Test Your Chess Knowledge No.250 – Bit & Pieces!
Which of these famous people is the strongest chess player?
A) Bill Gates (business)
B) Steve Davis (snooker)
C) Simen Agdestein (football)
D) Ivan Lendl (tennis)
E) Lennox Lewis (boxing)
Answer: C
Simen Agdestein played football for the Norwegian national team (8 caps, 1 goal) and is a Grandmaster with a highest FIDE rating of 2637.
Steve Davis enjoys his chess and was the BCF President between 1996 and 2001. He was also co-author of two chess books.
Ivan Lendl was also known to enjoy his chess. His father, Jiri Lendl, was a lawyer, a chess master, junior champion of Bohemia and Moravia, and played in the Czechoslovakian Chess Championship.
Former world heavyweight boxing champ Lennox Lewis plays chess every day, and has a chess.com account.
We are not sure how good Bill Gates is but he did play Magnus Carlsen on a TV show. Gates had 2 minutes, Carlsen had 30 seconds as shown in this youtube clip !
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.249 – International Chess
How many World Championship matches have involved 30 games or more?
A) One
B) Two
C) Three
D) Four
E) Five
Answer: D
The longest match was the marathon 1984 first to six wins match between Karpov and Kasparov which was famously abandoned after 48 games (+5 =40 -3).
There have been three other matches of 30 games or more all played under the first to six wins rules:
- Capablanca – Alekhine 1927, 34 games (+3 =25 -6)
- Karpov – Korchnoi 1978, 32 games (+6 =21 -5)
- Alekhine – Euwe 1935, 30 games (+8, =13, -9), this match also requiring 15.5 points to be scored by the winner.
Please see Bulletin No.52 about the world championship matches.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.248 – National Chess
Mickey Adams is currently the highest rated English player in the FIDE rankings but what ranking is he, as at March 2021, on the FIDE World ranking list?
A) 10th
B) 15th
C) 20th
D) 25th
E) 30th
Answer: D
Mickey Adams currently (as at March 2021) has a FIDE rating of 2716 and is 25th in the world.
He was once 4th in the world several times between October 2000 and October 2002.
CC BY-SA 3.0
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.247 – Local Chess
Bournemouth hosted the 2016 British Chess Championships but which local player scored the most points in the Championship?
A) Oliver Gill (Ringwood)
B) Ian Clark (Wimborne)
C) Allan Pleasants (Weymouth)
D) Martin Simons (Southbourne)
E) Mike Waddington (Dorchester)
Answer: A
The leading player with a local connection was Oliver Gill, who used to play for Ringwood, with a score of 5.5, followed by Mike Waddington with 5. Allan Pleasants, Ian Clark and Martin Simons all scored a creditable 4 points.
This was reported here in Bulletin No.32 Part 2
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.246 – Chess Laws / Trivia
How did Carlsen celebrate winning his first World Chess Championship after beating Anand in 2013?
A) By being thrown into a swimming pool.
B) By playing a game of football.
C) By drinking too much.
D) By going out for a slap up meal.
E) He did not celebrate.
Answer: A
Here he is captured on youtube celebrating in style!
Carlsen may have also done options B to D too but this was not captured on video!
CC BY-SA 2.0 DE
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.245 – Bits & Pieces!
Mickey Adams will be 50 years old later this year. How many players in the current March 2021 FIDE top 50 are older than him?
A) 0
B) 1
C) 2
D) 3
E) 4
Answer: B
Only Vishy Anand is older at age 51 who is 17th in the FIDE world rankings with a rating of 2753.
Age is not on the chess player’s side despite the game’s image!
CC BY-SA 3.0 DE
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.244 – International Chess
Which of these World Champions did not lose their title to their very first challenger?
A) José Capablanca
B) Vasily Smyslov
C) Mikhail Tal
D) Tigran Petrosian
E) Boris Spassky
Answer: D
Petrosian retained his title when defeating Spassky in 1966.
