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Chess Pub Quiz 2019
April 16, 2019
The 2019 Reykjavik Open Pub Quiz was held on Friday, April 12th. The Quiz has become an essential part of the Open and always has a very nice turnout.
Previous winners of the event include Magnus Carlsen who won with the team “MC Hammer” along with his childhood friend Jon Ludvig Hammer.
The Quiz always has questions about chess, chess culture, chess history and recent events. The winners this year managed to rack up an impressive 25.5 points but most of the other teams were around 18-20 correct answers.
Nils Grandelius a former winner didn’t find his form this team with his girlfriend Ellen and team GrandEllen didn’t manage a second victory in the quiz. Despite being a second in the Carlsen-Caruana match the team failed a question on a game from the match. A lot of laughter was shared when Nils claimed that he was asleep when the actual games were played so he was excused!
The most trouble seemed to be had when some celebrities were shown who shared a high school with a famous player and also on the question about a move director who had chess scenes in at least two of his movies.
In recent years the event has always been won by one of our foreign guests so this time, along with a gift from the chess book store, the cup for the win was of actual Icelandic lava which is a nice commemorative piece to take away from Iceland. The Icelandic team of Adalsteinn Thorarensen (multiple 2nd and 3rd place finisher) and his younger teammate Gauti Pall Jonsson proved to be the correct mixture of knowledge to capture the win. The team called itself “Mjófirðingar” which roughly translates to a thin fjord, which is the name of a fjord from where their ancestors are.
If you want to test yourself and see how you did compared to the winners then here is the Quiz.
The best thing to do is to find a partner to do the quiz with or to take it into the club and form a couple of teams. I shall give the answers on Friday, April 19.
There are 30 questions.
1. Who won the Reykjavik Open in 2018?
2. Who is this champion of the past?
Clue: He won the Evergreen Game in 1852
3. White just played 4. Bg5 in the Nimzo-Indian. What is this variation of the Nimzo called?
4. Who is the current European Chess Champion and where was the tournament held in 2019 where he captured the title?
5. White just played 4. Nxe5 What is the name of this crazy Gambit line?
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nxe5
6.Mr ??????? was operated on at the Presbyterian Hospital, Philadelphia on 27 March, and a few days later, while in a high fever, he tried to jump from a fourth story window. He was finally controlled and returned to bed.”
Who was this American chess player?
7. Fabiano Caruana earned his right to challenge Magnus Carlsen with a very nice performance at the Candidates tournament in Berlin. Who were the other 7 players that played in the Candidates tournament? (you need to have all the names for a full point)
8. Kasparov’s glorious classical chess career came to an end in 2005 at the Linares tournament. The normally dominant Kasparov uncharacteristically lost his last game in a rather strange fashion without much of a fight. Who was Kasparov’s opponent in this last game?
9. He was the first player to earn the Grandmaster title for his country. He earned his title at a tournament in Dubna in Russia. He later became a world class player and his career included several wins against World champions. His most famous or signature moment however was a win where he employed a very unusual opening against a very high caliber opponent. Who is he?
10. These are big chess YouTube channels:
John Bartholomew, Agadmator and Chessbrah.
Give the order from most subscribers to the least.
11. Who said this about Alekhine:
“Alekhine is a player I’ve never really understood; yet, strangely, if you’ve seen one Alekhine game you’ve seen them all. He always wanted a superior center; he maneuvered his pieces toward the King side, and around the twenty-fifth move began to mate his opponent. He disliked exchanges, preferring to play with many pieces on the board. His play was fantastically complicated, more so than any player before or since.”
12.
a) What name does this game go by in chess history?
b) What move did white play here?
13. Kasparov and Karpov, the two K’s played an incredible 5 World Championship matches. The last one was played in 1990. The match was split between two cities. What two cities hosted the 1990 World Championship match?
14. Between 1951 and 1969 a total of 9 World Championship matches were held. How many of those matches were held in Moscow?
15.
This is a position from the Carlsen-Caruana WC match in 2018. Caruana with black could have produced a study like win on the 68th move.
What was the winning move in the position and which game (number) was this in the match?
16. (photo) This is Grandmaster Vladislav Kovalev. He is a strong player with a peak rating over 2700. But where is he from?
17. (three photos) These three famous people All went to the same high school as a famous chess player. Who was the famous player Name one of these people.
Clue: The photos are of Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand and Michael Rappaport.
Instead of answering the identities of the photos, name the famous chess player and give the name of the high school.
18. How many players have held the #1 ranking on the FIDE rating list since its inception in 1971 and please name them all!
19. These photos are of Reshevsky (left) Tarrasch (right) and Tartakower (middle) Arrange these players in the order from when they were born (oldest first)
20. An old, past-his-prime Grandmaster had this position in Gibraltar in 2011. At the same tournament he defeated Fabiano Caruana and then had a killer blow in this position against Paco Vallejo.
Who is this player?
What move did he miss in the position?
