While face-to-face chess is disrupted in Dorset we are running a daily ‘Test Your Chess Knowledge’ quiz question (with 5 possible answers). For local quiz questions you may find the Bulletins and Chat articles helpful.
Martin Simons welcomes your feedback on the quiz and any submissions you have for questions.
Every day we will be publishing the Answers to the latest questions.
Older questions are still available: 1 to 50, 51 to 100, 101-150, 151-200, 201-250 and 251-300
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.330 – Bits & Pieces!
This is the last Daily Quiz Question and will be replaced by the Weekly Find The Plan Question on Saturday.
So, to celebrate all our publications during Lockdown …
To the nearest 50, up to today (7th June 2021), how many main Bulletins, extra Bulletins (when a bulletin has been split over a number of weeks), Puzzles, Daily Quiz Questions, Dorset Local Chats and Christmas Countdown Games have been posted on the Dorset Chess website since we started producing these extra bits of information in early April 2020 at the start of Lockdown?
A) 450
B) 500
C) 550
D) 600
E) 650
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.329 – International Chess
Who was the last ex-World Chess Champion to pass away?
A) Vasily Smyslov (World Champion 1957-58)
B) Mikhail Tal (World Champion 1960-61)
C) Mikhail Botvinnik (World Champion 1948-57, 1958-60, 1961-63)
D) Tigran Petosian (World Champion 1963-69)
E) Bobby Fischer (World Champion 1972-75)
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.328 – National Chess
Who was the first English player to earn a Grandmaster norm (not the full Grandmaster title)?
A) Bill Hartston
B) Tony Miles
C) Michael Stean
D) John Nunn
E) Raymond Keene
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.327 – Local Chess
On the 1st May 2021, our Dorset Juniors took part in an inaugural Inter County Junior Chess Tournament but who was our top performing junior?
A) Jack
B) Jamie
C) Zander
D) Florence
E) Matthew
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.326 – Chess Laws / Trivia
When was the first website developed for playing online chess?
A) 1988
B) 1992
C) 1995
D) 1998
E) 2001
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.325 – Bits & Pieces!
Where does the English Opening derive its name from?
A) It was played by the (unofficial) World Chess Champion Howard Staunton, who played it during his 1843 match with Saint- Amant and in London 1851, at the first international tournament.
B) By the mid-19th century, the centre of gravity for chess had shifted from Paris to London. The Game of Kings became the game for everyone. Its popularity was augmented by the creation of chess clubs, the distribution of introductory books, columns in the general press, and magazines dedicated to the game. The English opening was created from these magazines whilst London was the capital of chess.
C) It was named after the English started to play correspondence chess in the mid 19th century and were looking for different openings to P-K4 and P-Q4.
D) It was played by Johannes Hermann-Zukertort in the London 1883 tournament, one of the strongest at the time, which he won with 3 rounds to spare.
E) It did not have a proper name until the start of the 20th century when many strong English players took it up.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.324 – International Chess
With thanks to Graham White (Wimborne) for supplying the following question.
The most recent Chess Olympiad was held in Georgia in 2018. Which nation won?
A) India
B) Ukraine
C) China
D) United States
E) Russia
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.323 – National Chess
Who was the first English chess player to play in the Champions Chess Tour in April 2021?
A) Nigel Short
B) Mickey Adams
C) Luke McShane
D) David Howell
E) Gawain Jones
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.322 – Local Chess
On the 1st May 2021, our Dorset Juniors took part in an inaugural Inter County Junior Chess Tournament but how many Dorset Juniors took part?
A) 9
B) 11
C) 13
D) 15
E) 17
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.321 – Chess Laws / Trivia
Who is this past World Chess Champion?
A) Alexander Alekhine
B) Max Euwe
C) Mikhail Botvinnik
D) Vasily Smyslov
E) Tigran Petrosian
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.320 – Bits & Pieces!
Who was the first women to become a Grandmaster?
A) Pia Cramling
B) Nona Gaprindashvili
C) Susan Polgar
D) Judit Polgar
E) Maia Chiburdanidze
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.319 – International Chess
With thanks to Graham White (Wimborne) for supplying the following question.
Which Grandmaster has won the Russian Championship a record 8 times?
A) Nezhmetdinov
B) Korchnoi
C) Karpov
D) Kasparov
E) Svidler
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.318 – National Chess
The British Chess Federation was founded in 1904 but when did the English Federation become one of its localised successors?
A) 1990
B) 1995
C) 2000
D) 2005
E) 2010
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.317 – Local Chess
In the 2019/20 league season how many teams were playing in our local Bacchus Leagues?
