Archive for the ‘Trivia’ Category

85 of McCready’s Trivia Qs

Posted in Trivia on April 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Some time has slipped by since I became a member of the ECF Forum then began posting therein. Apparently, I am most active in the chess history trivia thread in the Chess History Forum…see 🙂 !

You can read them here posted in chronological order: you can search for the answers in the forum or ask me personally if thou so wish…should you be unable to answer them yourself of course! Failing all that, there is of course footnotes! Perhaps its best to emphasize, should you be new to the site, yes I am English, and yes the forum is English, so indeed there is a bias towards English chess history but please dont let that deter you as it does not pervade all questions.

n.b (1) not all can be copied over, a few exceptions have been ommitted due to material uncopiable (pics & puzzles mostly).

n.b (2) *** denotes McCready‘s favourite normally implying a question few, if any, know the answer to.

n.b (3) The dates of these trivia Q’s are June 24th 2013 to April 23rd 2025

Do be a good egg –no googling please!

  1. Which former world champion has a weapon named after him to describe a set-up he used with great effect in several notable games? 1
  2. The title of whose biography is an anagram of his name?2
  3. Who sang opera on the radio during the 53 candidates match in Zurich? 3
  4. What is the largest number of players a gambit, or opening for that matter, has been named after? 4
  5. Which individual who played (at least once) for the strong Middlesex side of the 1920s beat both Capablanca and Fischer (simul and tournament games)? I should add he also drew with Alekhine too (simul). 5
  6. Which English player tragically lost two wives (both players themselves) within a decade of one another last century? 6
  7. Major. E. Montague Jones was the long-standing headmaster of which school? 7
  8. Tal’s first victory as world champion was against which future unpopular character? 8
  9. Which country did Capablanca once claim to be ‘most suitable’ for producing chess players, courtesy of its ‘raw climate’? 9
  10. Who fought in the second world war under the name Lieutenant Cartier? 10
  11. Who once received an invite to the Cambridge – Oxford matches for past members, the first of which began on March 27th 1889, had his acceptance to play withdrawn by his doctor? He had the result telegraphed to him and sadly died less than 5 days after the match. ‘Some of his last conscious talk having been about the match’. 11
  12. The match score was 217.5 – 182.5. Can you name the English teams? 12
  13. I have another question, Who said this and which tournament was he referring to? ‘Oh, my tip to win this year’s tournament? Petrosian, not because he’s ex-world champion, but because he’s deaf.’ 13
  14. Who won the 1989 Hitchin Open? 14
  15. Who once wrote this and where was it published? ‘Cherished chess! The charms of thy checkered chambers chain me changelessly. Chaplains have chanted thy charming choiceness; chieftains have changed the chariot and the chase for the chaster chivalry of the chess-board, and the cheerier charge of the chess-knights. Chaste-eyed Caissa! For thee are the chaplets of chainless charity and the chalice of childlike cheerfulness. No chilling churl, no cheating chafferer, no chattering changeling, no chanting charlatan, can be thy champion; the chivalrous, the charitable, and the cheerful, are the chosen ones thou cherishest. Chance cannot change thee: from the cradle of childhood to the charnel-house, from our first childish chirpings to the chills of the church-yard, thou art our cheery, changeless chieftainess. Chastener of the churlish, chider of the changeable, cherisher of the chagrined, the chapter of thy chiliad of charms should be chanted by cherubic chimes, and chiseled on chalcedon in cherubic chirography.’ 15
  16. Which world class player, whose career spanned more than half a century, played a number of unconventional openings in his final tournament, including 1. g4 x2, 1. b4 x2 and 1. …a5? 16
  17. How do we connect these two words Liddell and Glass? 17
  18. Which brothers met for the first time in an olympiad? 18
  19. What was the stated reason why E. Germany refused to participate in the 74 Olympiad? 19
  20. Which world championship match had the largest animals in it (think of opening names)? 20
  21. Which GM first coined the -pejorative- phrase ‘Irish pawn centre’? 21
  22. How many former world chess champions have been put in prison? 22
  23. How many former varsity match competitors went on to be given a C.B.E by the queen? 23
  24. What was the first chess book in English called and who printed it? 24
  25. Who was the first Pope to compose and publish chess problems? 25
  26. *** Who is the only player to have played both former world champions Lasker and Karpov at classical chess only? *** 26
  27. Which UK country has the oldest chess association? 27
  28. Which county in England was the first to form a chess association and in which year? 28
  29. Which champion of Bedford Chess club went on to become champion of South Africa? 29
  30. The bishop of which island nation, telegraphed his absence to the British Championship in its second week in 1908? 30
  31. In which town/city did Blackburne perform a simul on November 4th 1880? 31
  32. The president of which chess association once lived in a country estate at Rempstone Hall? 32
  33. Which former titled player’s attitude towards chess was commonly described as ‘Forward, into battle!’ by not only his student, and quite soon to be world champion, but just about everyone else too! 33
  34. In which university was the final of the national county championships held in 91? 34
