponent(s) have been able to thwart him and in the case of his poisoning, they almost removed him from the game. Was it because he was nearly out of time on the game clock that this almost happened? He had to complete some sort of move that almost didn't get made, or maybe he was the piece that needed to be moved? Or something like that. Remember he told the task force that they needed to hurry because he didn't,t have the luxury of time. Maybe it wasn't just the action of the poison, but that he needed to complete a move or it would be game over? Hope this makes sense, lunch is over! (wassat)

Colleen - Thanks for the link to that article about Henry Tate! I hadn't seen that one.

It's obvious to me that writers - at least for Season 3 - fell down that fairy chess rabbit hole. I think the chess idea was first spun out of the Alice books in Season 1.

Most of you have probably read about fairy chess by now. There were other pieces' names that have a connection to Season 3: Odysseus (from that North Star speech), Boyscout (I thought of Ressler), and Joker or Jester (Glen!!!). There are also pieces called a Drunk and Drunk Sailor (Red in The Vehm!), Dragon Empress (Gina Zanetakos comes to mind), Guard (the one who tried to kill Liz when she was in prison), and Witch (Red calls Lady Ambrosia at witch). Solomon could be the Assassin piece or another one called Mann, which moves like a king but is not royal. There are also General and Colonel pieces, but no Major.

I do see some followup with piece names in Season 4. Hunter is a fairy chess name, and that is what Mountain Man (Leon Rippy) is called in the cast list. Elise is the Spy. I think both Dembe and Aram have been promoted to special pieces: Nightrider/Unicorn because of their brave acts protecting both Liz and Red, and I'll talk about that in another post.

Of course the word fairy comes into play in Season 3 with Red and Liz telling the fairy tale of Lady Ambrosia and Red saying he' Anya's fairy godmother. Season 4 continues with the fairy tale theme with the Kirk story line when he calls Liz his little princess and takes her to the Summer Palace.

There are lots more tie-ins with fairy chess including promoting the chess pieces and certain problems and solutions in fairy chess. I'm still figuring these out. (I never really understood traditional chess, and fairy chess is so much more complicated!!!)

 

Tuxie400. Im now convinced that each blacklister and important scenario that represents something  (eg josephine, mountain man) is a chess piece. Thats also why some were disposed of and others have been moved around and are still in play, or added  Maybe the latter two categories were Red 's pieces (vs his  opponent's pieces) and he's moving them or dispensing with them as he sees fit.  Those disposed of, his opponent's pieces.   It would be interesting to take eastcoast's list of blacklisters and note the potential chess pieces for each one. Though who has time for that, LOL,,

Have you found a chess piece as yet that represents st nick or christmas in some way?  I think that one might represent Red, if we think that he and the task force are also represented by chess  pieces

I wonder who the chess opponent is?  Or, is it just a symbolic overall strategy?

Last edited by lara1 (3/13/2017 4:57 pm)