A Game at Chess is a comic satirical play by Thomas Middleton, first staged in August 1624 by the King's Men at the Globe Theatre.

Yet the play unmistakably alludes to Anglo-Spanish diplomacy under King James I of England, especially the failed marriage negotiation between Prince Charles and the Spanish Infanta Maria Anna of Spain.

[4] The play takes place at a time of heightened tension between England and Spain, and it alludes to negotiations between the two countries to wed Prince Charles to the Spanish Infanta Maria Anna.

[5] The royal families hoped that the Spanish match would at the very least resolve some of the conflicts between England and Spain that still lingered after the Thirty Years' War.

[6] Additionally, James I hoped that a marriage alliance would restore his daughter Elizabeth to the Bohemian throne.

[5][6] The marriage did not go ahead, and the English public largely saw Charles's safe return and the failure of the negotiations as a victory against Spanish Catholics.

[5] The play was stopped after nine performances (6–16 August, Sundays omitted), but not before it had become "the greatest box-office hit of early modern London".

[7] The Privy Council opened a prosecution against the actors and the author of the play on 18 August, on the grounds that it was then illegal to portray any modern Christian king onstage.

The Globe Theatre was shut down by the prosecution, though Middleton was able to acquit himself by showing that the play had been approved by the Master of the Revels, Sir Henry Herbert.

His servant, Error, wakes up and says that he had been dreaming of a game of chess where "our side"—the Black House/Catholics—was set against the White House/Protestants.

The Black Knight Gondomar enters and notes that the "business of the universal monarchy" (i.e. the goal of world dominion by the Catholic Church) is going well, primarily because of his ability to trap souls through charm and deception.

The letter suggests that the Fat Bishop could become the next Pope if he switches back to the Black House side.

The Fat Bishop reveals his change to the Black side and says he will immediately begin writing books against the White House.

The (recently captured) White King's Pawn asks the Black Knight how he will be rewarded for his service.

The Fat Bishop and the Black Knight look through the official book of penances (and financial prices) for the pardoning of sins, but they cannot find an entry for having gelded another man.

To entertain the honoured guests, a Latin oration is spoken and a song is sung during which the statues seem to move by themselves and the candles light themselves.

The Black Bishop's Pawn— no longer in his "rich future husband" disguise— tells the White Queen's Pawn mockingly that he is the man with whom she has spent the night.

The White Knight implies that he is interested in changing sides, but worries that his sins would transgress the Black House's rules.

For example, early manuscript forms of the play lack the Prologue and use ambiguous speech prefixes, referring to characters by the initials of their chess pieces rather than by name.

Scholars agree that Middleton antagonizes Spanish Catholics and the Jesuit order by portraying them as schemers intent on the domination of the world.

The Black Queen's Pawn serves as an example, representing a domestic threat to English women, especially virgins.

[12] Thomas Cogswell has argued that the play enjoyed success not only because of its humorous and critical portrayal of Spain, but also because it celebrates the Duke of Buckingham and Prince Charles as heroes.

Howard Hill has suggested that the play is not a result of any specific statecraft, but merely takes advantage of the anti-Spanish and anti-Catholic sentiments of the time.

[4] However, other scholars see the play as participating in the agenda of Parliamentary Puritans and their Continental counterparts, mainly the Dutch, to galvanize the masses against the Spanish-Catholic hegemony.

[14] For Taylor, the play was meant to be a pointed critique of Catholic ideals and its authoritative control over its subjects' lives.

Yet Taylor also argues that the text "depends upon what it rejects", that is, "obedience, confession, dissembling, totalizing power, and sexual mismatching".

[14]Roussel Sargent has argued that Middleton uses chess allegory to elude censorship, allowing him to avoid explicitly identifying his characters with political figures.

Chess is also a means of portraying the conflicts between Catholic Spain and Protestant England in terms of two clearly opposing sides.

[12] Scholars have claimed that Middleton's chess allegory also has a racist aspect, in that the difference between England and Spain in cast in terms of skin color.

[5] Gurnis argues that the play not only arouses anti-Catholic sentiment, but also encourages the audience to actively persecute Catholic minorities outside of the theatre.