give pawns to knock off the board

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Masa - 23 Feb 2010 00:06 GMT

Marino: "Wolfman gives us pawns to knock off the board."

context:
Wolfman is a feronious criminal in prison.
And he is connected to a big underground orgination.
He gives us(law enforcement) information about underlings for a
transaction.
Marino, a detective, is assuming that way.

Question: about "knock off the board"
"gives us pawns" is no problem, its meaning is clear as I described
above.
If so, what is the meaning of "knock off the board"?

board is a "chess board".
Pawns stand on the board.
Knocking the pawns off the board?

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Mark Brader - 23 Feb 2010 00:27 GMT

> Marino: "Wolfman gives us pawns to knock off the board."
>
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> board is a "chess board".
> Pawns stand on the board.

And they are the least powerful chessmen -- as you thought, the underlings.

> Knocking the pawns off the board?

If it will gain an advantage in the game, chess players will often
sacrifice a pawn -- that is, create a situation where the opponent will
capture it. The captured piece is out of play, so it is removed from
the board.

"Knocking" the piece off the board is not a standard expressin in chess
as far as I know, but we are really talking about real harm done to
real people, and I guess Marino says "knocking them off" to make the
metaphor more violent.

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Mark Brader | In the face of such devastating logic as "despite
Toronto | what you say you mean, you must mean this and you
msb@vex.net | are wrong", I cede the territory. --Truly Donovan

My text in this article is in the public domain.

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Masa - 23 Feb 2010 00:50 GMT

> If it will gain an advantage in the game, chess players will often
> sacrifice a pawn -- that is, create a situation where the opponent will
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> My text in this article is in the public domain.- 引用テキストを表示しない -

Thanks for your very clear explanation.
I could get it well..

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / February 2010

give pawns to knock off the board