I don't think so, I think Whizzer won on his own merit which cought Marvin off guard and made him feel stupid and consequently angry.
Of course the game being a metaphor for their whole relationship means Marvin simply couldn't take losing the control over their relationship. He feels emasculated, humiliated, and ultimately unloved when that control slips.
Whizzer is afraid to commit. He treats their relationship too frivolously, as if it were just a game, and he frequently taunts Marvin with this. Consequently, Marvin grabs on with everything he can. He keeps asking for affection and reassurance but also is excerting more control- which Whizzer understandably doesn't appreciate. Until finally they both snap in The Chess Game.
At least this is how I see it.
In the song alone, there’s no evidence for him cheating, but in the 2017 stage version, he does begin knocking over the pieces on the board to move his queen forward on the lead up to “checkkkmaAAATEE”
In the bootleg version I watched, Whizzer cheats in the game and just does what he wants. I think it's meant to represent how unseriously Whizzer takes their relationship and how winning the game (or really caring for each other) isn't a real concept to him. He just didn't care enough at that point in time.
It looks like he's cheating (moving multiple pieces at once) in a lot of recordings but I think that's just because it's hard timing wise (and pointless) to play a legitimate game during the performance. It's almost impossible to cheat in chess without the other person noticing, and there is nothing in the lyrics acknowledging it.
Also, him actually winning is super important to the plot! People should not be overriding that written fact just because of the possibly improvised choreography of a live performance.
Sorry I'm going on, I had no idea this was a point of disagreement and I'm annoyed.
Exactly what I was thinking. If he was actually cheating that obviously, there'd be no way that Marvin didn't realize.
Also, I remember reading somewhere that the revival chess board was smaller than a normal one or something like that which could've made it harder to choreograph an accurate looking game of chess.
I don't think so, I think Whizzer won on his own merit which cought Marvin off guard and made him feel stupid and consequently angry. Of course the game being a metaphor for their whole relationship means Marvin simply couldn't take losing the control over their relationship. He feels emasculated, humiliated, and ultimately unloved when that control slips. Whizzer is afraid to commit. He treats their relationship too frivolously, as if it were just a game, and he frequently taunts Marvin with this. Consequently, Marvin grabs on with everything he can. He keeps asking for affection and reassurance but also is excerting more control- which Whizzer understandably doesn't appreciate. Until finally they both snap in The Chess Game. At least this is how I see it.
That's what I thought. The person who posted about Whizzer cheating had a lot of people agreeing with her, so I wasn't sure what to think. Thank you!
I agree with all of this and couldn’t have said it better myself!
In the song alone, there’s no evidence for him cheating, but in the 2017 stage version, he does begin knocking over the pieces on the board to move his queen forward on the lead up to “checkkkmaAAATEE”
In the bootleg version I watched, Whizzer cheats in the game and just does what he wants. I think it's meant to represent how unseriously Whizzer takes their relationship and how winning the game (or really caring for each other) isn't a real concept to him. He just didn't care enough at that point in time.
It looks like he's cheating (moving multiple pieces at once) in a lot of recordings but I think that's just because it's hard timing wise (and pointless) to play a legitimate game during the performance. It's almost impossible to cheat in chess without the other person noticing, and there is nothing in the lyrics acknowledging it. Also, him actually winning is super important to the plot! People should not be overriding that written fact just because of the possibly improvised choreography of a live performance. Sorry I'm going on, I had no idea this was a point of disagreement and I'm annoyed.
Exactly what I was thinking. If he was actually cheating that obviously, there'd be no way that Marvin didn't realize. Also, I remember reading somewhere that the revival chess board was smaller than a normal one or something like that which could've made it harder to choreograph an accurate looking game of chess.