(1) For a time in the
1880s Emanuel and Berthold Lasker were
never at the chess cafe
(where they earned a substantial
part of their money) at the same
time. This was because:
(a) They hated one
another.
(b) They had only one decent pair of pants between
them.
(c) As a medical student Berthold went to classes
in
the daytime.
(d) The club director said that "Two
Laskers is a Lasker
too many".
(e) All of the
above
Answer: b, source Harnack’s bio of
Lasker
(2) Botvinnik once said that he envied
Vidmar’s
(a) Height
(b) Living outside of the
USSR
(c) Engineering skill
(d) Endgame
skill
(e) Command of English
Answer:
c
(3) Which of the following were active chess
players?
(a) Stanley Kubrick
(b) William
Windom
(c) Humphrey Bogart
(d) Alan Turing
(e)
All of the above
Answer: e. Source, (a) and (c) from
Chess Life,
(b) I saw at a chess lecture, (d) from Andrew
Hodges’
biography of Turing.
(4) Several chess
masters participated in the decoding
of the German "Enigma"
machines in World War Two. Two
of them were:
(a) Max
Euwe and Ruben Fine
(b) C.H. O’D Alexander and Harry
Golombek
(c) William Winter and Ruben Fine
(d) Charles
Kalme and F. D. Yates
(e) Sir George Thomas and R.H.V.
Scott
Answer (b) from Hodges as
well.
(5) When Efim Bogoluybov arrived at his
hotel for the
Nottingham 1936 event he was asked what his room
reservation
was. He is said to have replied:
(a)
204
(b) I need no reservation, I am Bogolyubov!
(c)
What is a reservation?
(d) Beer.
(e)
P-K4
Answer (d)
(6) In the early
1950s Spassky swore there was one thing
he would never again do
after losing a chess game. It
was to:
(a)
cry
(b) call his opponent a
@)*#&)@#^^%^++&
(c) get drunk
(d) lose a
night’s sleep
(e) play for a risky attack in the next
game
Answer (a) from Chess Life 1970 and other
sources.
(7) Chess was not Keres’ only skill. He was also
an
expert
(a) Mathematician
(b) Poker
player
(c) Auto mechanic
(d) Engineer
(e)
Woodworker
Answer (c) according to
Tal
(8) The nation with the largest number of
native-born GMs per
capita is
(a) Russia
(b)
Armenia
(c) England
(d) Iceland
(e)
Monaco
Answer (d)
(9) Only one player
has held both the Soviet and united
German championships. This
was:
(a) Yusupov
(b) Karpov
(c)
Khalifman
(d) Gulko
(e) Bogolyubov
Answer
(e)
(10) Only one player has held both the Soviet and
US
championships. This was:
(a)
Bogolyubov
(b) Yermolinski
(c) Gulko
(d)
Dzindzihashvilli
(e) Alburt
Answer
(c)
(11) Norwegian GM Simen Agdestein is a professional
football
(soccer) player. What other strong chess player
was
internationally ranked in a sport?
(a)
Capablanca
(b) Sir George Thomas
(c) Sultan
Kahn
(d) Edward Lasker
(e) none of the
above
Answer (b) - Sir George Thomas at lawn
tennis/badminton
(12) According to legend, J.H.
Blackburne once won
by:
(a) Threatening
violence
(b) "Checking" an opponent with his own
bishop
(c) Stealing his opponent’s drink
(d) all of
the above
(e) both (b) and (c)
Answer (e)
various sources
(13) According to Edward Lasker, Master
Schottlander
once said to his wife:
(a) Let
them eat cake
(b) Honi soit qui mal y pense
(c) We
have nothing to fear but fear itself
(d) Steinitz is a
patzer
(e) If one of us dies I think I’ll move to
Berlin
Answer (e)
(14) At the turn of the
century, GM Kurt von Bardeleben
used to support himself largely
by
(a) Prizes in tournaments
(b)
Simultaneous exhibitions
(c) Journalism
(d) Frequent
marriages
(e) Giving private chess
lessons
Answer (d) Again from Edward
Lasker.
(15) After about 40 years as a
professional chessplayer
Blackburne estimated that he had played
how many games?
(a) 2,500
(b) 5,000
(c)
50,000
(d) 100,000
(e) Blackburne didn’t play for 40
years
Answer (c)
(16) Tartakower once said
that the source of his inspiration
for the move 1.b4, played
against Maroczy at New York, 1924 was:
(a) a
dream
(b) something he had seen in a Dutch chess
magazine
(c) A conversation with a primate at the
zoo
(d) He meant to play c4 and touched the wrong
pawn
(e) Tartakower never played 1.b4
Answer (c)
(Hence the name “Orangutan Opening.” An old story but
fun.)
(17) Who was known as the "Little
Capablanca"?
(a) Jose Capablanca, Jr.
(b)
Alexander Alekhine
(c) Carlos Torre
(d) Isaac
Kashdan
(e) Ruben Fine
Answer (d). Many seem to
think (e). Kashdan is rather
unfairly
neglected.
(18) Many great players have been
amateurs, making
their living as artists, writers, scientists
or
lawyers. Which of the following was both a master
level
chess player and a politician?
(a) Lord Randolph
Churchill
(b) Ernst Falkbeer
(c) Pierre Charles
Fournier de Saint-Amant
(d) Marmaduke Wyvill
(e) Al
Gore
Answer (d) (Though Al Gore invented chess.)
St-Amant was
a diplomat.
(19) Fischer’s 6-0
scores vs Taimanov and Larsen are
famous. Two other world
champions also won non-title
matches with clean scores against
reputable opponents.
The champions were
(a) Tal and
Kasparov
(b) Capablanca and Steinitz
(c) Tal and
Alekhine
(d) Lasker and Smyslov
(e) Karpov and
Korchnoi
Answer (b) Capablanca vs Kostic, Steinitz vs
Blackburne
(20) John Grefe attributed his surprising win
of the
U. S. championship to
(a) Meditating on
the thoughts of the guru Mahara Ji
(b) Intensive openings
analysis
(c) luck
(d) an improvement in his
endgames
(e) Other players didn’t take him seriously until
too late
Answer (a)
(21) In US Championship
play, Walter Browne was known
for complaining
about
(a) the lighting
(b) the
lighting
(c) the lighting
(d) the lighting
(e)
all of the above
Answer (any)
(22) Bobby
Fischer won the US championship
(a) Six
times
(b) Seven times
(c) every time he
played
(d) every time he played except his first try at age
14
(e) ten times
Answer (c)
(23) Who
was the first American to be the official world
champion?
(a) Bobby Fischer
(b) Jose
Capablanca
(c) Harry Nelson Pillsbury
(d) Wilhelm
Steinitz
(e) Emanuel Lasker
Answer
(d)
(24) Who was the first Soviet
champion?
(a) Botvinnik
(b)
Alekhine
(c) Bogolyubov
(d) Romanovsky
(e)
Levenfish
Answer (b)
(25) Which of the
following players has won the most
interzonal
tournaments?
(a) Fischer
(b)
Bronstein
(c) Larsen
(d) Korchnoi
(e)
Spassky
Answer (c) Larsen. Tal also won
three.
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