  35. What, at Repstone Hall Nottingham 1936, was Lasker caught engrossed with but then strongly objected to being photographed with, abruptly casting that in his possession to one side to avoid being associated with it? 35
  36. In the winter of 48/49 an all-Russian tournament for which type of worker attracted 103,000 entrants? 36
  37. Who, in 1937, was told by a jolly Communist Propaganda Department official in Kiev that his failure to participate regularly at chess events might be held against him and interpreted in a way that could be dangerous? 37
  38. Who, in 1735, wrote the book Noble game of chess? 38
  39. Which was the first newspaper in England to have a column devoted to chess? 39
  40. Which contest began its tenure with the winners reported as being awarded a trophy by Sir George Newnes, valued at £200 in its day? 40
  41. What was discovered in 1831 and where? 41
  42. Which British post punk rock/80s rock/pop band wrote a song about chess? 42
  43. Who was the only Englishman to become a Grandmaster in 1994? 43
  44. *** Sincere apologies for slipping in a rather cryptic question but which noted chess historian had the following briefly inter-related in his life: the great depression, holy river & hound of the plain, a black horse, and a preference to shop at Sainsburys? *** 44
  45. Which counties have the river chess flowing through it? 45
  46. In which of Shakespeare’s play does he take the term stalemate and use it creatively as thus: ‘it is your will to make a stale of me among these mates’? 46
  47. Which former world champion was born in a place which is now part of Poland? 47
  48. Which, you could say avant-garde, British band released a single in the very early 80s where the video depicts numerous shots of someone sitting at a chess board before a game commences which remains central to the whole video? 48
  49. Which somewhat satirical, and at times a bit silly, British 80s band who sometimes made it into the charts, once released a song about their experience of playing chess online? 49
  50. According to IM Lawence Trent in the discontinued podcast The Full English Breakfast (The F.E.B), which former world champion was once banned from eating croissants by his wife? 50
  51. The establishment of the famed Westminster club in London came about by whose efforts in 1831? 51
  52. Tumbling clocks were introduced in which London tournament and what did they replace? 52
  53. Which British player once had his chess playing ability characterised as ‘his hobby is lion killing’ by a well known author and columnist? 53
  54. Which ‘old master’ has become noted for the following: if his opponent came late to the board he would take note of the minutes late then subtract them from his own clock! 54
  55. Which well known 20th century academic is noted to have drawn comparisons between chess and the syntax of language? 55
  56. Why is the number 18 million, million, million known in chess? 56
  57. Which of Shakespeare’s plays contains a scene with a game of chess being played in a boat in it? 57
  58. What was the name of the first recorded chess cafe in England? 58
  59. After which international tournament did it then become common practice to score draws as half a point in all play all tournaments? 59
  60. which was the first country in Asia that England first had telegraph matches with? 60
  61. In our era the term ‘accumulation of small advantages’ is commonly attributed to Karpov, particularly by his contemporaries but who was the term originally attributed to? 61
  62. *** Which former president of the B.C.F enjoyed watching his son participate for Bermuda at an olympiad once? He scored 5/7 on board 1? *** 62
  63. On a day of rest during a celebrity team football match, Nigel Short scored from a penalty, awarded by referee Osvaldo Ardilles, but nonetheless was on the wrong side of a 3-9 loss. Who was the famous Soviet chess player that let those 9 goals in and had his goalkeeping exploits written about in The Guardian not to mention Chess Magazine and The British Chess Magazine? 63
  64. Which English future prime minister played in the Scottish Championship more than once, also played Capablanca and had an article written about his playing style by none other than Jacques Miesis, which was then published in the British Chess Magazine? 64
  65. Which gambit has more than one name, the latter attributed being the same name as a famous film? 65
  66. Which european did Tal once say had he been from the Soviet Union he would have been the world champion? 66
  67. Around the world, in languages where chess pieces are classified, what is the most common name for what we call ‘the rook’? 67
  68. Which is the only language that uses the term lähetti to describe one of the peices and which one? 68
  69. In which Arthur Conan Doyle story does Sherlock Holmes refer to a character who ‘excelled’ at chess? 69
  70. Which constellation in the starry sky was tacked onto the home city name of a group of chess players? What was the title they were given? 70
  71. Which dramacist once said ‘Life is too short for chess’? 71
  72. Who was the last Brit to play at the US Championships? 72
  73. Who has been both President of the Irish Chess Union and the Kent County Chess association and has also had a variant of chess named after him? 73
  74. Who wrote a novel about a variation of the Sicilian Defence in the 1960’s? 74
  75. In which film does Steve McQueen play Faye Dunaway at chess? (possibly a bit too easy this one) 75
  76. Which defence has a finger-slip variation in it and how did it acquire that name? 76
  77. *** Who is the only Englishmen to represent his country and who both suffered from Polio and received a C.B.E in the 1980s for his work dedicated towards that which he suffered from? *** 77
  78. Which was the only World championship match to be held in Africa? 78
