owl with eyeglasses perched on a chessboard???

Maybe.

A black-and-white checkered Dalmation.

Read this and you'll see that it's quite obvious it would be a pawn: http://www.chess.com/blog/view/why-the-pawn-in-the-chesscom-

If I am playing chess against someone in OTB, I get to see what they look like.

Is chess on the internet a masquerade? Why don't players simply post their own photo?

Of course, I could postulate at least a half dozen reasons...celebrity incognito, too ugly, too handsome/beautiful, too young, too old, wanted by the police, worried about being kidnapped, bald, flat chested, too fat, too skinny, purple hair and a nose ring, non-purple hair and no nose ring...

All I can say, in a word, is: Bah humbug!!!

(Sorry, that was two words...Bah! would suffice.)

A sci fi queen of england with chainsawgun and...oh wait...

maybe a zebra

Zombie Morphy.  Enough said.

Perhaps a "What not to do" example will spur some discussion. Your suggestions could not be worse.

Too late. Once seen these images cannot be unseen.

>>Your suggestions could not be worse.<<

On a scale of 10, I'd rate that a 6. Not bad.

Worse? Oh, the horror...