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António Vítor · Registo: 02 Ago 2006 Mensagens: 32

http://www.chesscafe.com/skittles/skittles.htm

The Tenth Annual
ChessCafe Holiday Quiz 3000€ em prémios

Q1: The following quote is from a magazine article about a prominent chess master:

“Then came the shock. After the conventional documentary report on the tournament results had been digested, I came to an item of information about the photograph on the cover. It told me, among other things, that the set in the photograph was a prop, furnished by [the magazine’s] staff photographer, due to the fact that —— … did not own a chess set.”

Who is the subject of this paragraph? [2 points]

Q2: The following lines are a translation of a poem that refers to a famous chess game:

He ponders long, through an eye dull with dread,
The wretched remains of a mated king;
He sees here a sovereign at final rest,
And God save the king expires on his lips

(a) What is the title of the poem? [2 points]

(b) What was the final move of the game it describes? [2 points]

Q3: Give the year of a Hastings Christmas Congress in which Menchik tied for first place. [2 points]

Q4: The problem below was composed in the early 20th century:

While a mate in two is possible (1.Kb3+ Rb2 2.Bxb2#), the composers’ preferred solution was 1.Kxd2+ Ka2 2.f8=B+ Ka3 3.e8=B+ Ka4 4.d8=B+ Ka5 5.c8=B+ Ka6 6.b8=N#, because it illustrated a famous local incident. That incident gave the problem its name. What is that name? [3 points]

Q5: For the 1982 Olympiad, held in Lucerne, Switzerland, some registered teams failed to show at all, while one showed up on time, but in the wrong city! What team was this, and what city did they go to by mistake? [2 points]

Q6: The terms of the following problem are mate in two, whoever moves first:

The problem was composed to commemorate a special event in chess history. What was that event? [2 points]

Q7: The title of a guitar instrumental recorded in 2004 refers to a contestant in the London 1851 tournament. Who was the player? [3 points]

Q8: This fanciful drawing commemorates a prominent master’s victory in a major tournament:

Many readers probably have no trouble identifying the man in the picture, but that is not what we are asking. That particular contest was just one section, the highest-rated section, of a major chess congress with six sections in all. The question is: who finished last in the second-highest section? [3 points]

Q9: True or false: Do the following novels contain any reference to chess?

(a) The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien [1 point]

(b) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll [1 point]

(c) The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco [1 point]

(d) Julian by Gore Vidal [1 point]

Q10: Of a prominent chess master this was written:

“[P]laying the Ruy Lopez, not only did he never lose; in the whole of his tournament career only two of his opponents ever even managed to draw!”

(a) Name the two players who managed to draw those games? [2 points]

(b) Name the writer who made the statement. [1 point]

(c) Name the book or magazine in which the statement was made. [1 point]

Q11: While most chess tournaments and matches take place in a single city, some, like AVRO 1938 and Hague-Moscow 1948, have moved around. Below are partial itineraries for several important chess events. Fill in the blank in each with the name of the city the event visited at that point:

(a) Berlin, The Hague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, The Hague, ___________. [2 points]

(b) Washington DC, Baltimore, Chicago, ___________, New York. [2 points]

(c) Washington DC, New York, Pittsburgh, Toledo, Chicago, __________. [2 points]

Q12: Consider the following five tournament scores:

Fenzl, +1 –17 =4 at Vienna 1895-96
Znosko-Borovsky, +3 –11 =4 at St. Petersburg 1909
Zastrow, +2 –11 =4 at Berlin 1921-22
Paul Johner, +2 –7 =4 at Teplitz-Schönau 1922
Spielmann, +5 –12 at Carlsbad 1923
The five players have this in common: each finished last in his respective tournament. However, one of them failed to do something positive in his tournament, that the other four did do, something very unusual in tournament history. In that sense, which of the five above does not belong? [2 points]

Q13: During his reign as World Champion:

(a) How many times did Alexander Alekhine fail to win clear first in a tournament? [2 points]

(b) What was the last tournament (city and year) in which that happened? [2 points]

Q14: Generally during a World Championship match, the players concentrate only on the match. However, on occasion they have taken a break from world title play to participate in other chess events. What contestant took a break after the 8th game of a world title match to play in an international team event? [2 points]

Q15: What film shows a man analyzing this improbable position

while smoking a pipe inside a spaceship? [2 points]

Q16: In this position

a film shows Black playing 1…Rf4 instead of the obvious 1…Qxf2 mate. This scene takes place on a famous island. Name the island. [2 points]

Q17: A film nominated for several Oscars shows two soldiers of a European country playing modern chess. One soldier says “Does the play bore you?” The other replies “I fear I have met my superior.” However, in a case of ludicrous anachronism, at the time in which the film is set, chess was unknown in Europe, nor probably anywhere else. Name the film. [2 points]

Q18: “The art of maneuvering is to maintain the position until finding the right time to force an imbalance.”

(a) Who is the author of this quote? [1 point]

(b) In what book or magazine did it appear? [1 point]

Q19: Consider these matches:

Möhle-Baird, New York, 1879
Delmar-Barnes, New York, 1880
Mackenzie-Golmayo, Havana, 1887
Golmayo-Vásquez, Havana 1887
What unusual fact do they all have in common? [1 point]

Q20: Give the real name of the person who played, composed, and/or wrote under each of the pseudonyms listed below:

Frantisek Bures [1 point]
Aliquis [1 point]
Einsidler von Tyrnau [1 point]
Prätorius [1 point]
Q21: “…just because you are defending doesn’t mean your position is worse.”

(a) Who is the author of this quote? [1 point]

(b) In what book or magazine did it appear? [1 point]

Questions 22-32 are based on the following:

Question 11 talks about three chess events that each took place in multiple cities. Each event naturally started in one city. One of these “starting” cities [City #1] in Question 11 was also the city in which a famous American player [Player #1] scored his only tournament victory in an American tournament [Event #1]. The victory of Player #1 in Event #1 took place 50 years before the event [Event #2] began in City #1.

The correct answer to Question #2 contains a word often associated with a member of the highest grade of the British peerage. [Person #1]. Player #1, when playing internationally, played a game against an opponent [Player #2] who was of the same grade of peerage as Person #1.

One of the participants [Player #3] in Event #2 shares a birthday (the same day and month, not the same year) with a grandmaster [Player #4] from one of the countries involved in the correct answers to Question 5. Finally, one player [Player #5] also shares the same birthday (the same day and month, not the same year) with Player #4. Player #5 was succeeded as his country’s national champion by the player [Player #6] who is the correct answer to Question 1. The birthday (the day and month, not the year) of Player #6 is one day before the date (the day and month, not the year) that one of the events [Event #3] named in or part of the answer of Question 11 finished.

Identify:

Q22: City #1 [2 points]

Q23: Player #1 [2 points]

Q24: Event #1 [2 points]

Q25: Event #2 [2 points]

Q26: Person #1 [2 points]

Q27: Player #2 [2 points]

Q28: Player #3 [2 points]

Q29: Player #4 [2 points]

Q30: Player #5 [2 points]

Q31: Player #6 [2 points]

Q32: Event #3 [2 points]

Please note that while it may appear that there is more than one correct answer for any of these questions 22-32, and even though these questions are scored separately, there is only one set of answers that will be correct for all eleven questions 22-32.

Image identification, Questions 33-37

Identify each person pictured below [4 points each]

Q33

Q34

Q35

Q36

Q37