Please see today’s bulletin which provides possible reasons why the other four players plus Max Euwe lost their titles at the first attempt.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.243 – National Chess
Which English chess player was largely behind the invention of the ‘Creepy Crawly Opening’ which goes a3, h3 and c4?
A) Simon Williams
B) Danny Gormally
C) Tony Miles
D) Jonathan Levitt
E) Michael Basman
Answer: E
Michael Basman was well known for his offbeat openings which also included the Grob!
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.242 – Local Chess
Which 3 local clubs each won two league titles in 2018/19 across the B&DCL (Divisions 1 to 5) and DCCA (Divisions 1 to 3)?
A) Poole, Ringwood and Southbourne
B) Poole, Ringwood and Wimborne
C) Poole, Southbourne and Wimborne
D) Ringwood, Southbourne and Wimborne
E) Any other combination.
Answer: D
Ringwood won the B&DCL Div 2 and DCCA League Div 1.
Southbourne won the B&DCL Div 3 and Div 5.
Wimborne won the B&DCL Div 1 and DCCA League Div 3.
New Milton won the B&DCL Div 4
Highcliffe won the DCCA League Div 2.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.241 – Chess Laws / Trivia
In mid 2019 Chess.com did a poll on what players believed to be the best online time control. Excluding increments that were not included in the poll, which time limit below do you think came out on top?
A) 1 minute
B) 3 minutes
C) 5 minutes
D) 10 minutes
E) 30 minutes
Answer: D
There were 7 categories in total (including ‘2 hours’ and ‘something else’) and the ’10 minutes’ category came out on top collecting almost a third of the votes. This hopefully augurs well for the 1st Dorset Online Rapidplay Championship this Sunday, 14th March 2021!
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.240 – Bits & Pieces
What is the name of this opening? 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.d5 c4?!
A) The Bird Variation
B) The Pelikan
C) The Woozle
D) The Vulture
E) The Hawk
Answer: E
The Hawk is regarded as a very dubious defence. There are some tricky lines but White has a number of ways of gaining a large advantage.
For more information on ‘Birds’ type openings, please refer to Bulletin 26 Animal Openings Part 2
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.239 – International Chess
Who is the only person to have won both the USSR and US national chess championships and to have a positive score against Kasparov?
A) Kamsky
B) Shabalov
C) Yermolinsky
D) Gulko
E) Onishuk
Answer: D
Boris Gulko is noted to be the only person to have won both the Soviet and the U.S. Chess Championship, and for having a positive score against Garry Kasparov. He won the Soviet Championship in 1977 and after moving to the U.S he won the U.S Championship in 1994 and 1999.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Gulko
CC BY-SA 3.0
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.238 – National Chess
Which English Grandmaster was criticised in 2015 for saying that men are biologically superior to women at chess, although he also stated that women are better in other areas?
A) Danny Gormally
B) Keith Arkell
C) Simon Williams
D) Jim Plaskett
E) Nigel Short
Answer: E
This has been widely reported including on wikipedia here.
CC BY-SA 3.0
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.237 – Local Chess
At the point of the first Lockdown on 23rd March 2020, when face to face chess was formally suspended, which local chess club had most teams topping the 5 B&DCL and 3 DCCA leagues in the 2019/20 season?
A) Highcliffe
B) Poole
C) New Milton
D) Southbourne
E) Wimborne
Answer: B
Poole was leading 3 divisions (B&DCL Divisions 3, 4 and 5) when Lockdown intervened and all local league matches were suspended.
Highcliffe (DCCA Division 1) , New Milton (B&DCL Division 2), Purbeck (DCCA Division 3), Southbourne (B&DCL Division 1) and Wimborne (DCCA Division 2) were each leading one of the remaining 5 divisions.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.236 – Chess Laws / Trivia
As at November 2017, which World Chess Champion had the lowest draw rate in competitive matches?
