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You guys remember the Chess Room in The Ghost Tower of Inverness?!
Funny, I just ran Ghost Tower a couple weeks ago, revising it and making it part of .
Someone in the Arcaneaum(?) had the PCs go into the Spire of Nex to retrieve The Soul Gem. The Chess Room, Bugbear Room, Fire Giant Room and Soul Gem Room were the best.
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I would play a game of chess one on one with the player. Every other turn have you (as the NPC) and him (as the PC) make opposed rolls based upon perception and any other skills you might think would work (Know (history, nobility), Survival might have applications). You can change the skills that work based upon how the game is going. I would make perception the primary roll though.
Whenever the PC wins the opposed roll he can make two moves. Vice versa for the NPC. If a character wins two rolls in a roll then he can move an additional time (so 3 instead of 2). You can make that continue to aggregate so a really good player will just run over a really poor one.
This gives the tactile roleplaying of actually playing the game and adds in some character skills.
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I have PCs roll a series of opposed rolls for things like this. Not just one roll.
If you win the Opening opposed (INT) check you get a +2 bonus for the Middle Game -- if you win it by more than 5 you get a +4 bonus for the Middle Game opposed roll. If you win the Middle Game you get a +4 bonus for the End Game. If you win it by more than 5 you get a +8 bonus for the End Game.
Also, you can create NPCs with Profession: Gaming (Gambling is for games of chance; Gaming is for games of skill) who could use their Profession check vs the PC's INT check, obviously making a professional player (NPC) better than the amateur player (PC Wiz).
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The other thing I've done a couple times -- when I felt the Players would enjoy it -- is create a position on a board and see if they could find the correct move. In your case, since you don't know chess well, find a position in a book at your local library with its solution. Just try to get a chapter for easy-level positions.
More often, cuz not many D&D players are strong chess players -- or at least, finding a table of gamers where ALL of them would enjoy that -- I've solved my rubik's cube and then gone two turns backwards and given it to the Players to solve, letting them know it can be solved in two turns.
I do that for magical puzzle boxes and such. I'll give my Players a hint if a PC gets a good INT roll check or Spellcraft or something.
Well done, sir.