How Game Show Jeopardy! Uses Chess For Clues

Chess has again found its way into a TV game show. Recently a sequel to Jeopardy! selected chess as one of the six categories in its Double Jeopardy! round.

• The Show Jeopardy!
• Using Chess As A Clue On Celebrity Jeopardy!
• Easy Chess Clues On Jeopardy! Show
• Celebrity Jeopardy!

The Show Jeopardy!

An American television game show, Jeopardy! features a quiz competition; however, it reverses the usual question-and-answer format of most quiz shows. It presents contestants instead with general knowledge clues in the form of answers. The contestants must phrase their responses in the form of questions.

The clues relate to categories at the top of the game board; they vary between each round and episode. The clues are valued by dollar amounts that range from lowest (typically the easiest to answer) to highest (the most difficult).

Using Chess As A Clue On Celebrity Jeopardy!

Here’s one of the difficult clues (of course, you know the answer) recently used on Celebrity Jeopardy!: “The Emmy-winning series about a chess prodigy took its name from one of the game’s oldest and best-known openings.” (This one was worth $800.)

Without a doubt, you know the correct response (just remember to phrase it in the form of a question): “What is The Queen’s Gambit?”

Here’s another one, which was worth $1,000 if answered correctly: “Feeling bouncy? Try this special, strategic move. It’s the only time a player can move two pieces at once.” Watch below as the clue is given:

The response—“What is a castle?”—by contestant Roy Wood Jr. was judged correct by show host Ken Jennings.

Easy Chess Clues On Jeopardy! Show

You probably thought those two clues were too easy. Well, here are the really easy ones. For $200, can you provide the right response for the clue in the photo?

Of course, the correct response is, “What is checkmate?” The correct response to the $400 clue (in an earlier photo) is, "What is a knight?” The $600 clue was this:

You really don’t need any help with this one, do you?

Celebrity Jeopardy!

This episode that featured chess was the fourth quarterfinal in 2025 of Celebrity Jeopardy! and aired on January 29. In the Double Jeopardy! round, chess was one of the six categories. The format of Celebrity Jeopardy! is similar to the regular Jeopardy!; however, the contestants are celebrities who compete to earn prize money for their favorite charities. Now in its third season, Celebrity Jeopardy! has 13 episodes in each tournament, and 27 celebrities during a season (but just three in each episode).

For this episode, the contestants were:

• Phoebe Robinson, an actor, comedian, and author who co-created and co-starred in HBO’s Two Dope Queens, based on her hit podcast.
• Brian Jordan Alvarez, an actor and comedian known for creating and starring in the FX comedy English Teacher.
• Roy Wood Jr., an actor and comedian who hosts CNN’s Have I Got News for You and is in a new Hulu standup comedy special, Lonely Flowers.

Jeopardy! And Chess

Jeopardy! has often featured chess as a category. In fact, an episode in 2023 featured WGM Jennifer Shahade, two-time U.S. women's chess champion, as the presenter in the category “Chess Masters,” in which she gave clues about notable chess players throughout history. Since 1997, the show has often included chess topics as a category as @chuppecat writes on his blog.

Now it’s your turn. How have you seen the entertainment industry using chess?