A) Wilhelm Steinitz
B) Alexander Alekhine
C) Mikhail Tal
D) Bobby Fischer
E) Garry Kasparov
Answer: A
This was probably because the strength of the opposition in the 19th century was much weaker and there were no databases nor chess engines for the weaker player to refer to. Perhaps surprisingly though, in the chart above, is that Mikhail Tal’s draw rate was higher than the average.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.235 – Bits & Pieces
As at the end of 2018, which first White move had the highest scoring percentage on Chessbase?
A) 1.e4
B) 1.d4
C) 1.c4
D) 1.Nf3
E) 1.g3
Answer: D
Of the 7.6 million games covering all first moves, 1.Nf3 has the top percentage of 55.4%, 1.g3 scores 55.0%, 1.d4 scores 54.4%, 1.c4 scores 54.3% and 1.e4 coming in last, perhaps surprisingly, at 52.9%.
However, 1.e4 does score best at correspondence play!
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.234 – International Chess
Who is the oldest official World Chess Champion (i.e. the day before he lost his title)? This includes all FIDE and Classical World Chess Champions.
A) Wilhelm Steinitz
B) Emanuel Lasker
C) Mikhail Botvnnik
D) Anatoly Karpov
E) Vishy Anand
Answer: A
The oldest World Chess Champion, William Steinitz, was 58 years and 10 days when he lost his title to Emanuel Lasker on May 26, 1894. Lasker was 52, Botvinnik was 51, Karpov was 48 and Anand was 43.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.233 – National Chess
In a 2010 interview, Magnus Carlsen explained that he thought extreme intelligence could actually be a hindrance to one’s chess career. As an example, he related this comment to a English Grandmaster’s failure to have ever won the World Chess Championship. He further said ‘He has so incredibly much in his head. Simply too much. His enormous powers of understanding and his constant thirst for knowledge distracted him from chess.’
But who is the English Grandmaster Carlsen was referring to?
A) Mickey Adams
B) Tony Miles
C) John Nunn
D) Nigel Short
E) Jon Speelman
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.232 – Local Chess
Which was the most recent disbanded Dorset chess club to have won either the B&DCL or Dorset League Division One Championship?
A) Bridport
B) Lymington
C) Merck
D) Oakdale
E) Kinson
Answer: B
Lymington has won the B&DCL Division One title once and disbanded in 2010.
Kinson has won the B&DCL Division One title six times and disbanded in 2005.
Oakdale has also won the B&DCL /DCCA Division One title six times and disbanded in 2003.
Merck has won the B&DCL Division One title once and disbanded in 1998.
Bridport is the most recent club to have disbanded which was in 2017 but has never won a Division One title.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.231 – Chess Laws / Trivia
Which famous player provided this quote … ‘Chess is a war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent’s mind’?
A) Alexander Alekhine
B) Mikhail Tal
C) Bobby Fischer
D) Garry Kasparov
E) Magus Carlsen
Answer: C
Bobby Fischer was well known for his attacking chess and determination to win.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.230 – Bits & Pieces!
In the film, ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ who originally taught Beth Harmon to play chess?
A) Her mum
B) Herself
C) Mr Shaibel
D) Harry Beltik
E) Garry Kasparov (playing himself)
Answer: C
Mr Shaibel is a janitor at Beth Harmon’s orphanage. He introduces her to the game of chess and opens new doors for the young prodigy.
Garry Kasparov provided the chess technical expertise for the film.
And here is the scene on youtube where Mr Shaibel introduces Beth to chess.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.229 – International Chess
Which World Champion has won every national championship they have played in?
A) Max Euwe
B) Mikhail Botvinnik
C) Mikhail Tal
D) Bobby Fischer
E) Garry Kasparov
Answer: D
Fischer won every US championship he entered (57-58, 58-59, 59-60, 60-61, 62-63, 63-64, 65-66, 66-67), the first aged just 14 a whole point ahead of Reshevsky.