  79. Which of celebrated director Ridley Scott’s films has the most chess in it? 79
  80. ***Was the Karpov Miles game featuring the St.George’s defence the first time a reigning ,or if not, future world champion had a game which he lost against recorded? If not Karpov, which world champion preceding him also has a loss against that opening also recorded? *** 80
  81. Who is the only former British Champion to write a book on 1.f4, or The Bird’s Opening if you like? 81
  82. Which player is remembered more for a severe medical complication at the board during a tournament, which shortly cost him his life, rather than a publication on a defence for black published in Russian? 82
  83. If we invert notation so that file comes before rank, for example 4f instead if f4, which then becomes the only example of such that also appears in a famous line in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet? 83
  84. Which Guy Ritchie film has a chess scene in it, and was anyone also English, consulted over it? 84
  85. Who is mentioned by Kasparov in one of his publications, as the inspiration behind the main character, in one of the most famous novels on chess? 85
  1. Alekhine ↩︎
  2. GM Tony Miles ‘It’s only me‘ ↩︎
  3. GM Vassily Smyslov ↩︎
  4. Albin-Chatard-Alekhine Attack in the French is a candidate. (unconfirmed) ↩︎
  5. Canadian Maurice Fox ↩︎
  6. R H S Stevenson ↩︎
  7. St. Alban’s School. He was head from 1902 and was one of the founders of the Officer Training Corps in public schools.
    Champion of the British Correspondence Chess Association in 1909. ↩︎
  8. Florencio Campomanes ↩︎
  9. England ↩︎
  10. Savielly Tartakower (or however it is spelt), serving under the Free French ↩︎
  11. Walter Parratt ↩︎
  12. North of the Thames vs South of the Thames, 24th September 1921 at Central Hall Westminster. ↩︎
  13. GM Tony Miles ↩︎
  14. GM Michael Adams ↩︎
  15. D. W. Fiske ↩︎
  16. GM Bent Larsen ↩︎
  17. Lewis Carroll ↩︎
  18. Dan Yanofsky from Canada apparently first met his brother, one J Janofsky, at the Buenos Aries Olympiad in 1939 ↩︎
  19. In fact the then DDR did not play any Olympiads between 1972 and 1988, though I suspect the likelihood of them then finishing behind W. Germany may have been more of a factor. ↩︎
  20. Spassky-Petrosian 1966 (The hippopotamus played twice). ↩︎
  21. GM Tony Miles, tripled isolated pawns on a central file and Tony Miles first referred to it in the Amsterdam Zonal tournament in 1978. ↩︎
  22. 3. Fischer, Kasparov and Alekhine (who apparently was to be shot at dawn.) ↩︎
  23. 8. T W Robbins, Hugh Alexander, Herbert Bewley, Brebis Bleaney, Denis Mardle, Joseph Smith, Sir Duncan Watson, Demis Hassabis ↩︎
  24. The Game And Playe Of The Chesse, Caxton ↩︎
  25. John Paul II ↩︎
  26. Reshevsky, the Polish protege. ↩︎
  27. 1884 Scotland ↩︎
  28. Yorkshire Chess Association, 1841 ↩︎
  29. Major Harry Duhan ↩︎
  30. Trinidad ↩︎
  31. Luton ↩︎
  32. J.N. Derbyshire ↩︎
  33. GM Tolusch ↩︎
  34. Aston University ↩︎
  35. A copy of the Berliner Tageblatt ↩︎
  36. Farm workers on collective farmsm D.J.Richards publication on Soviet Chess discusses it ↩︎
  37. Bohatyrchuk ↩︎
  38. Capt. Joseph Bertin ↩︎
  39. Liverpool Mercury (July 1813) ↩︎
  40. The Anglo -v- America Cable Matches which began in 1896 ↩︎
  41. The Isle of Lewis chess pieces. ↩︎
  42. Killing Joke and their song Chessboards. ↩︎
  43. Peter Wells ↩︎
  44. G. H. Diggle ↩︎
  45. Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. ↩︎
  46. The Taming Of The Shrew, Act I Scene 1 ↩︎
  47. Lasker ↩︎
  48. Maid of Orleans by Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. ↩︎
  49. Half Man Half Biscuit – Bad Losers on Yahoo Chess ↩︎
  50. Kramnik. ↩︎
  51. George Walker. ↩︎
  52. 1883 London and they replaced hourglasses ↩︎
  53. Hugh Alexander from The Delights of Chess by Heinrich Fraenkel. ↩︎
  54. Schlechter, ↩︎
  55. Wittgenstein. ↩︎
  56. The earliest versions of this story come from India and involve a man (the inventor of chess in some tellings), being offered a reward by a king, and asking that a single grain of wheat (rice, in some versions) be placed on the first square of a chessboard, two on the second, and each subsequent square having twice as many grains as the one before. In the story, the king generally laughs off such a reward as being trivial, but soon learns that the reward would be impossible to pay. Since a chessboard contains 64 squares, the final square would contain 2^63 (approximately 9.2 quintillion) grains. ↩︎
  57. The Tempest. ↩︎
  58. Old Slaughter’s Coffee House. ↩︎
  59. Dundee 1867. ↩︎
  60. India. ↩︎
  61. Steinitz. ↩︎
  62. W. A. Cordon (BCF President in 1978/79), his son Ian Cordon, played for Bermuda at the Olympiad in 1986 (Dubai) ↩︎
  63. Viktor Korchnoi. ↩︎
  64. Andrew Bonar Law. ↩︎
  65. The Maltese Falcon ↩︎
  66. GM Sergio Mariotti. ↩︎
  67. tower ↩︎
  68. Finnish. And it’s the bishop. ↩︎
  69. The Adventure of the Retired Colourman. ↩︎
  70. The Pleiades, who included Bilguer, Horwitz, and von der Lasa. ↩︎
  71. Henry James Byron. ↩︎
  72. GM Tony Miles. ↩︎
  73. Lord Dunsany. ↩︎
  74. Anthony Glyn – The Dragon Variation. ↩︎
  75. The Thomas Crown Affair. ↩︎
  76. This move had its introduction into master play as the result of a fingerslip by Alekhine against Flohr, at Nottingham in 1936. pparently it’s a line in the Frence Defence, Winawer variation. ↩︎
  77. Denis Mardle ↩︎
  78. Adams v Kasimdzhanov 2004 ↩︎
  79. Blade Runner. ↩︎
  80. No. Steinitz vs John Baker in 1868. ↩︎
  81. Broadbent. ↩︎
  82. Bagirov ↩︎
  83. 2b or not 2b -that is the question. ↩︎
  84. The film was “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”. The game used was Larsen vs Petrosian, 1966, where Larsen sacced his queen:the chess consultant was Adam Raoof ↩︎
  85. Curt von Bardeleben, who was the inspiration for the character Luzhin in Nabakov’s The Luzhin Defense. ↩︎

