Archive for the ‘Trivia’ Category

Rather unwelcome birthday gift

Posted in Trivia on April 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Just look at this below…at least there’s an injection of humour.

M J M

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Trivia Q

Posted in Trivia on September 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Which renowned tournament began one summer’s day. The following day war broke out and came within 30kms of the playing venue, so it is claimed. One of the participants left the tournament early to go and fight in it.

M J M

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Second trivia Q of the day

Posted in Trivia on September 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »

This comes from knowledgeable and respectable chess friend Mark Ruston who went to school in Charlton, London. There he was taught by former British chess champion IM Bob Wade OBE. Where did IM Wade live in London and which former British champion did he rent a room from in his palatial mansion?

Helpful but chronicled clue: whilst teaching south of Charlton in New Eltham one summer, I used to cycle to The British Library to look at the chess books available to the public in its reference section (especially Sargeant’s A Century of British Chess). En route, and after a tough climb, where IM Wade lived I fell for because it was the first part of the city I rode through that was very green and quiet, and not like London at all. Still to this day, I often think if I could choose a part of London to live in, that would be it.

Shorter helpful clue

It would be more accurate to hyphenate the term ‘champion’ in the question.

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Trivia Q

Posted in Trivia on September 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Which online bank and global payment platform has a founder who shares his name with a popular Soviet world chess champion?

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A Naughtier trivia question

Posted in Trivia on September 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Apologies if this sounds rhetorical but with conservatism so rampant in chess “What are we supposed to do?” Buck the trend and become more playful with language perhaps?

Which former British Chess Champion wanted to reach out and touch children through his chess the most?

Naughty clue: ‘ee by gum, it ain’t just folklore this. And if ya think otherwise you’re as daft as a brush’

Less naughty clue: he became British champion the year I was born (early 70s).

Inpiration

M J M

Bahrain

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Who Wants To Be A Millionaire 6

Posted in Trivia, Who wants to be a millionaire chess special on June 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Unlike the popular gameshow, features such as ‘ask the audience, phone a friend, and 50/50‘ are inapplicable here -sincere apologies. Unfortunately, there’s no money to be made from this also. However, do your best but do it alone please -no googling!

Question 1 £100

Which piece is sometimes mistakenly called the castle by beginners?

A: The Rook

B: The Queen

C: The Knight

D: The Bishop

Question 2 £200

According to chess annotation, what does ?! signify?

A: Interesting move

B: Brilliant move

C: Blunder

D: Dubious move

Question 3 £300

Who defected from the Soviet Union?

A: Karpov

B: Kasparov

C: Korchnoi

D: Kramnik

Question 4 £400

The publication ‘Chess Praxis’ was written by whom?

A: Emmanuel Lasker

B: Aaron Nimzowitch

C: Jose Capablanca

D: Seigbert Tarrasch

Question 5 £500

How many ply does a game of 40 moves amount to?

A: 20

B: 40

C: 60

D: 80

Question 6 £1000

GM Richard Rapport is from which country?

A: Poland

B: Romania

C: Austria

D: Hungary

Question 7 £2000

The term ‘fianchetto’ means what in Italian?

A: Little Flank

B: Long Diagonal

C: Enclosed Bishop

D: Strong piece

Question 8 £4000

The 2018 Chess World Championship was held in which city?

A: New York

B: London

C: Dubai

D: Bangkok

Question 9 £8000

Savielly Tartakower was born in which decade?

A: 1860s

B: 1870s

C: 1880s

D: 1890s

Question 10 £16,000

The Australian Cecil Purdy was the first world champion at what?

A: Correspondence chess

B: Problem Solving

C: Fischer Random chess

D: Blindfold chess

Question 11 £32,000

Which GM’s rating peaked at ELO 2817?

A: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

B: Anish Giri

C: Vladimir Kramnik

D: Alexander Grishuk

Question 12 £64,000

The ECO code E11 sginifies which defence in chess?

A: The Bogo-Indian Defence

B: The Nimzo-Indian Defence

C: The Queen’s Indian Defence

D: The King’s Indian Defence

Question 13 £125.000

The 2022 World Team Chess Championships was held in which city?

A: Lucerne

B: Astana

C: Ningbo

D: Jerusalem

Question 14 £250,000

Who was the first reigning world champion to win the Hastings Premier Event?

A: Euwe

B: Botvinnik

C: Capablanca

D: Alekhine

Question 15 £500,000

What opening in chess is sometimes referred to as The Hungarian Opening?

A: Reti Opening

B: Kings Fianchetto Opening

C: Colle System

D: King’s Indian Attack

Question 16 £1,000,000

The poem Caïssa or The Game at Chess was written by whom?