Whilst Euwe won every national championship he entered between 1921 and 1952 (as reported in Bulletin No.46 Part 1) he also played in 1954 and 1956 and didn’t win those.
Botvinnik won six USSR championships but he did not win all the ones he entered.
Tal became the youngest player to win the USSR Championship in 1957, at the age of 20 after sharing 5th place in 1956 and also won it again in 1958.
Kasparov didn’t win the USSR champs in his first two tries but did share first place in 1981 at the age of 18 and became its youngest winner.
Photo courtesy of German National Archive
CC BY-SA 3.0 DE
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.228 – National Chess
Which British player scored 9 consecutive wins from his first 9 games at the 1976 British Chess Championships, a record for any British Chess Championship?
A) Tony Miles
B) Murray Chandler
C) George Botterill
D) John Nunn
E) Jonathan Mestel
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.227 – Local Chess
Excluding defaults, and thinking back to our first Lockdown, when do you think was the last B&DCL league or cup match or Dorset league match played in 2020?
A) Monday 9th March 2020
B) Tuesday 10th March 2020
C) Thursday 12th March 2020
D) Friday 13th March 2020
E) Monday 16th March 2020
Answer: C
Three local matches were played on Thursday 12th March 2020 and these were the last in 2020.
Reading the match reports on LMS for matches played on this date, it would seem that the last ever over the board move to be played in a standard 2020 local league match was either by John Weatherlake or his opponent Andrej Furjel, as in the Poole v Weymouth Cup match this game went down to the final minute!
http://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/408/ofixtures
There was also a win recorded on LMS on Tuesday 17th March 2020 with New Milton C beating Highcliffe E 4-0 in the B&DCL Division 5 when Highcliffe E defaulted so no individual games played. If the 2019/20 season was to continue when we resume then maybe this result should be reversed.
However, the last recorded over the board chess in the local area to be played was at the Dorset Rapidplay Championship on Sunday 15th March 2020!
It’s been almost a year. If only we knew then what we know now!
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.226 – Chess Laws / Trivia
Which famous chess player came out with this accurate quote? ‘Even a poor plan is better than no plan at all?’
A) Wilhelm Steinitz
B) Emanual Lasker
C) Mikhail Chigorin
D) Alexander Alekhine
E) Max Euwe
Answer: C
Chigorin (1850 to 1908) was probably most famous for losing two World Chess Champuonship matches against Steinitz. Probably not known and quite unusual, is that he did not learn the game until he was 16 when taught by his schoolteacher, and he did not properly take up the game until he was 23.
He was also the last known great player of the romantic chess era.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.225 – You are the Arbiter!
In a mad time scramble, player A moves a pawn to the 8th rank but there are no queens in sight, so s/he picks up a rook and places it upside down on the board stating it is a queen. What should the arbiter do next?
A) The rook is allowed to move like a queen.
B) The clocks are stopped, no time penalties or additions and the rook must be replaced immediately by a queen.
C) Player A must find a queen to replace the rook in his or her time.
D) As the move is incomplete and illegal, the clocks are stopped, the position is reconstructed to the point where the illegal move was played and player B may be awarded extra time.
E) As the rook has already been placed on the square, it becomes a rook even though player A has stated it is a queen.
Answer: E
FIDE Rule 4.4.4 – If a player having the move promotes a pawn, the choice of the piece is finalised when the piece has touched the square of promotion.
FIDE Rule 6.11.2 – A player may stop the chessclock only in order to seek the arbiter’s assistance, for example when promotion has taken place and the piece required is not available
So as player A has not stopped the clock to seek the arbiter’s assistance when s/he could not find a queen and instead, chose to place the rook on the square of promotion, it must be used as a rook.
