Great story! Love it. Great job. :)

This has been great entertainment! Thank you. Much to my shock, my eyes didn't glaze over at the description of the Malfoy-Snape game. :)

Excellent character development on the part of Severus and Ron.

Again, thank you for the story! It is much appreciated.

This has been fun reading so far! I don't have an interest in chess myself, though I greatly respect anyone with a brain for it, but I've greatly enjoyed this Ron-centric story. Yey!

Strange as it may seem, my favorite line thus far is from this chapter: "he said something in a language Ron didn’t know, one that seemed full of consonants hopelessly searching for a vowel."

What a perfect description of several languages I can think of. :)

Thanks for the entertainment! I'm off to reading again.

I love this story! It's beautiful. The characterisation of the canon characters, the OCs, the plot, it's great. I have to admit that I don't know the first thing about chess, but you explained the games very well so even someone like me could understand them.

Wow you're right, Quirell must've been good at chess! I never paid attention to this detail.
You chose a great setup and wrote it out really well!

This tournament is a splendid idea, and finally something that lets Ron look good.
Why does he refer to Hermione as 'Granger' though?

hello
reading a good piece of work makes such a good treat... i cant tell you
i used to play chess when i was quite young. havent played since then. so it was almost a bouncer whenever you mentioned the chess moved, but the story was so interesting, i couldnt abandon it
congratulations for writing this one.
deeps

A story worth reading, dear madam. This is exceedingly unique--I can say with complete honesty that I've never read a story like this before--something very rare in fanfiction, especially Harry Potter fanfiction, as I am sure you know.

In addition, your characterizations were perfect--I can easily see each character acting the way you wrote them, and their thoughts and motivations were equally well observed. This, too, is rare in Harry Potter fanfiction.

I offer you a well-deserved congratulations, and a wish for more to come!

Sincerely,
Owl

It's nice to see Ron showcasing his strength.

What an excellent story! There were a lot of great moments in it, but I particularly liked the scene with Crabbe and Goyle. It was a nice peice of characterisation, very thoughtfully done.

Anyway, thank you for sharing!

here

Heh. I don't play chess myself, but I'm still enjoying the story a LOT -- especially since for once Ron is the main character.

(And imagine my surprise when I found my son's name as one of Snape's opponents! Especially since Gerrit isn't a very common German name ...)

I have to say, despite some rough edges (which I will get to eventually) I found this story absolutely delightful, and even more so the second time through. I adore the fact that the spotlight is on Ron. I admit I have an unnatural affinity toward redheads and I always felt that Ron was downplayed in the later books so it's always such a delight for me to read a good story about him. Further, this is not a story that stretches my vision of the character. Having Ron as a good chess player, so he is actually smart in a way, is wonderful idea that I wish more people would use in their stories. Certainly, it couldn't have been any slouch or beginner's luck to win against McGonagall's pre-set chess game. That you also give a reason why Ron doesn't get very good grades, even though, for such a good chess player, he ought to, was very good move (if you'll excuse the pun on my part). Among other reasons, I was much more sympathetic to him since I know many adults who had that same problem as children (and, to a certain extent, still do). Also, under characterization, I rather liked how I actually found myself liking everyone, even Snape and Draco, and it takes a great deal for me to like Snape and Draco, much less in the same story.
Very good referencing to the past books, especially in concern with Ron's lack of worry over Ginny in Book 2. You gave a very good explanation for that as well.
I also have to say, because one always should, to say I enjoyed reading your OC's as well. Al-Hadoud was almost as important to me as reading about Ron (though *laughs* not quite of course) and while it was easily understood he was middle-eastern, there was never an accent to drive me to distraction.
On whole, the pacing was very good. While, for some games, the more important ones you went into details (and while I know some chess, I'm afraid quite a bit of it went over my head as well) which was rather nice. Of course having the more action-y, as I would call it, plot line with Snape helped make sure nothing dragged on too long.
However, and after so many compliments you know a 'but' will be coming next, there were some things that you could work on. Even though I applaud you on your references, you seem to forget them once in awhile as well. As someone already pointed out to you, Oliver Wood has already left at the point this story is supposedly taking place. But, in my opinion, is not really that a big deal. *grin* What I would suggest you do, whether revising or future writing, is to add some sort of signal, whether it be a dotted, straight, or squiggly line to show a change of scene or perspective. This is a kindness to the reader, as yes, we are fairly smart enough to notice that the view has suddenly changed, but it's rather nice to have some sort of warning before hand. Also, as I mentioned before, you're writing is a little rough. Clarifying outside details would help and use a thesaurus on a occasion, you know the one that looks at you with sad eyes from underneath your bed.
Altogether though, I found this a highly satisfying story and am glad that you decided to share it.

That was great!

>>some little Hufflepuff actually had written a love note to Snape, only to get it back corrected for spelling and grammar.

oh! and he has a weasley sweater of his very own!

Very unique storyline, very well written and I liked your OC in this.