Chess on "Jeopardy"

**Brad Thomson** · Wednesday, 7th April, 2021, 09:32 PM

It was probably 25 or 30 years ago, maybe more, when I too saw chess questions as a category on Jeopardy. I recall getting them all correct, but I cannot recall now any of the answers. Age of course is setting in.

**Wayne Komer** · Wednesday, 7th April, 2021, 10:46 PM

Chess on “Jeopardy”

April 7, 2021

There have been over 500 questions about chess in the 37 years that Jeopardy! has been on television.

These are the category questions from the beginning until ten years ago:

THE CHESS CLUB $200: Traditionally, to resign a player tips over this piece
#3032, aired 1997-11-04 THE CHESS CLUB $400: The number of files on the board, it's the same as the number of ranks
#3032, aired 1997-11-04 THE CHESS CLUB $600: In chess, notation "x" means your piece has been captured & "ch" means you're in this
#3032, aired 1997-11-04 THE CHESS CLUB $800: It's the only piece that can't move to an adjacent square
#3032, aired 1997-11-04 THE CHESS CLUB $1000: In a Lewis Carroll book, Alice begins as one of these white pieces but later becomes a queen

#3421, aired 1999-06-21 CHESS MANIA $100: Before becoming a legend, this star of "The Maltese Falcon" hustled strangers at chess in NYC
#3421, aired 1999-06-21 CHESS MANIA $200: In some Asian countries the chess piece we call a bishop shares its name with this desert animal
#3421, aired 1999-06-21 CHESS MANIA $300: In 1997, at the age of 14 years, 2 months, France's Etienne Bacrot became the youngest one of these ever
#3421, aired 1999-06-21 CHESS MANIA $400: As late as the 16th century this special move involving the king was 2 turns, not just 1
#3421, aired 1999-06-21 CHESS MANIA $500: In the U.S. Chess Open at Columbus, Ohio in 1977, one of these named "Sneaky Pete" played

3628, aired 2000-05-17 CHESS NUTS $100: Neither player wins with this kind of "mate"
#3628, aired 2000-05-17 CHESS NUTS $200: The only chess move in which a player may move 2 of his own pieces at the same time
#3628, aired 2000-05-17 CHESS NUTS $300: In chess notation, QR stands for this
#3628, aired 2000-05-17 CHESS NUTS $400: A special way a pawn may capture, it's French for "in passing"
#3628, aired 2000-05-17 CHESS NUTS $500: Bobby Fischer beat this man in Iceland in 1972 to take the world chess title

#4040, aired 2002-03-08 A GAME OF CHESS $400: It's customary but not obligatory to declare when you have your foe in this, which can occur several times in a game
#4040, aired 2002-03-08 A GAME OF CHESS $800: (Cheryl of the Clue Crew stands on a gigantic chessboard at a beach.) A recommended opening move is "'P'-ing to K-4", which is short for this
#4040, aired 2002-03-08 A GAME OF CHESS $1200: In castling, you put one of these, also called castles, in a stronger attacking position
#4040, aired 2002-03-08 A GAME OF CHESS $1600: When setting up to start a chess game, remember the rule: Queen on this
#4040, aired 2002-03-08 A GAME OF CHESS $2000: The final stage, with most of the pieces off the board, it's also a Samuel Beckett play title

#4892, aired 2005-12-13 CHESS PAINS $400: In the endgame, 2 opposing ones of these pieces that always move on the same color often leads to a draw
#4892, aired 2005-12-13 CHESS PAINS $800: In the newspaper, your dumb move that lost a knight would be followed by this symbol, maybe 2 of them
#4892, aired 2005-12-13 CHESS PAINS $1200: A guy looking over a game making annoying suggestions is doing this, from a Yiddish word
#4892, aired 2005-12-13 CHESS PAINS $1600: By moving my rook, I've given my opponent the nasty shock of discovered this
#4892, aired 2005-12-13 CHESS PAINS $2000: In tournament play, a fallen flag means you've lost because this has happened

#5241, aired 2007-05-28 CHESS NUTS $200: Careful! In tournament play, once you do this, you have to move the piece
#5241, aired 2007-05-28 CHESS NUTS $600: In the Looking-Glass world, this author used chess pieces to represent members of royalty
#5241, aired 2007-05-28 CHESS NUTS $800: The 2 main "mates" that end a chess game; one's a win, the other a draw
#5241, aired 2007-05-28 CHESS NUTS $1000: A Grandmaster should plan a "grand" this, the first phase of a chess game
#5241, aired 2007-05-28 CHESS NUTS $2,000 (Daily Double): It's the playing unit that's most often sacrificed in a gambit