This was the exact controversial finish to the Canadian Chess Championship in a blitz play-off match between GM Bator Sambuev and IM Nikolay Noritsyn. Noritsyn, playing Black, advanced several passed pawns in the game’s final moments. With six seconds remaining, Noritsyn played …d1, scrambled to find a Black queen, and with none in sight, grabbed a captured rook. He announced “queen” and turned it upside down on d1 before pressing his clock with four seconds remaining.
That’s when the onlooking Chief Arbiter IA Pierre Dénommée intervened by waving his hands and stopping the clock. He declared the move to be legal, but for the piece to be played as a rook. Noritsyn played on and lost. He then appealed but this was rejected by three votes to one.
As seen in this youtube clip (please start at 14 minutes), Sambuev was clearly holding on to Black’s queen (which he had captured) when Noritsyn tried to queen and then, with subtlety, placed it back on the table whilst the arbiter is stopping the clock! However, whilst this may not be fair, Noritsyn should have stopped the chessclock in accordance with FIDE rule 6.11.2 mentioned above.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.224 – International Chess
In Q219 we covered which official World Chess Champion passed away at the youngest age but which World Chess Champion has lived the longest?
A) Emanuel Lasker
B) Max Euwe
C) Mikhail Botvinnik
D) Vasily Smyslov
E) Boris Spassky
Answer: D
Smyslov lived to a good age of 89 but Spassky is not far behind, he is currently 84!
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.223 – National Chess
How many teams has Wessex entered in the current online 4NCL Season 3 tournament?
A) 4
B) 5
C) 6
D) 7
E) 8
Answer: D
Captain Keith Gregory has galvanised the interest of so many local players, mainly from Dorset and Hampshire, to participate in this big national online event that we are the only club to have as many as 7 teams. The latest report can be found here.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.222 – Local Chess
Dorset & Wilts have so far played two matches in the Western Counties Online Championship. How many match points does it currently have?
A) 0
B) 1
C) 2
D) 3
E) 4
Answer: B
Dorset & Wilts lost its first match 11-5 to Gloucestershire on Sunday 10th January 2021 then drew its second match 8-8 with Hampshire on Sunday 7th February 2021.
Reports can be found here vs Gloucestershire and here vs Hampshire.
Dorset & Wilts next match is against Cornwall this Sunday 21st February 2021.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.221 – Chess Laws / Trivia
Which British chess player made this interesting quote? ‘Chess doesn’t drive people mad, it keeps mad people sane!’
A) Bill Hartston
B) John Nunn
C) Jonathan Speelman
D) Tony Miles
E) Jonathan Levitt
Answer: A
Bill Hartston has come up with a number of interesting quotes and is a great source for unusual information. Here are a few of his books!
‘The Ultimate Irrelevant Encyclopaedia (1984)’
‘What’s What – The Encyclopedia of Quite Extraordinary Information (2005)’
‘The Things That Nobody Knows (2011)’
‘Even More Things That Nobody Knows (2015)’
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.220 – Bits & Pieces!
What is the name of this chess opening? 1.e4 g6 2.Bc4 Bg7 3.Qf3 e6
A) Hedgehog!
B) Hippopotamus!
C) Monkey’s Bum!
D) Orangutan!
E) Rat!
Answer: C
This is a variation of the Modern Defence characterised by 2.Bc4 and 3.Qf3 aimed at forcing e6, which some Modern players don’t like to play. In it’s purest form it is followed up with 4.d4 sacrificing the d-pawn for some but not full compensation. It was trendy for a while in the 1970’s but fell into disrepute and Modern players are normally very happy to face it.
To find out more on this and the other Mammal Openings mentioned in the question, then please take a look at Bulletin No.26 Animal Openings Part 1
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.219 – International Chess
Which Official World Chess Champion passed away at the youngest age?
