And when the world needed him most, he returned

Whenever Holmes wasn’t looking, Moriarty would start physically eating his pieces.

I think what Moriarty losing is supposed to show isnt that he's dumb, its just that with all his intellect, he let his ego get in the way. He thought he won from the beginning of "the match", so he underestimated his opponent. And that is something you never do with the Sherlock Holmes.

The reason Moriarty continues the game isn't because he's stupid, it's because being the smartest person in the room makes you willing to push for your opponents to make mistakes.

Since this was a 5-minute blitz game, you could argue that Moriarty’s moves at the end were an attempt to run out Sherlock’s clock literally and metaphorically. Since at that point he thinks that Sherlock doesn’t have the notebook, he probably expects a fight for it.

To be fair, Moriarty CAN see several moves ahead. That's how he and Sherlock do their synchronous mind fight. I think the whole "my empire is ruined" bit was more surprising to him than the parallel chess game ending. He was probably planning to play it off all snarkily like "Hm, if only real life was so simple, eh Holmes?"

"Ma, the Animorphs guy is back with more board games! Get the popcorn!"

You could argue that Moriarty and Sherlock playing the game to completion was just part of their larger strategy and love of the dramatic, since they're trying to keep each other talking while buying time to consider how a fight will play out.

I fucking loved the RDJ Holmes. It's ridiculous, it's cliched, it tries to be smarter than it is, and it's fucking fun. Both movies had amazingly fun scenes, and the casting combination of those two as Holmes and Watson is severely underrated.

Incidentally, my first thought after hearing certain MCU events was, "Does this mean RDJ's free for more Sherlock?" You aren't alone in thinking they're underrated.

What a weird niche. Don't stop doing movie board game analysis

Also, Moriarty apparently doesn’t check his notebook for DAYS after his encounter with Sherlock at the dock. The fake book that Sherlock slipped into his pocket just sits there, unopened. For literal DAYS.

"Omg you're such a dick to the people helping you" Yes, so this is, in fact, chess

Moriarty is placing the black queen on the board to remind Sherlock what he already took from him. The ending could be read as "Moriarty is stupid" but it's more like "Moriarty is proud and stubborn and won't admit he lost".

You missed some extremely subtle foreshadowing at the beginning of the scene: "I think you've just lost your most valuable piece." This seems like some very basic, entry-level symbolism, since the queen is definitely the most powerful of all the pieces on the chessboard... ...but wait, isn't the king the "most valuable piece" on both sides? Moriarty is assigning importance to the wrong target here. He's threatening a piece that is completely disposable, and leaving himself open to attack in the process. It's almost as if he thinks the queen is a king, like the most capable piece would naturally be the most valuable... But that's not the case at all. Holmes isn't the king of his own side of the chessboard, like Moriarty thinks. He's the *queen*, a powerful but disposable piece.

Extra point: after Sherlock checkmates moriarty, and wins, Moriarty can also checkmate Sherlock in one move. In real chess he can't, because the game is over. But in the real-life game, after Moriarty lost, he decides to make Sherlock lose too, by flinging him over a balcony.

Moriarty: "That water looks awfully cold..." Holmes: "Yes, I did not account for the cold. Or the rocks."

These guys technically aren’t even playing chess, they’re playing chess boxing. I guess you can forgive Moriarty for not thinking far enough ahead at the end of the chess match, if he’s getting ready to outbox him later right after.

@2:54 that's not the queen Moriarty picked up but the king. Queens go on their respective colors in the starting position, so the black queen would start on a black square. Moriarty picked up a piece that started on a light square so that would mean either he grabbed the king or the board was set up incorrectly, which I doubt someone of high intelligence would do. I would interpret this scene as Moriarty tentatively "removing" the king (Holmes) from the game. He did say in the scene that due to the respect he had for Holmes he hadn't killed him and was saying should he continue to hamper his efforts he would have no problem deciding to kill Holmes. The reason he told Holmes that he killed Adler was a scare tactic to get him to back off. @4:08 I think the reason for the shot is since it's the king, he's putting Holmes "back in the game"

I saw the Sherlock 3 part here 19:15 and I was so excited, so I looked it up... based on what I found the film was canceled, I almost cried. It was like finding a chest from a literal treasure map showing where a rich guy stored his money and it turns out the person used up all his fortune and became broke before they died.