Mark. J. McCready

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3121 days on…

Posted in On-line journal, Trivia on April 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »

October 9th 2016 has come and gone…

Pre-accident McCready‘s last trivia Q was…

Post-accident McCready‘s first trivia Q was…

Mark. J. McCready, 5.50 pm, Saturday April 26th 2025,

Bogota, Colombia

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Bedfordshire Chess Trivia Quiz -the big, big 50

Posted in Bedfordshire Chess, Trivia on March 31, 2025| Leave a Comment »

‘Knowledge is power.‘ Francis Bacon, Meditationes Sacrae 1597

  1. Who is the only player to have developed and emerged from the Bedfordshire league to become British Chess Champion? 1
  2. Which player from Bedfordshire is the only one to have represented England in his heyday (excluding anyone at junior or senior level). 2
  3. Who, then rated 146th in the world; 23 ELO points and 31 places above future world champion Capablanca, according to the EDO Historical Chess Ratings, is the only person documented playing for Luton in the 19th century more than once. 3
  4. In which year did Northampton WMC (as it was then called) enter the Bedfordshire league? 4
  5. Which company entered a team in the Bedfordshire chess league, ran by FM Peter Gayson’s father and also employed retired Luton town footballing regend Joe Payne, noted for scoring more goals in a game (10) than any other player in the history of English football? 5
  6. How many former county champions have beaten former world champion Emmanuel Lasker? 6
  7. On record, how many had already become national champions before competing in the Bedfordshire league? 7
  8. What was unusual about Division 1 of the Beds. league in the 74/75 season? 8
  9. In which year did Bedford become national club champions? 9
  10. How many players who have played for teams & clubs in Bedfordshire have gone on to become president of the S.C.C.U? 10
  11. GM Michael Adams has the highest rating of any English player ELO 2761 and is generally considered to be the greatest English chess player ever, he was also British champion more 8 times. Two Bedfordshire based players have beaten him. Who are they? 11
  12. Who won Division 1 in 2012?12
  13. Who is the only British boys chess champion to have played in the Beds. league?13
  14. Who did IM Andy Ledger think was the best player/the most difficult to beat in the Beds. league during the 80s?14
  15. Who was the first titled player to participate in the Beds league? 15
  16. Who is the only player to compete in the Beds. league for a number of seasons, who also went onto become champion of South Africa? 16
  17. The fastest game recorded in chesss history occured at Luton High Town Recreactional Centre between GM Tony Miles and Stewart Reuben, 1. Draw. How much did that prearranged draw earn GM Tony Miles for achieving 1st place, classifying him as that outright winner? 17
  18. Which team captain had by far the longest hair in the Beds league, having not cut it for over six years in the 90s? 18
  19. When reigning world champion Anatoly Karpov played the top 20 juniors England had, one of them came from Bedfordshire, Dunstable more specifically. Who was he?19
  20. Who is the only former county champion who played for Northampton? 20
  21. Who, whilst playing for Vauxhall in Luton, entered the club, was abruptly taken outside, then seconds later got beaten up in the snowy car park? 21
  22. How many teams that lay outside Bedfordhire have participated in the Bedfordshire League? 22
  23. Who is the only Bedfordshire born and chess player who went onto receive a C.B.E in 1988? 23
  24. In which year did Bedford Modern School reach the final of the National Schools Championships, and who did they lose to? 24
  25. Which European world class player (no ELO back then) associated with hypermodernism, once performed a simul in Luton blindfold, winning all fourteen games on January 25th 1923, the date cited in the reportage. An account one day out can be found on pg. 15 of Chess in Bedfordshire (1933) Dickens&White. 25
  26. Which was the last chess club in Bedfordshire to be left with no playing premises of their own, and were left to share the venue of another club in the league 26
  27. Yours truly, attempting to be facetious, once claimed Milton Keynes often won Division 1 because navigating around that city was more difficult than chess itself, leaving opponents mentally exhausted upon arrival before play began. True or false? 27
  28. Canadian GM Suttles performed a simul at which club in Luton in the early 70s? 28
  29. Who is the only Bedfordshire born and based player who participated at the chess olympiad in both 1986 and 1988? And who did he represent? 29
  30. In which year did the Bedfordshire League become named so by incorporating teams from around the league so that all teams competed in the same league and were no longer subject to the north/south divide preceeding? 30
  31. In which three consecutive years did Bedfordshire achieve national success courtesy of both county chess teams, and unsurprisingly, the success of our most successful protégé? 31
  32. Paul Habershon was a teacher at Bedford Modern School and also played for the chess team. Who was the other teacher also an established team member for many years? 32
  33. Leighton Buzzard’s doorsteps were once sadly darkened by which former British champion, who won a quickplay held in Bossard Hall before he infamously fled the country? And in which year? 33
  34. When was the Bedfordshire Chess Association formed? 34
  35. Who, known primarily for Newsflash, was the first to frequently write about chess in Luton & Bedfordshire in circulations published nationally, and which bank was he the manager of in Luton? 35
  36. Courtesy of the tail end of the industrial revolution, as it’s commonly referred to, the ensuing development of a rail network made it easier for clubs within Bedfordshire to play those in neighbouring counties, in particular Hertfordshire. What was the name of the neutral venue where a club from both Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire met to play, but used different rail lines to arrive at the venue betwixt them both? 36
  37. Who is the only GM to have performed a simul in Luton twice and at the time had a 100% record against the current world champion Gary Kasparov. 37
  38. Which former junior county champion also participated in the Beds. league with his mother, who was active for many years? 38
  39. In the 1901 Anglo-American cable match, William Ward, who is documented playing for Luton before becoming champion of London countless time over, beat which prominent American player, who took on world champions along with the very best in the world throughout much of his career? 39
  40. Which was the last team to participate in the Bedfordshire Chess League with an ordinal number in its name? 40
  41. What was the name of Bedfordshire’s only noted problemist? 41
  42. Which two appeared on the same popular teatime Channel 4 tv gameshow? 42
  43. Which most unfortunate Bedfordshire based player is remembered for an all too harrowing end to a visit to his club, making him the only one who’s night involved, more than some friendlies, plenty of pints (hence his nickname), as well as being thrown through a windshield of a taxi into a bush on his way home. What was his nickname also? 43
  44. Which two appeared in quiz shows on tv; one shown on BBC2, the other on ITV? 44
  45. Who was head of the Stopsley school league team (Luton) and went onto to become a prominent member of the Bedfordshire Chess Association? 45
  46. Which trophy did Bedfordshire once retain for 10 years last milennium? 46
  47. Who won the second division in 2022? 47
  48. Who has become county champion more times then anyone else? 48
  49. Who wrote the longest running column for chess in Bedfordshire? 49
  50. Who won Div 1 in 2024? 50

