Archive for the ‘Who wants to be a millionaire chess special’ Category

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 Millionnaire 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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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

Read Full Post »

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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