The end result wasn't what the casual observer would have expected.
Phobos, prince of Meridian, sat at a table opposite Cedric, the commander of the kingdom's armed forces, sharing a game of chess. It had gone on for the better pat of an hour, and you could count on one hand the number of sentiments exchanged... at least verbally.
With every piece that was moved, every glance in a direction other than that of the game board, every single movement not resulting in a piece's motion or removal from the board spoke volumes. It was a subtle dance, developed over the many years Cedric had served in his position, born of the day that he acquired it so long ago. He reached for his remaining knight, touched it with a single finger, and then withdrew his hand. Instead he moved one of a handful of pawns, into the path that lay between one of Phobos's rooks and the knight he seemed about to have moved.
Phobos glanced from the rook to the pawn, and with a thought commanded them to move. A moment later the rook stood in the pawn's former location. He knew he had just set himself up for a trap - at this point in the game victory was entirely beyond his grasp. Though he had never truly lost at the game before, he knew when his chance to win was gone.
Cedric's face remained unchanged as he touched his knight again, moved it to a particular spot, returned it to where it had started, and removed his fingers from it. Then he did the same thing with one of his bishops,and again afterward with the other, before finally shaking his head and knocking over his own king in surrender.
'At least I'm improving', Phobos thought to himself. Cedric had considered three pieces, meaning that in three more moves the game would have been his. But as he always did, just as on the day he'd become the prince's right-hand man, he had ended the game in Phobos's favor as a mark of submission, demonstrating his skill with tactics and simultaneously declaring acknowledgment of his place in matters. The trick, if one were to call it that, had been executed with a subtle complexity, driving home the point that Cedric could think quickly and on many different levels, another demonstration of his qualifications. And that had been the deciding factor.
With a wave, Phobos dissolved the table and game board into ether, and Cedric bowed respectfully as he saw himself out of the throne room.