A) Wilhelm Steinitz
B) José Raúl Capablanca
C) Alexander Alekhine
D) Mikhail Tal
E) Tigran Petrosian
Answer: B
Many people will probably think Alekhine was the youngest (who passed away at 53 years and 4 months), and the circumstances behind his death were more controversial, but Capablanca passed away a month younger of a fatal stroke. It is believed that the the day before his passing his vascular specialist Dr. Schwarzer strongly advised him that his life was endangered unless he totally relaxed, but Capablanca said that he couldn’t because his ex-wife and children had started court proceedings against him. The doctor blamed his death on “his troubles and aggravation”. More information on Capablanca can be found here in Bulletin No.46 Part 1
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.218 – National Chess
Which well known English chess player do you think has his own show on Youtube which includes impressions of other well known English and international chess players?
A) Jim Plaskett
B) Nigel Short
C) Stuart Conquest
D) Simon Williams
E) Danny Gormally
Answer: E
Danny Gormally is well known for his dry sense of humour. Here are his amusing impressions on youtube of Jim Plaskett, Matthew Sadler, Mickey Adams, Simon Williams, John Nunn, Stuart Conquest and Vladimir Kramnik.
CC BY-SA 3.0 DE
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.217 – Local Chess
Who has been the Dorset Individual Chess Champion most times?
A) Joe Anderson
B) Michael Yeo
C) Richard Mann
D) Miles Cowling
E) Martin Simons
Answer: A
Joe Anderson has won the Dorset Individual a record 12 times from 1952 to1975, Miles Cowling 8 times (1983 to 1992) as reported in Q202, Martin Simons 8 times (1993 to 2016), Richard Mann 5 times (1964 to 1974) and Michael Yeo 5 times (1995 to 2007).
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.216 – Chess Laws / Trivia
Who provided this famous quote? ‘Chess makes man wiser and clear-sighted.’
A) Raymond Keene
B) Anatoly Karpov
C) Garry Kasparov
D) Barack Obama
E) Vladimir Putin
Answer: E
As far as we know Putin does not play serious chess, so maybe this is a politician’s quote to endear himself to chess players!
CC BY-SA 3.0
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.215 – Bits & Pieces!
Who co-wrote the excellent ‘Game Changer’ book with Matthew Sadler?
A) Jovanka Houska
B) Harriet Hunt
C) Natasha Regan
D) Cathy Forbes
E) Susan Lalic
Answer: C
The Game Changer book won the ECF and Averbakh-Boleslavsky Award of the Year in 2019 for its much acclaimed work comparing and combining human achievements with artificial intelligence to create a new way of chess thinking.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.214 – International Chess
As well as Bobby Fischer, which other 3 World Chess Champions have been imprisoned?
A) Steinitz, Alekhine & Botvinnik
B) Steinitz, Alekhine & Kasparov
C) Steinitz, Botvinnik & Kasparov
D) Alekhine, Botvinnik & Kasparov
E) Another combination of 3 World Champions
Answer: B
Some sources say that, in 1891, William Steinitz was arrested in New York or New Jersey as a Russian spy after someone in the telegraph company thought that his ‘telegraph’ chess moves in a correspondence game against Chigorin, were code. Fortunately his detention was short-lived (24 hours).
In 1919, Alekhine was imprisoned by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution, and there were even rumours in the Western press that he had been executed.
Botvinnik was never imprisoned but during WWII, Botvinnik gained permission to leave Leningrad just two days before the Germans cut the rail link as part of the siege which cost the lives of around half of its 3 million civilians; perhaps a lucky escape.
In 2004, Fischer was arrested in Japan and held for several months for using a passport that had been revoked by the US government.
In 2012, Kasparov was arrested and beaten outside of the Moscow court while attending the verdict reading in the case involving the all-female punk band, Pussy Riot. He was later cleared of all charges.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.213 – National Chess
The British Rapidplay Chess Championship has been run since 1986? Who has won it most times?