A) 4
B) 5
C) 6
D) 7
E) 8
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.316 – Chess Laws / Trivia
Who is this past World Chess Champion?
A) Max Euwe
B) Alexander Alejhine
C) Mikhail Botvinnik
D) Vasily Smyslov
E) Tigran Petrosian
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.315 – Bits & Pieces!
Ossip Bernstein was a Russian-French chess player. He was one of the inaugural recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. However, earlier in his career he had a lucky escape. In 1918 he was sentenced to death by firing squad but what was the reason he was not executed?
A) He beat a commanding officer at chess.
B) He managed to bribe a top official.
C) The member of the firing squad with the live bullet missed and he was let free.
D) He was found not guilty for his ‘counter-revolutionary’ crimes at the last minute.
E) He escaped jail on a British ship to Paris.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.314 – International Chess
With thanks to Graham White (Wimborne) for supplying the following question.
Gary Kasparov retired from professional chess after the Linares tournament in 2005. Who beat him in the last round?
A) Anand
B) Leko
C) Kramnik
D) Topalov
E) Adams
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.313 – National Chess
The British Chess Magazine is the World’s oldest chess magazine but when was it formed?
A) 1871
B) 1881
C) 1981
D) 1901
E) 1911
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.312 – Local Chess
On the 1st May 2021, our Dorset Juniors took part in an inaugural Inter County Junior Chess Tournament but which Counties took part?
A) Dorset, Berkshire, Hampshire & Wiltshire
B) Dorset, Berkshire, Hampshire & Devon
C) Dorset, Berkshire, Wiltshire & Devon
D) Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire & Devon
E) Dorset, Berkshire, Hampshire, Wiltshire & Devon
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.311 – Chess Laws / Trivia
Who is this past World Chess Champion?
A) José Raúl Capablanca
B) Alexander Alekhine
C) Max Euwe
D) Mikhail Botvinnik
E) Mikhail Tal
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.310 – Bits & Pieces!
In 1999 Kasparov took on ‘The World’ at chess but how many people took part?
A) Over 500 but no more than than 5,000
B) Over 5,000 but no more than 50,000
C) Over 50,000 but no more than 500,000
D) Over 500,000 but no more than 5,000,000
E) Over 5,000,000
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.309 – International Chess
Why did Hou Yifan lose her final game in the 2017 Gibraltar Masters tournament?
A) She turned up late.
B) Her mobile phone went off during the game.
C) She resigned in protest when the arbiter took no action against her opponent who kept fidgeting with pieces and shaking the table.
D) After nearly 100 moves and in a winning position she blundered to a mate in 1.
E) She threw a game in protest because she had been paired so often against other women in the tournament.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.308 – National Chess
Per the FIDE list how many English ladies chess players hold the title of Women Grandmaster (WGM)?
A) 1
B) 2
C) 3
D) 4
E) 5
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.307 – Local Chess
In an Inter County Junior Chess Team Battle held on Saturday 1st May where did the Dorset Junior team come?
A) 1st
B) 2nd
C) 3rd
D) 4th
E) 5th
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.306 – Chess Laws / Trivia
In the local B&DCL, if a mobile phone rings, what is the penalty if the game can still be won by normal means by your opponent?
A) Loss of game irrespective of any agreement between the players and captains.
B) Loss of game unless there is an agreement between the players and captains.
C) One warning then loss of the game unless there is an agreement by both players.
D) Two warnings then loss of the game unless there is an agreement by both players.
E) There is no loss of the game regardless of how many times it rings but there may be another penalty.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.305 – Bits & Pieces!
What is the name of this opening? 1.d4 d6
2.c4 e5
A) The Woozle
B) The Rat
C) The Hawk
D) The Black Lion
E) The Vulture
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.304 – International Chess
Who has recently won the 2021 ‘Covid’ Candidates Tournament and has earned the right to play Magnus Carlsen for the World Chess Championship in November 2021?
A) Anish Giri
B) Fabiano Caruana
C) Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
D) Ian Nepomniachtchi
E) Ding Liren
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.303 – National Chess
Which top English chess player was the ‘Games Consultant’ for the Cilla Black show ‘The Moment of Truth’ which commenced in the 1980s?
A) Nigel Short
B) Bill Hartston
C) Danny King
D) Raymond Keene
E) Jon Speelman
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.302 – Local Chess
Who was the main editor of Newsknight, the B&DCL magazine which ran from 1993 to 2006?
A) Alan Dommett
B) Ian Clark
C) Martin Simons
D) Steve Shutler
E) Russ Pegg
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.301 – Chess Laws / Trivia
Which was the first country in the world to make chess mandatory in schools?
A) Russia
B) Armenia
C) India
D) Hungary
E) Denmark