I kind of feel lke, Moriarty, when he starts bluffing, starts only thinking One Move Ahead rather than several, but also like.... the curse of Hubris. Moriarty consistently thinks he's winning, and when that illusion is shattered, and he loses his edge

I thought Moriarty was just pushing the queen back into its starting place from off the board, kind of setting up the board for the real game they're about to begin

All the reasons this movie was “overshadowed” or “overwritten” are all the reasons I love it. RDJ’s Sherlock is my favorite rendition and the movies are phenomenal overall.

Personally I like to think the queen to knight pawn is paying off the idea that moriarty isn't above cheating when pushed, also pulling a double call on trying to derail Holmes and get him to check the board and drop his defenses.

I recently discovered your channel and was blown away by your "Liar's Dice" Analysis, so it is really great to see you cover this "A Game of Shadows" Chess scene that I love so much, really an intellectual masterpiece. I just want to add my own little theory about your "Moriarty is a Dummy" part at the end and why I believe his behaviour fits perfectly into the theme of this movie: As perfectly explained in the analysis an expert in chess should be able to calculate ahead to see the checkmate coming from the moment of the Queen sacrifice and we can assume that both Moriarty and Holmes are easily capable of this, given they were able to play out the final moves mentally without moving the pieces on the board. So why would Moriarty then be surprised by the result of the game? My head-canon: Because he knows just as well as Holmes does that Holmes can win the Chess Game but never the actual physical fight following afterwards. This is proven in their final mental battle after the checkmate occured. Both reached the same conclusion: Holmes cannot win this confrontation and would die by Moriartys hands. The movie plays on the parallels and differences between these two masterminds. Moriarty and Holmes have clear respect for each other and see each other mostly as equals. This is why Moriarty is convinced that Holmes will not dare to finish the game. Finishing the game means escalating the matter into a physical fight that will end in Holmes' demise. This is a decision that Moriarty would never take if placed in the same position, he would only ever sacrifice others but never himself. So seeing himself in Holmes, he believes that the correct action for Holmes is to forfeit his winning position and leave to live another day. He miscalculates that Holmes is indeed willing to sacrifice himself, just as Sherlock hinted at during their first meeting. He is not surprised by the chess moves, but rather Holmes' conviction to throw his life away for the greater good. That is the crucial difference between them, the one character trait that Moriarty cannot understand even with all his intelligence, because it completely contradicts his own nature. Most likely I am interpreting way too much into this scene, but given the depth of your video, I wanted to put some effort on my own into this theory as this duel of minds is simply brilliant.

I think Moriarty's shock may have been more at the unraveling real life chess game, than the loss on the board. He knew his loss was coming several turns before at least. But he didn't see how that could be true in reality. The unraveling of reality alongside his real loss is what truly stunned him.

The craziest thing about all of this is that Sherlock had to have switched the notebooks when strung up on the meat hook. That means he had previously drawn the fish pun animation before he even got there. The crazy thing is that Moriarty didn’t use the fish analogy until Sherlock was strung up like a fish by the meat hook. That means Sherlock knew how the convo would go so precisely that he knew a fish joke was coming…

I just noticed that Moriarty walks away from the table during the climax of the scene, meaning he’d have to remember it. He’s certainly capable of doing so, and in a completely mental game there would be no issue, but character-wise, he thinks he knows what pieces are important, literally and metaphorically. He probably wouldn’t bother remembering the rest of them when he stands up, which is why he didn’t see the discover check coming-he didn’t bother to remember the rook in the first place!

"Instead, they fight a series of proxy battles using people as pawns." Am I crazy, or did you just quote your own description of the Ellimist and Crayak

Thank you for pointing out that a master player won't be surprised by getting checkmated! I love both chess and movies. Usually, I'm not a fan of the "this guy's a genius, so let's do a chess metaphor!" trope, but I really appreciate how thoughtful and detailed this particular movie was with it. Especially how Moriarty had already lost the game several turns before it ended - mirroring how Holmes had already bested him long before this confrontation. I'll be charitable and assume Moriarty's shock is not at his own literal checkmate, but at the figurative checkmate he's currently experiencing (or, just realized he's experienced). After all, he'd probably care about proving he's a superior chess player to Holmes, but probably only a little. ... Two more movies to add to my re-watch list.