(continued on next post in this thread)
April 16, 2019
The 2019 Reykjavik Open Pub Quiz was held on Friday, April 12th. The Quiz has become an essential part of the Open and always has a very nice turnout.
Previous winners of the event include Magnus Carlsen who won with the team “MC Hammer” along with his childhood friend Jon Ludvig Hammer.
The Quiz always has questions about chess, chess culture, chess history and recent events. The winners this year managed to rack up an impressive 25.5 points but most of the other teams were around 18-20 correct answers.
Nils Grandelius a former winner didn’t find his form this team with his girlfriend Ellen and team GrandEllen didn’t manage a second victory in the quiz. Despite being a second in the Carlsen-Caruana match the team failed a question on a game from the match. A lot of laughter was shared when Nils claimed that he was asleep when the actual games were played so he was excused!
The most trouble seemed to be had when some celebrities were shown who shared a high school with a famous player and also on the question about a move director who had chess scenes in at least two of his movies.
In recent years the event has always been won by one of our foreign guests so this time, along with a gift from the chess book store, the cup for the win was of actual Icelandic lava which is a nice commemorative piece to take away from Iceland. The Icelandic team of Adalsteinn Thorarensen (multiple 2nd and 3rd place finisher) and his younger teammate Gauti Pall Jonsson proved to be the correct mixture of knowledge to capture the win. The team called itself “Mjófirðingar” which roughly translates to a thin fjord, which is the name of a fjord from where their ancestors are.
If you want to test yourself and see how you did compared to the winners then here is the Quiz.
The best thing to do is to find a partner to do the quiz with or to take it into the club and form a couple of teams. I shall give the answers on Friday, April 19.
There are 30 questions.
1. Who won the Reykjavik Open in 2018?
2. Who is this champion of the past?
Clue: He won the Evergreen Game in 1852
3. White just played 4. Bg5 in the Nimzo-Indian. What is this variation of the Nimzo called?
4. Who is the current European Chess Champion and where was the tournament held in 2019 where he captured the title?
5. White just played 4. Nxe5 What is the name of this crazy Gambit line?
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nxe5
6.Mr ??????? was operated on at the Presbyterian Hospital, Philadelphia on 27 March, and a few days later, while in a high fever, he tried to jump from a fourth story window. He was finally controlled and returned to bed.”
Who was this American chess player?
7. Fabiano Caruana earned his right to challenge Magnus Carlsen with a very nice performance at the Candidates tournament in Berlin. Who were the other 7 players that played in the Candidates tournament? (you need to have all the names for a full point)
8. Kasparov’s glorious classical chess career came to an end in 2005 at the Linares tournament. The normally dominant Kasparov uncharacteristically lost his last game in a rather strange fashion without much of a fight. Who was Kasparov’s opponent in this last game?
9. He was the first player to earn the Grandmaster title for his country. He earned his title at a tournament in Dubna in Russia. He later became a world class player and his career included several wins against World champions. His most famous or signature moment however was a win where he employed a very unusual opening against a very high caliber opponent. Who is he?
10. These are big chess YouTube channels:
John Bartholomew, Agadmator and Chessbrah.
Give the order from most subscribers to the least.
11. Who said this about Alekhine:
“Alekhine is a player I’ve never really understood; yet, strangely, if you’ve seen one Alekhine game you’ve seen them all. He always wanted a superior center; he maneuvered his pieces toward the King side, and around the twenty-fifth move began to mate his opponent. He disliked exchanges, preferring to play with many pieces on the board. His play was fantastically complicated, more so than any player before or since.”
12.
a) What name does this game go by in chess history?
b) What move did white play here?
13. Kasparov and Karpov, the two K’s played an incredible 5 World Championship matches. The last one was played in 1990. The match was split between two cities. What two cities hosted the 1990 World Championship match?
14. Between 1951 and 1969 a total of 9 World Championship matches were held. How many of those matches were held in Moscow?
15.
This is a position from the Carlsen-Caruana WC match in 2018. Caruana with black could have produced a study like win on the 68th move.
What was the winning move in the position and which game (number) was this in the match?
16. (photo) This is Grandmaster Vladislav Kovalev. He is a strong player with a peak rating over 2700. But where is he from?
17. (three photos) These three famous people All went to the same high school as a famous chess player. Who was the famous player Name one of these people.
Clue: The photos are of Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand and Michael Rappaport.
Instead of answering the identities of the photos, name the famous chess player and give the name of the high school.
18. How many players have held the #1 ranking on the FIDE rating list since its inception in 1971 and please name them all!
19. These photos are of Reshevsky (left) Tarrasch (right) and Tartakower (middle) Arrange these players in the order from when they were born (oldest first)
20. An old, past-his-prime Grandmaster had this position in Gibraltar in 2011. At the same tournament he defeated Fabiano Caruana and then had a killer blow in this position against Paco Vallejo.
Who is this player?
What move did he miss in the position?
(continued on next post in this thread)
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