#5449, aired 2008-04-24 A GAME OF CHESS $200: If you pawn your chess set, the shop will check to make sure there are this many pawns in it
#5449, aired 2008-04-24 A GAME OF CHESS $400: In castling, you move the king & this piece (aka a castle) simultaneously
#5449, aired 2008-04-24 A GAME OF CHESS $600: It's the only chess piece that can jump over others
#5449, aired 2008-04-24 A GAME OF CHESS $800: The 17th letter of the English alphabet, in chess notation it stands for the most powerful piece on the board
#5449, aired 2008-04-24 A GAME OF CHESS $1000: The final stage, with most of the pieces off the board, it's also a Samuel Beckett play title

#5651, aired 2009-03-16 LET'S TALK CHESS, CHAMPS $400: Even with two extra pawns, white can't force a win here, because these pieces can travel only on opposite-colored squares
#5651, aired 2009-03-16 LET'S TALK CHESS, CHAMPS $800: Literally "in passing", it's the 2-word term for how a pawn can capture another pawn that's moved past it
#5651, aired 2009-03-16 LET'S TALK CHESS, CHAMPS $1200: (Jon of the Clue Crew demonstrates with a chessboard.) White should have an easy win here, but he blows it by moving his queen to the D6 square, leading to this drawn outcome
#5651, aired 2009-03-16 LET'S TALK CHESS, CHAMPS $1600: Initiated by the moves E4 E6, this defense got its name from its use by a Paris team in an 1834 match with London
#5651, aired 2009-03-16 LET'S TALK CHESS, CHAMPS $2000: White can't move his knight, because doing so would expose his king; the knight's said to be stuck to the king with this tactic, named for a pointy little object

5802, aired 2009-12-01 CHESS $200: World champ Garry Kasparov lost a 1997 match to a computer program from this company
#5802, aired 2009-12-01 CHESS $400: Like the knight, this chess piece is worth about 3 pawns
#5802, aired 2009-12-01 CHESS $600: This late champ patented a now-standard chess clock that gives a player added time after each move
#5802, aired 2009-12-01 CHESS $800: Viswanathan Anand won a 2007 supertournament, making him the first world champ from this country
#5802, aired 2009-12-01 CHESS $1000: You can always learn a few moves in this square's park at 5th Ave. & 4th St. in Greenwich Village

#5781, aired 2009-11-02 ALSO A CHESS PIECE $400: To leave something as a guarantee in return for money
#5781, aired 2009-11-02 ALSO A CHESS PIECE $1200: 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu was this in Johannesburg
#5781, aired 2009-11-02 ALSO A CHESS PIECE $1600: A black bird
#5781, aired 2009-11-02 ALSO A CHESS PIECE $2000: A paladin
#5781, aired 2009-11-02 ALSO A CHESS PIECE $5,000 (Daily Double): 2 historical books in the Old Testament

#5936, aired 2010-06-07 CHESS $400: It's the traditional non-verbal way to signal that you resign
#5936, aired 2010-06-07 CHESS $800: These have the same value as bishops, but you can force mate with only a king & 2 bishops, not with a king & 2 these
#5936, aired 2010-06-07 CHESS $1200: Losing a bishop but capturing a rook is called "winning" this type of trade, also a term for a swap of hostages
#5936, aired 2010-06-07 CHESS $1600: The departure of both queens is the traditional point at which this final phase of the battle begins
#5936, aired 2010-06-07 CHESS $2000: In this classic chess opening, after white plays e4, to fight for the center, black plays c5 in this 8-letter defense named for a Mediterranean island

6326, aired 2012-03-05 CHESS ME, YOU FOOL! $200: It's the number of white squares on a standard chessboard
#6326, aired 2012-03-05 CHESS ME, YOU FOOL! $400: If you place this piece in the center of the board, it can control a maximum of 27 squares (hint: that's a lot)
#6326, aired 2012-03-05 CHESS ME, YOU FOOL! $600: To give unwanted advice about another player's game is to do this, a Yiddish term for offering intrusive commentary
#6326, aired 2012-03-05 CHESS ME, YOU FOOL! $800: It's the only move in which 2 pieces, the king & the rook, are moved simultaneously
#6326, aired 2012-03-05 CHESS ME, YOU FOOL! $1000: It's an opening strategy in which one player sacrifices a pawn or piece in order to gain a positional advantage

Chess on "Jeopardy"

Chess on "Jeopardy"

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