This breakdown is amazing, but there's something that I feel maybe should have been mentioned. The boxing match that plays out between the two of them in their minds is essentially the same game as the chess match, with the same level of comparative advantage and disadvantage, but the sides reversed. And then, when Holmes saw that victory was impossible, he flipped the board.

The great irony is the mental fighting they did is actually exactly like what real chess grandmasters are like and yet chess movies can never properly convey that for climax reasons. I was actually watching a video about when Bobby Fischer played against a cpu and what he said he liked the most was that the cpu didn't resign and allowed him to finish his combination.

This is a great breakdown of a really interesting scene! Obviously there's a lot going on in the movie already, cutting back and forth between Sherlock confroting Moriarty, Watson and the others in the ballroom, and all of the flashbacks, but the mechanics of the chess game going on add another fun layer to the scene! Thanks for providing such a well-informed breakdown! (Also, I love your nails! Excellent touch)

I think I only saw the first RDJ sherlock movie, but these movie game breakdowns are still fascinating

I feel Moriarty knew he'd lose the chess game, his whole thing is that no matter what small victory Sherlock gained, he'd still lose the war.

*Video pops up on recommended* Is this the same dude who made the long video on the Liars Dice scene? Yup. Alright, fine, subscribed. Hahahaha

That scene was cool, and the way they played out the fight scene in their head before even starting, and then Holmes cuts the gordian knot by pushing him and Moriaty off the edge.

Discovered you recently, and I'm really enjoying your stuff, man. I love that I've found a fellow Animorph appreciator, and the video you did on Joker helped really capture some of my misgivings about the film. And I'm really loving this burgeoning "Someone Had to Explain this Scene" series. Keep up the awesome work. Yours is a channel worth subscribing to.

His mind isn’t on the game, it’s on the revelation of Holmes’ deception to get to the notebook and his moves in the moment to kill Holmes.

Anyone else ever notice that Moriarty's plan in Game of Shadows is basically the same as Moriarty's plan in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen film?

Hey neat, I just showed my girlfriend the Liar's Dice analysis like, a few days ago.

Subscribed for the animorphs, stayed for the deep cut cinematic board game analysis.

You are one of my favorite recent finds on KZfaq. I loved your Liar’s Dice video, and this was just extraordinary! I’m not the best at chess, but it fascinates me to see people analyze it. Keep up the great work!

I cannot fathom how small your channel is when all of the content is so damn good.

I got into you with your Pirates Liars dice video and am so glad you made another one in that style. I watched some of your other stuff and enjoyed it. I would love it if you made more. I hadn't seen this film and hadn't thought about pirates in years but I didn't realise I needed these videos

I’m so hyped that you’re back! Congrats on the new place and I look forward to seeing more videos.

It’s 2022 and they still haven’t made that damn third Sherlock, I meant to watch this video last year. This was amazing and I loved every second of it!!!

Stunning content. Makes a dramatic scene even more exciting. Brilliant.

Fun story about chess. Back when I was a teen I played in a DnD game and the Dungeon Master has this pretty intricate, if clunky, set-piece for a adventure. Everyone in the party were trapped in small pocket dimensions that were linked to chess pieces. So each time our side took a enemy piece there was a short one-on-one fight between the linked-player and some monster. I was given the role of playing chess for our side... I can't play chess worth a damn. So we got battered. One of the other players had to step in and play for us so we all wouldn't die.

A major part of me wants to go watch the movie before watching this.

This video got suggested to me and I immediately sat down and watched all your videos in one go. Fantastic work.

Just discovered you recently, was sad to see there hadn't been any uploads recently but glad to see you're back and well! Keep up the good work!

I stumbled onto your channel a few weeks ago through the Animorphs videos, which sparked my re-reading of it after some 15 years. And even though I'm not even into Sherlock Holmes much, this video had my attention the whole way through. So it's good to see you still making videos!

Once in a while KZfaq recommendations do in fact work and I'm so glad I clicked on that Animorphs video when it showed up! Your channel is amazing and I hope you keep on doing this.

It's also interesting to think that if Moriarty had another move after his check mate he would put sherlock in check mate. Which is essentially what he does by fighting sherlock and them both falling off the Tower

Very happy to see a second video in this vein. I'd be very interested in further such analyses.