A) Mark Hebden
B) Mickey Adams
C) Jon Speelman
D) Peter Wells
E) David Howell
Answer: A
Mark Hebden has won it 7 times, 4 more times than anyone else. Perhaps surprisingly, Hebden has never won the British Chess Championship despite being a regular participant.
Photo courtesy of Brendan O’Gorman
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.212 – Local Chess
Which club has won the B&DCL Division One Championship most times?
A) Bournemouth
B) Knights
C) Parkstone
D) Southbourne
E) Wimborne
Answer: D
Southbourne have won the B&DCL Division One Championship 18 times, Knights 10, Parkstone 10, Wimborne 7 and Bournemouth 5, that’s 50 winners of the 70 in total since the league’s first season in 1950-51.
Pictured below is the winning Southbourne team when it won the B&DCL Division One Championship for the first time in 1988. Four of its players, John Harris, Russ Pegg, Jon Catchpole & Martin Simons still play for the club some 33 years later!
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.211 – Chess Laws / Trivia
Which Hollywood star went to the same school as Bobby Fischer, regularly had lunch with him and thought he was very attractive?
A) Lynda Carter
B) Faye Dunaway
C) Goldie Hawn
D) Meryl Streep
E) Barbra Streisand
Answer: E
They both went to Erasmus High School, Brooklyn. Barbra Streisand is said to have had a ‘crush’ on Bobby Fischer and they used to swap ‘MAD’ comics.
She said of him “He was always alone and very peculiar. But I found him very sexy. He was an absolute nut. An eccentric at 15.” This was reported in Bulletin No.46 Part 2
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.210 – Bits & Pieces!
When was World Chess Day celebrated in 2020?
A) 20th July
B) 20th August
C) 20th September
D) 20th October
E) 20th November
Answer: A
On 12th December 2019, the General Assembly proclaimed 20th July as World Chess Day to mark the date of the establishment of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in Paris in 1924.
Under the initiative of FIDE, July 20th has been observed as International Chess Day by chess players around the world since 1966.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.209 – International Chess
Which World Chess Champion took on ‘The World’ at chess in 1999?
A) Anatoly Karpov
B) Garry Kasparov
C) Alexander Khalifman
D) Vladimir Kramnik
E) Vishy Anand
Answer: B
In 1999, Garry Kasparov played ‘The World’ in a game of chess that lasted over four months over the internet. Over 50,000 people from more than 75 countries participated with moves being decided by majority vote. Garry ended up winning on move 62 when 51% of The World decided to resign.
The interesting game is reported here.
CC BY-SA 2.0
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.208 – National Chess
How much did GM James Plaskett win on the ‘Who wants to a be a Millionaire’ TV programme in 2006?
A) £32,000
B) £64,000
C) £125,000
D) £250,000
E) £500,000
Answer: D
Plaskett managed to get up to £125,000 without losing any of his lifelines but could only go one stage further!
And if you want to see his time in the chair at the business end of the show here is the link to it …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvZWjzwXbGc
GNU Free Doc License, V 1.2
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.207 – Local Chess
For the 2012/13 league season, there was a 3 way tie for the B&DCL 1st Division Championship but which were the 3 teams involved?
A) Southbourne A, Wimborne A & Wimborne B
B) Poole A, Southbourne A & Wimborne A
C) Poole A, Southbourne A & Wimborne B
D) Poole A, Wimborne A & Wimborne B
E) None of the above
Answer: E
The 3 teams involved were Southbourne B, Wimborne A and Wimborne A and they shared the B&DCL Division One Championship.
The B&DCL rules at the time stated where teams come level on match points, then the winners will be the team with most game points. From the league table above, all 3 teams had the same total of match and game points. It was noted that Wimborne B had the best game point difference but these were not included as part of the tie-break rules at the time!