All 50 questions, which should you seek the footnoted answers below will, I hope, broaden your understanding of Bedfordshire Chess Present & History greatly. All scores are welcome in the comments also. The primary purpose here is not so those attempting the quiz can answer all Qs. correctly but rather the questions will inspire those reading to seek the answer (footnoted) below.

An addendum: anything I have missed which should have been included do suggest (I will modify), the questions being too hard or not seemingly of no importance (please say so), any other suggestions and criciticisms are graciously accepted. This is a fun way to improve your understanding of the History of Bedfordshire Chess. The questions have been carefully chosen.

Mark. J. McCready

08.41, Monday, March 31st, Bogota, Colombia.

  1. GM James Plaskett ↩︎
  2. Dennis Victor Mardle https://mccreadyandchess.co.uk/2024/03/08/toms-old-friend-plays-for-england/ ↩︎
  3. William Ward http://www.edochess.ca/years/y1896.html ↩︎
  4. 1987 ↩︎
  5. Electrolux. FM Peter Gayson’s father set that club up and worked with record breaking footballer Joe Payne. https://mccreadyandchess.co.uk/2023/10/28/from-fridges-to-footballers-to-fun-over-the-board-and-the-odd-fight/ ↩︎
  6. 2 https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter85.html https://mccreadyandchess.co.uk/2015/01/23/when-lasker-came-to-luton/ ↩︎
  7. 2 IM (at the time) Sergio Mariotti (Italy) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Mariotti Donald Curtis (Wales), https://mccreadyandchess.co.uk/2024/10/08/our-welsh-champion-from-yesteryear/ ↩︎
  8. It was the only time it was won by a school. B.M.S. ↩︎
  9. 2001 https://sccu-chess.com/archive/0001/nc.htm ↩︎
  10. 4 William Ward (1910-1911), R.H. Rushton (1928-1929), Tom Sweby (1954-1955), and Sandy Cordon (1974-1975) ↩︎
  11. GM James Plaskett (friendly Leeds and FM Gary Kenworthy (quickplay Spalding) ↩︎
  12. Bedford http://www.adrianelwin.co.uk/Bedfordshire/LeaguePreviousWinners.html ↩︎
  13. J. M. Craddock https://mccreadyandchess.co.uk/2023/12/17/a-stand-out-figure-from-the-50s/ ↩︎
  14. Andrew Perkins ↩︎
  15. IM Sergio Mariotti (played in the Beds. league in 70-71, however, he became a GM in 74 ↩︎
  16. Major. Harry Duhan https://mccreadyandchess.co.uk/2016/02/12/our-clash-of-future-champions/ ↩︎
  17. £200 ↩︎
  18. Luton’s most handsome chess player aka Marcus McCreadus (also known to be a bit rubbish 😦 ↩︎
  19. Colin Garwood https://mccreadyandchess.co.uk/2023/11/21/garwood-v-karpov/ ↩︎
  20. Paul Pribanich http://www.adrianelwin.co.uk/Bedfordshire/PreviousCountyChamps.html ↩︎
  21. Vauxhall was based in Luton of course. The league player in question was Marcus Dunne. ↩︎
  22. 6 Scion, Bletchley, Milton Keynes, Open University, Northampton, Rushden ↩︎
  23. Dennis Victor Mardle for his work on Polio, which he suffered from ↩︎
  24. 1973/1974 Southern GS, Portsmouth
    ↩︎
  25. Reti ↩︎
  26. Luton ↩︎
  27. True ↩︎
  28. Electrolux ↩︎
  29. Ian Corden, Bermuda https://mccreadyandchess.co.uk/2024/10/06/olympiad-success/ ↩︎
  30. 1952 ↩︎
  31. 1990, 1991, 1992 ↩︎
  32. 2 ↩︎
  33. Brian Eley 1984 ↩︎
  34. 1922 ↩︎