I feel so vindicated at hearing you pissed off at the fact that they took all the weight out of his sacrifice at the end, almost everyone I've mentioned that to disagrees because *WhaT iF sEqUeL?*

YAY!!!! Missed your videos!!!!

I hope to see you do more of these. I love watching analysis on games in movies, not that I ever had until i saw your channel! It's so fascinating so i hope to see you do more in the future :)

This kind of breakdown is amazing, I don’t think anyone else is doing it quite like you just did. Keep it up, I say!

You're killing it dude! All your videos are so fun to watch! Keep up the excellent content

The fact that game of Shadows literally came out ten years ago, hit me like a ton of bricks. Where did the time go???? And yeah, in that case they really could have left the reveal until the third movie! 🤣🤣

Dude you deserve so much more credit amazing and fantastic work I love this movie

I stumbled onto your animorphs videos and have now watched all of your videos. I'm so glad KZfaq put your videos on my feed!

I’ve personally always wondered if Moriarty wasn’t lying. We see Irene Adler fall, yes. But we never see her after that. We never see the body for gospel. We only have his word that she’s dead. Makes me question his pushing the Queen at the beginning.

I rewatched both of the RDJ Sherlock movies recently. I don't know if they're good adaptations, but they sure are fun. This analysis makes it even better. :D

I have a whole new level of appreciation for this film now. Great video, thank you 🍻

Another thing I noticed besides the ego of Moriarty, was that he let his own emotions get the best of him as well. It is paralleled to their first encounter together and their last. Moriarty practically showed to Holmes that he could reach in and break him any time he wanted, and that he did by taking away his true love. However, Holmes did not show emotions and remained playing the game. At the end, Holmes backfired on Moriarty by demonstrating that he was indeed ahead of him and took his one true love away from him as well, that being the professors wealth; and the professor out of the huge ego he had, showed that he broke down by saying to Holmes that we was going to go after the doctor and his wife. Almost like a toddler ranting. He couldn’t handle losing in that moment, unlike Holmes who stayed playing when he took his loss. Truth be told, Moriarty could have maintained himself in the game still, but his emotions and ego got the best of him.

I love these 😍 Your background is great btw

Of all videos i wasn't expecting one going into the chess game in sherlock homes. but i loved it! Thank you!!

And i have been waiting for them to do more of this sherlock

The queen push is him putting the piece back in its proper place.

This makes me want to try and plan out some kind of vast conspiracy in my D&D game for my players to slowly unravel. But I am nowhere near smart enough to make it work.

This was fantastic! Thank you for this!

This is such a great unique realm of videos to dive into. Congrats on being innovative, stay unique

20:38 - Moriarty's surprise at losing makes perfect sense if his surprise wasn't the chess game itself, but the "real" game with the "true" stakes. Or, alternatively, if he'd overestimated his ability to foresee each possibility on the board without even looking. This is also perhaps represented by the fact that they're playing the game away from the board: They are each so self-confident that they can remember the positions of the pieces without looking and play effectively. In the true "game", this is represented by the fact that each knows the other's pieces, yet Moriarty realizes too late that Holmes has outdone him in peering through the fog of war. With this interpretation, it's perhaps even fitting that Moriarty made an illegal error in play. He was good, but Holmes was better and more than happy to let Moriarty make his own mistake which in no way derailed his ultimate victory.

I think that Moriarty palings to the end can be read as his unwillingness to stop fighting at the moment when he could still keep something. In chess it was pride. But if he just stopped and gave up he would be alive. Sherlock shows ability to finish what he started. He won't let Moriarty walk away if there is a way to stop him. Even if he needs to sacrifice himself.

This channel is great. It's like the way I love to nerd out about movies and all my friends hate it, except more elaborate and well put together.

I love to see the channel growth you've gotten in such a short time!

Just to point out, as a serious chess player myself. When you get to a certain playing strength it is usually considered polite to concede the game rather than forcing your opponent to play all the way to checkmate, essentially you are recognising that it would be unreasonable to expect your opponent to make a mistake at that point. For beginners this is obviously pointless as stalemate is always a possibility.

I am? In love with this??? Please keep this up.

This was the first video I've seen from you and I'm definitely binging your videos now

This Video is so masterfully crafted I couldn't stop myself from cackling several times

doyle also brings holmes back to life. the end is exactly inkeeping with the original in that sense.

