It's been awhile since I've seen that series. Don't recall Ed had a mate, seemed like a trap so she went for the rook instead. But I didn't pause the screen either :p
Also the guy was what? 100 years old and crazy or something? Part of his backstory was he was a master in his youth... maybe he just gives away pieces now.
No, she put the piece down, said "Checkmate!" and you can see Chessmaster Hex is like "AHHH NOOO" and then Ed says "Or so you thought!" and forks the king and rook.
Also the game was played before he went senile I think.
Oh, maybe I don't remember it correctly. I just remember the guy laughing and saying oh this is interesting! This player is either stupid or brilliant!
Maybe we saw different translations?
It was "This is either a genius or an idiot!"
Because he knew that Ed had seen the mate(she highlighted the mating square) but she refused to mate him to prolong the game.
Of course. She won the exchange and a tempo, so he must have put up an amazing defense to avoid losing anyway.
So Hex's game with Deep Blue was the opening of game 8 from Paul Morphy vs Adolf Anderssen match in 1858 seen here:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1019059
The game with Ed is allegedly inspired or taken from game 9 of Schulten vs Morphy 1857 with a link here:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1075588
This is my source (from a Cowboy Bebop wiki), and the Anderssen game at least matches your transcribed moves so it seems legit...
http://cowboybebop.wikia.com/wiki/Bohemian_Rhapsody
In the anime series Cowboy Bebop, one of the episodes feature a character named Chessmaster Hex, who supposedly is the internet chess champion and has dominated it for years. Cowboy Bebop is set in the future, where everyone uses the internet, so Hex is basically one of the top 5 masters in the world, maybe even the World Champion.
One of the scenes shows his game with "Deep Blue"(that's one old computer!)
I paused the TV at that screen and recorded the game. It turns out this "Chessmaster" lost material very quickly.
(he played White)
EDIT:He also allowed a preteen girl to checkmate him. She didn't, to prolong the game(since she enjoyed it so much). She did, however, fork his king and rook.