Well wizard's chess is when people magically move the pieces and yeah, they tend to destroy each other. They act like living pieces.

( Quentin always planned on doing something like that, hopefully, once he became a master magician and had more time. And that never came around, alas. His eyes are bright though, as they usually are when he's talking about something that he's enthusiastic over.)

In the story, a giant chessboard was made with life-sized pieces and they were lethal. ( He shrugs. ) But three eleven year olds beat the system so it wasn't that bad, I guess.