  35. G. H. Diggle ↩︎
  36. St. Albans – Luton v Watford https://mccreadyandchess.co.uk/2024/05/02/w-ward-plays-for-luton/ ↩︎
  37. GM Murray Chandler ↩︎
  38. Simon Roe (his mother was Margret Roe) ↩︎
  39. F. D. Marshall ↩︎
  40. Luton VIth Form College ↩︎
  41. Bramwell Hirst ↩︎
  42. FM Dave Ledger and Paul Habershon in Countdown. ↩︎
  43. Pat Foley aka ‘Pisshead Pat’ ↩︎
  44. Colin Garwood and GM James Plaskett ↩︎
  45. Brian Cox ↩︎
  46. The Fleming Trophy ↩︎
  47. Leighton Buzzard B ↩︎
  48. Steven Ledger ↩︎
  49. ‘old’ Tom Sweby ↩︎
  50. Leighton Buzzard A https://lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/event/4157/table ↩︎

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Who Wants to be a Millionaire chess special 4

Posted in Trivia, Who wants to be a millionaire chess special, tagged , , , , on December 16, 2024| 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 sits aside both the king and queen at the start of the game?

A: Pawn

B: Bishop

C: Knight

D: Rook

Question 2 £200

Which of these is not an example of under-promotion?

A: promoting a pawn to a queen.

B: promoting a pawn to a knight.

C: promoting a pawn to a bishop.

D: promoting a pawn to a rook.

Question 3 £300

The term zwischenzug means what in chess?

A: an announcement of stalemate.

B: an inability to make any good moves

C: an adjustment of a piece

D: an in-between move

Question 4 £400

Which former world champion has a term involving a weapon named after him?

A: Steinitz

B: Lasker

C: Alekhine

D: Kasparov

Question 5 £500

Which maneuver can be classified as artificial or by hand?

A: castling

B: double check

C: pawn promotion

D: en passant

Question 6 £1,000

After 1. d4 is played, if black then plays 1. …b5, this is known as what?

A: The Czech Defence

B: The Hungarian Defence

C: The Austrian Defence

D: The Polish Defence

Question 7 £2,000

The fifth official world champion was from which country?

A: Germany

B: The Netherlands

C: Cuba

D: The Soviet Union

Question 8 £4,000

Former world champion Magnus Carlsen’s real first name is not Magnus but what?

A: Henrick

B: Oscar

C: Sven

D: Per

Question 9 £8,000

How many non-european presidents has F.I.D.E had?

A: 1

B: 2

C: 3

D: 4

Question 10 £16,000

Sans Voir is a term which refers to what?

A: Blindfold chess

B: Kriegspiel

C: 960 chess

D: Bughouse chess

Question 11 £32,000

The F.I.D.E 2004 World Championship between Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Leko was held in which country?

A: Germany

B: Italy

C: Austria

D: Switzerland

Question 12 £64,000

Who was the world blitz champion of 2021?

A: Hikaru Nakamura

B: Magnus Carlsen

C: Maxime Vachier Lagrave

D: Sergey Karjakin

Question 13 £125,000

Who, in 1991, was the last player to become Soviet Union Chess Champion?

A: Evgeny Bareev

B: Artashes Minasian

C: Alexander Beliavsky

D: Garry Kasparov

Question 14 £250,000

According to rule 7.3 of the 2023 F.I.D.E rule book. If a game has started with colours reversed, what is the most amount of moves that can be played by both players before the game is discontinued and a new game restarted?