Hi, I'm one of the new ones! Got interested by the liar's dice video, hooked by the animorphs videos (I read 3 of the four chronicles books as a kid but nothing else; I've started reading through the whole series since watching your videos), and then binged everything else. Glad to see you're planning to make more. It might be fun to take this kind of the other direction by looking at Jumanji and the board game based off the movie. Like, analyse the game based off the movie and the game in the movie? Idk it just sounds like fun.

Holy crap your breakdown of this really elevates the scene in a way that is absent in the film. Obviously in the film the tension and pacing is excellent but going move by move on the board and seeing how each move thematically mirrors the plot and actions of Holmes and Moriarty is remarkable. Especially that discover check with how it matches that Holmes had his winning move setup for ages with the Red Book swap and was just waiting for the right moment to reveal it. And that whole juicy, well thought out layer to that scene is hidden away only to be understood by people who take the time to play it out (like you in this video) or to people who are really good at chess and can keep up.

People like these explanations of convoluted scenes in popular movies. Keep em comin man. Great stuff.

Also I love these movies and had NO idea they were making a new one! Also I think alot of people discovered your videos from the liars dice and the joker video which are both brilliant if anyone hasn't watched them yet

You've made this movie all the better for me.

I love the use of "the arbiter" from the chess musical. This absolute commitment to your videos is why I keep coming back to watch.

Thank you for making the scene that much more awesome for me. This is that nugget of gold that brings together pop entertainment, culture, literature, cleverness, and two levels of history (WWI and the chess game) all together into one incredible video. Of course the writers of the movie deserve most of the credit, but you pushed it across the goal line for the touchdown.

That scene is incredible, i love that movie and its a Shame that the trilogy is tô This day incomplete

Honestly these games in movies analysis are awesome! Stumbled for animorphs but stayed for everything else. (Still need to read them) Also great to do list. :D

This was a damn good analysis about Sherlock vs Moriarty, also you made it very interesting and entertaining. Kudos!

I love love love both Sherlock films. I wish Guy would do 10 more, when Sherlock breaks down his fight scenes is some of the finest work with the slow motion scenes

When Moriarty put the peice back it symbolized his underestimation in Sherlock during their their destruction banter and didn't realize Sherlock would sacrifice everything to win. Sherlock essentially got a pawn to Moriarty's side and got the queen back in thier exchange, thus placing the queen back symbolized the official start of the game.

My thoughts: -Moriarty placed the queen back in its place because he probably thought Watson became Holmes' queen now, given how much Holmes values him not only as an ally but as a friend. Or he just wanted the board to be complete because a chess board looks better with all pieces present and standing. -While Moriarty was trying to start an inevitable war, it seems more likely that he was trying to escalate it in order to occur either prematurely or sooner rather than the expected time. With his fortune and supplies, making the demand occur sooner would be better than waiting. He had the opportunity so why not take it? -Moriarty's shock comes from his ego. As Holmes pointed out briefly in the movie, Moriarty is a narcissist. Having been bested after thinking he has won is a HUGE blow to one's pride. He was also probably hoping Holmes wouldn't notice the plays that are present. Once Holmes revealed the move, he knew he was screwed. Or he was panicking to defend himself and get the upperhand on Holmes while they were having their exchange of who won the game of shadows, thus wasn't operating at 100%. He was also probably putting a poker face to hide his true feelings.

I started watching you cause you told me all about a series I always wanted to read but never got to as a kid: animorphs, and the video was phenomenal Then I watched you explain liars dice scene and loved every second of it. I am now here, to have you explain a chess match in a movie I never watched, and I am enthralled

I just randomly stumbled upon your channel i wasn't even interested in anything you talk about but you are a very charismatic, eloquent and entertaining individual and I enjoy your passion and descriptive nature you've earned a new suscriber

I really liked the movies, ngl. I watched and enjoyed them, tbf, I only watched one, didnt realized there was more until I randomly stumbled upon another and had a wonderful time of it. Time to watch what I assume will be a very cool video about a movie I also enjoyed :) edit: omfg, "cant remember which one is which" sht, you got me, I enjoyed both but cant for the life of me remember which is which ngl second edit: ok, I DO remember this one is second, but I remember some scenes out of order a lot.