Home Page 
Chess Life Online 2014 December More Chess to Enjoy [December Chess Life]
Chess Life Online 2014 December More Chess to Enjoy [December Chess Life] | More Chess to Enjoy [December Chess Life] |
|
|
| By GM Andy Soltis | |
| December 1, 2013 | |
 For many years now,
the December issue of Chess Life has
included GM Andy Soltis' Annual Trivia Quiz in his "Chess to Enjoy" column. For
this month's column, available online now and hitting mailboxes soon, the
following questions didn't quite fit so we present them here. Also, be on the
lookout for next month's January 2014 issue when we celebrate the 35th
anniversary of "Chess to Enjoy" and have a review by GM Ben Finegold of Soltis'
Pawn Structure Chess.1. Carl Pilnick, who died at age 89 in March, won the 1971 American Open. But he is best known for what? (a) Swindling Samuel Reshevsky into a stalemate in a U.S. Championship. (b) Winning the California state championship 10 times. (c) Beating 12-year-old Bobby Fischer in a tournament game. (d) Beating 14-year-old Bobby Fischer in a simultaneous game. 2. He set a record for a 15-year-old when he gave a 26-board blindfold simultaneous exhibition. He is: (a) Harry Pillsbury (b) Miguel Najdorf (c) Larry Christiansen (d) Ken Rogoff (e) Magnus Carlsen 3. The number of world chess federation (FIDE) rated players reached a new peak in 2013 when it topped: (a) 50,000 (b) 100,000 (c) 150,000 (d) 250,000 4. The highest title was "grandee"-rather than grandmaster-in the world's first ranking system. It was introduced in: (a) 1914 (b) 1851 (c) 1485 (d) Ninth century 5. After former world champion Mikhail Botvinnik retired from tournament chess, he spent the last 25 years of his life devoted to perfecting his computer program, Kaissa. How many full games did Kaissa play in that period? (a) 10,000 (b) 1,000 (c) 100 (d) 10 (e) None 6. A famous analysis ended with the author saying "Of course, White can always play differently, in which case he loses differently." He was: (a) Wilhelm Steinitz in The Modern Chess Instructor (b) Aron Nimzowitsch in his first analysis of the Nimzo-Indian Defense (c) Bobby Fischer in his "A Bust to the King's Gambit" (d) Garry Kasparov on the King's Indian Defense in his My Great Predecessors |