A: Artur Schopenhauer

B: Marvin Howard Alburt

C: William Jones

D: James Pierce

So there you are, well done if you did well. No money once again I’m afraid owing to being a poor English teacher. I do put thought into this, so if you got more than half right, you did well. Hope you enjoyed, you might even want to give it a shot yourself! 

Mark. J. McCready

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Answers to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire 6

Posted in Life beyond the chess board, Trivia, Who wants to be a millionaire chess special on June 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »

1 A

2 D

3 C

4 B

5 D

6 D

7 A

8 B

9 C

10 A

11 C

12 A

13 D

14 B

15 C

16 C

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Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Chess Special 5

Posted in Trivia, Who wants to be a millionaire chess special on May 25, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Unlike the popular gameshow, features such as ‘ask the audience, phone a friend, and 50/50‘ are inapplicable here -sincere apologies. Unfortunately, there’s no money to be made from this also. However, do your best but do it alone please -no googling!

Question 1 £100

How many pawns are there on the board at the beginning of a game?

A: 4

B: 8

C: 16

D: 32

Question 2 £200

When two kings are placed in the centre of the board by an arbiter, what does this signify?

A: a game has been drawn.

B: a game has been won by white.

C: a game has been won by black.

D: a game has not been played.

Question 3 £300

Queening refers to what in chess?

A: castling

B: a sacrifice

C: an exchange

D: promotion

Question 4 £400

The headquarters of FIDE are in which country?

A: France

B: Switzerland

C: Belgium

D: Austria

Question 5 £500

The Lewis Chessmen are housed in a musuem in which city?

A: Glasgow

B: Cardiff

C: London

D: Dublin

Question 6 £1,000

Who is the only person described as both unofficial and official world champion?

A: Wilhelm Steinitz

B: Johannes Zukertort

C: Adolf Anderssen

D: Emmanuel Lasker

Question 7 £2,000

The book Modern Ideas in Chess was written by whom?

A: Aron Nimzowitch

B: Jose Capablanca

C: Richard Reti

D: Max Euwe

Question 8 £4,000

The St. George’s Defence has also been called?

A: The Liverpool Defence

B: The Manchester Defence

C: The Cambridge Defence

D: The Birmingham Defence

Question 9 £8,000

Who became the Women’s World Champion in 2018?

A: Ju Wenjun

B: Hou Yifan

C: Tan Zhyongi

D: Lie Tingjie

Question 10 £16,000

The American player Larry Christiansen was awarded the title of GM in which decade?

A: 1960s

B: 1970s

C: 1980s

D: 1990s

Question 11 £32,000

What was the prize money for the 1992 rematch between Fischer and Spassky?

A: $1,000,000

B: $3,000,000

C: $5,000,000

D: $10,000,000

Question 12 £64,000

Which European master played a match against Paul Morphy in New Orleans in 1850?

A: Daniel Harrwitz

B: Johann Löwenthal

C: Adolf Anderssen

D: Louis Paulsen

Question 13 £125,000

‘Jaque Mate’ is the term for checkmate in which language?

A: French

B: Portugese

C: Italian

D: Spanish

Question 14 £250,000

The 2020 Tata Steel Tournament held in Wijk An Zee was won by whom?

A: Magnus Carlsen

B: Fabio Caruana

C: Wesley So

D: Anish Giri

Question 15 £500,000

Who was Magnus Carlsen’s last opponent as world champion?

A: GM Hikaru Nakamura

B: GM Alireza Firouzja

C: GM Richard Rapport

D: GM David Howell

Question 16 £1,000,000

Who is the only Canadian to have beaten former world champions Capablanca and Fischer, and drawn with former world champion Alekhine?

A: Daniel Yanofsky

B: Nathan Divinsky

C: Duncan Suttles

D: Maurice Fox

So there you are, well done if you did well. No money once again I’m afraid owing to being a poor English teacher. I do put thought into this, so if you got more than half right, you did well. Hope you enjoyed, you might even want to give it a shot yourself! 

Mark. J. McCready

Read Full Post »

Answers to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Chess Special 5

Posted in Trivia, Who wants to be a millionaire chess special on May 25, 2025| Leave a Comment »

1 C

2 A

3 D

4 B

5 C

6 A

7 C

8 D

9 A

10 B

11 C

12 B

13 D

14 B

15 D

16 D

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Extending perceived boundaries

Posted in Trivia on May 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Whenever I discover chess content incorporating history by historians, keen to post it I am for perhaps obvious reasons. One popped up in an audio lecture yesterday.

In case you don’t know or can’t guess, the well-respected historian Steinberg argues that it was Lenin.

Here he is. In my opinion no other westerner understands the history of Russia better than him. Watch him, listen to him or purchase one of his many publications and you might see why.

MJM

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