The reason why Wimborne B had played one individual game less (i.e. 39 instead of 40) was because, in one of its matches versus Southbourne A in round 9, there was a double default on one board as each team only had 3 players! It would have perhaps in hindsight been better had Wimborne B defaulted on one board and Southbourne A on another and had this happened, Wimborne B would have been the sole B&DCL Division One Champions! Had Southbourne A fielded a 4th player for this match it would have drawn the match rather than losing it giving it an extra match point. It would have then won the league as it had most game points!
Rather than have some kind of 3 way play-off match as also mentioned in the rules, it was agreed between the 3 teams and the B&DCL for the title to be shared and the rules were subsequently changed to accommodate teams’ game difference! What a nightmare, but it was an exciting finish to the 2012/13 B&DCL season, as Ringwood A was also in contention with 2 rounds to go!
We are sure this was the lowest ever points total to win the league based on 10 matches.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.206 – Chess Laws / Trivia
What is the name of the computer which defeated the former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov?
A) Deep Thought
B) Deep Purple
C) Deep Blue
D) Deep Fritz
E) Deep Junior
Answer: C
In defeating Kasparov on May 11 1997, Deep Blue made history as the first computer to beat a World Champion in a six-game match under standard time controls. Kasparov had won the first game, lost the second and then drawn the following three. When Deep Blue took the match by winning the final game, Kasparov refused to believe it.
And here is the BBC’s 3 minute coverage of the match also capturing the moment (at approximately 2 minutes) of Kasparov’s utter dismay when he resigned!
And here is a slightly more in-depth 6 minute commentary of the match describing the difference between the human mind and the huge processing power of the computer.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.205 – Bits & Pieces!
How many times have Kirk and Spock played chess on the Star Trek TV show?
A) 0
B) 1
C) 2
D) 3
E) 4
Answer: D
Captain Kirk won all 3 occasions! In the short scene in the link below, Spock comments that Kirk’s illogical approach to chess does have its advantages to which Kirk replied that he was inspired!
You can see them playing here.
We never said they were playing normal chess!
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.204 – International Chess
Who was the FIDE World Chess Champion (not the classical World Chess Champion) 20 years ago in 2001?
A) Anatoly Karpov
B) Alexander Khalifman
C) Vishy Anand
D) Rusian Ponomariov
E) Vladimir Kramnik
Answer: C
Anand convincingly beat Alexei Shirov 3.5-0.5 in a best of six final in 2000. Kramnik became the Classical World Chess Champion beating Kasparov in the same year.
CC BY-SA 3.0 DE
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.203 – National Chess
Including unofficial World Championships in the 19th century, how many British World Chess Champions have there been?
A) 0
B) 1
C) 2
D) 3
E) 4
Answer: C
The UK have had 2 unofficial World Champions. Howard Staunton won it in 1843 and retained it in 1846. Johannes Zukertort won it in 1883. The UK has also had 7 unofficial and official runners-ups, the latest being Nigel Short in 1993 and Mickey Adams in 2004.
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.202 – Local Chess
Who was the Dorset County Individual Champion 8 times between 1983 and 1992?
A) Joe Anderson
B) Steve Shutler
C) Richard Mann
D) Miles Cowling
E) Martin Simons
Answer: D
Miles Cowling dominated the Dorset Championship in the 80s and early 90s and won it 8 times when it was held on a Dorset East and West basis with the final being contested between the regional winners. The tournament was moved to a Congress format in 1993. Miles played in the first year of this new format but never returned. He preferred bridge which he later taught and apparently was better at!
Test Your Chess Knowledge No.201 – Chess Laws / Trivia
Which World Champion once prepared for a match against a smoker by having a training partner blow smoke in his face during practice games?
A) José Raúl Capablanca
B) Max Euwe
C) Mikhail Botvinnik
D) Vasily Smyslov
E) Tigran Petrosian
Answer: C
Mikhail Botvinnik was well known for being meticulous in his preparation for matches.
This was reported in Bulletin No.46 Part 1
Courtesy of Dutch National Archive
CC BY-SA 3.0 NL