A: 9

B: 10

C: 11

D: 12

Question 15 £500,000

The celerbated problemist Genrikh Kasparyan, known to be one of the greatest end-game study problemists of all time, had which title in classical chess?

A: CM

B: FM

C: IM

D: GM

Question 16 £1,000,000

Who won the first World Open held in New York, 1973?

A: Bent Larsen

B: Pal Benko

C: John Fedorowicz

D: Walter Browne

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 chess special 4

Posted in Trivia, Who wants to be a millionaire chess special on December 16, 2024| Leave a Comment »

  1. B
  2. A
  3. D
  4. C
  5. A
  6. D
  7. B
  8. C
  9. B
  10. A
  11. D
  12. C
  13. B
  14. A
  15. C
  16. D

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Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Chess Special 3

Posted in Trivia, Who wants to be a millionaire chess special, tagged , , , , on December 1, 2024| 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

The only piece which cannot move backwards is which?

A: The Bishop

B: The King

C: The knight

D: The Pawn

Question 2 £200

The Persian term “shāh māt” refers to what in the modern term?

A: The king is in check.

B: The king has been checkmated.

C: The king has just castled short.

D: The king has been stalemated.

Question 3 £300

The third official world champion was whom?

A: Capablanca

B: Euwe

C: Alekhine

D: Lasker

Question 4 £400

In Bullet Chess, how long does a player have to make all their moves?

A: 30 seconds

B: 60 seconds

C: 120 seconds

D: 180 seconds

Question 5 £500

The controversial world championship match between Karpov and Kasparov which began in 1984 only to be stopped in 1985 after how many games were played?

A: 44

B: 46

C: 48

D: 50

Question 6 £1,000

The 47th Olympiad will be held in October 2028, in which city?

A: Abu Dhabi

B: Tashkent

C: London

D:New York

Question 7 £2,000

The Lucerna position is an endgame which is defined by which piece?

A: Knight

B: Bishop

C: Rook

D: Queen

Question 8 £4,000

The player once considered the greatest never to become world champion, Paul Keres, was born in and would be chosen to represent which county on today’s world map?

A: Russia

B: Latvia

C: Lithunia

D: Estonia

Question 9 £8,000

9. Which female world champion once lost her title to Xie Jun?

A: Maya Chiburdanidze

B: Irina Levantina

C: Hou Yifan

D: Judit Polgar

Question 10 £16,000
Bodens mate is carried out with which piece(s)?

A: Knights

B: Bishops

C: A rook

D: A queen

Question 11 £32,000

The Book A century of British Chess was written by whom?

A: J. H. Blackburne

B: H. E. Atkins

C: G. E. Thomas

D: P. W. Sargeant

Question 12 £64,000

“Some people think that if their opponent plays a beautiful game, it’s OK to lose. I don’t. You have to be merciless”. Is a quote from which contemporary player?

A: Wesley So

B: Hikaru Nakamura

C: Levon Aronin

D: Magus Carlsen

Question 13 £125,000

Despite being the strongest team the Soviets claimed to have ever faced. England at the 1988 Olmpiad lost to which lesser nation?

A: India

B: China

C: America

D: East. Germany

Question 14 £250,000

Fabiano Caruana’s peek rating was in classical chess came in October 2014. What was it?

A: 2024

B: 2034

C: 2044

D: 2054

Question 15 £500,000

In which city was a tournament abandoned due to the onset of WW1?

A: London

B. Mannheim

C. Manchester

D. Berlin

Question 16 £1,000,000

Who is the only player to play both Lasker and Karpov at classical chess (simuls cannot be counted)?

A: Botvinnik

B: Smyslov

C: Reshevsky

D: Najdorf

There was are. This bring to a conclusion the third of three such attempts. Please don’t feel dishearted that you didn’t win money and get on tv -it was fun right? Do tell me how you got on.

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Answers to Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? Chess special 3

Posted in Trivia, Who wants to be a millionaire chess special on December 1, 2024| Leave a Comment »

1.D

2.B

3.A

4.B

5.C

6.A

7.C

8.D

9.A

10.B

11.D

12. A

13 C

14. B

15 B

16, C

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Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Chess Special 2

Posted in Trivia, Who wants to be a millionaire chess special on November 17, 2024| 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

The knight moves in a way that corresponds to which letter of the alphabet?

A: C-shape

B: J-shape

C: L-shape

D: W-shape

Question 2 £200

en passant involves the capture of what?

A: A Pawn

B: A Bishop

C: A Rook

D: A Knight

Question 3 £300

Scholar’s mate is known to be delivered in how many moves?

A: 2

B: 4

C: 6

D: 8

Question 4 £400

Which organization was formed in 1993 in order to rival FIDE?

A: BBC

B: NBA

C: ECF

D: PCA

Question 5 £500

The mechanical what was invented in the 18th century and claimed to be the first chess engine/machine?

A: The mechanical Italian

B: The mechinical Swede

C: The mechanical Greek

D: The mechanical Turk

Question 6 £1,000

The Game and Playe of the Chesse was printed in which century by William Caxton?

A: 13th century

B: 15th century

C: 17th century

D: 19th century

Question 7 £2,000

Who wrote an autobiography entitled ‘Achieving the Aim’?

