Deadlock adds a new hero, Solomon, in the "City That Never Sleeps" update. The chessboard he holds changes its layout based on his ammo count; after comparison by the Deadlock News community account, it was found that most layouts correspond to historical chess games, while a few are taken from classic checkmate traps.
Solomon is a floating chess grandmaster and one of six new heroes released sequentially through player voting. In combat, he can launch chess pieces from his board and summon massive Rooks, Knights, Bishops, and Queens that move according to standard chess rules.
The chessboard also serves as his ammo counter, with each piece representing one round of ammunition. After reloading, the board resets according to the magazine capacity. Purchasing specific items or obtaining buffs from breakable golden bookshelves on the map can change the ammo count, causing the board layout to shift accordingly, ranging from eight pieces to a full set of thirty-two.
Deadlock News compared these layouts one by one with actual chess games, identifying examples such as the 1851 "Immortal Game," Game 6 of the 2014 World Chess Championship between Carlsen and Anand, and a 2024 match involving Levy Rozman. The thirty-two-piece layout was matched to the double "Bongcloud" opening played by Carlsen and Nakamura in 2021.
Not all layouts are believed to be taken from real matches: community comparisons suggest that a few layouts correspond to classic traps like the "Four-Move Checkmate" and the Légal Trap. These specific correlations are currently based on player community comparisons.