A: V. Smyslov

B: Y. Averbakh

C: M. Bovinnik

D: M. Taimanov

Question 8 £4000

Which variant of chess was invented in 1953 and took its name from the main character of a popular 19th century novel?

A: Alice chess

B: Phileas chess

C: Rebecca chess

D: Oliver chess

Question 9 £8000

Ding Liren was not the 1st Asian world champion. Which was he?

A: The 2nd

B: The 3rd

C: The 4th

D: The 5th

Question 10 £16,000

In which year did FIDE adopt the ELO rating system?

A: 1966

B: 1968

C: 1970

D: 1972

Question 11 £32,000

In Kasparov’s ‘Immortal Game’ in 1999 against GM Topalov in which he sacced a rook, what defence did Topalov adopt?

A: Pirc Defence

B: Caro-Kann

C: French Defence

D: Sicilian Defence

Question 12 £64,000

Which Dutch player once said the disapproved ‘”Chess is and will always be a game of chance.”

A: Jan Timman

B: Loek Van Der Wiel

C: Max Euwe

D: Jan Hein Donner

Question 13 £125,000

Which country has held the Chess Olympiad more than any other?

A: Germany

B: Russia

C: England

D: Phillipines

Question 14 £250,000

Who was the Soviet champion in 1971?

A: Petrosian

B: Savon

C: Stein

D: Karpov

Question 15 £500,000

Which world class American player’s death was described in The New York Times as an illness contracted by the over-exertion of his memory cells’?

A: F. D. Marshall

B: Harry Nelson Pilsbury

C: James Mason

D: Isaac Kashdan

Question 16 £1,000,000

Which of the following cities did the 1907 World Championship match between Lasker and Marshall not take place in?

A: New York

B: Philadelphia

C: Memphis

D: Boston

Mark. J. McCready

Mandalay

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Answers to Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? Chess special 2

Posted in Trivia, Who wants to be a millionaire chess special on November 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »

  1. C
  2. A
  3. B
  4. D
  5. B
  6. A
  7. C
  8. A
  9. B
  10. C
  11. A
  12. D
  13. A
  14. B
  15. B
  16. D

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Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Chess Special

Posted in Trivia, Who wants to be a millionaire chess special, tagged on October 30, 2024| 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

The term Stalemate refers to which piece?

A: The Bishop

B: The Queen

C: The King

D: The Rook

Question 2 £200

Which of these is usually the smallest in size when placed on a chessboard?

A: The Knight

B: The Queen

C: The Rook

D: The Pawn

Question 3 £300

Which chess piece has a numerical value above +4?

A: The Rook

B: The Knight

C: The Pawn

D: The Bishop

Question 4 £400

How many chess pieces can only move one square at a time, however, they are allowed to move two squares once only?

A: 1

B: 2

C: 3

D: 4

Question 5 £500

In which decade was FIDE formed?

A: 1910’s

B: 1920’s

C: 1930’s

D: 1940’s

Question 6 £1,000

Who was the world champion at the turn of the 20th century?

A: Rubinstein

B: Lasker

C: Steinitz

D: Capablanca

Question 7 £2,000

Magnus Carlsen had his 125 game unbeaten streak ended by who in the fifth round of the 2020 Norway Chess Classic?

A: GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda

B: GM Fabiano Caruana

C: GM Levon Aronian

D: GM Alireza Firouzja 

Question 8 £4,000

In which country was the first official Chess Olympiad held in 1927?

A: France

B: Hungary

C: The Netherlands

D: England

Question 9 £8,000

Which famous player once said ‘Chess is a fairytale of 1001 blunders?’

A: Savielly Tartakower

B: Max Euwe

C: Siegbert Tarrasch

D: Vasily Smyslov

Question 10 £16,000

The Anglo-American cable matches were first held in which year?

A: 1894

B: 1896

C: 1898

D: 1900

Question 11 £32,000

The Soviet Chess Championships was won the most times by who of the following?

A: Anatoly Karpov

B: Tigran Petrosian

C: Leonard Stein

D: Paul Keres

Question 12 £64,000

In which German city did the 2008 World Championship Match between Anand v Kramnik take place?

A: Bonn

B: Berlin

C: Hamburg

D: Cologne

Question 13 £125,000

How many times has Hou Yifan been the Women’s World Champion?

A: 1

B: 2

C: 3

D: 4

Question 14 £250,000

Which prominent 19th century player spent many years playing chess in India, and made a large financial contribution to the famous 1851 London Chess Tournament, making him a major benefactor?

A: Alexander McDonnell

B: John Jacob Löwenthal

C: Hugh Alexander Kennedy

D: John Cochrane

Question 15 £500,000

FIDE recognized and inaugurated the World Blitz Championships in 2006, who was the first champion?

A: Alexander Grischuk

B: Vasyl Ivanchuk

C: Peter Svidler 

D: Viswanathan Anand

Question 16 £1,000,000

Which of the following openings does not have a defence, an attack, a gambit or a variation named after former world champion Wilhelm Steinitz?

A: The Petrov Defence

B: The Bishop’s Opening

C: The Philidor’s Defence

D: The Vienna Game

Answers may be found in the post below, and yes they have all been carefully researched.

Mark. J. McCready

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