2022 Christmas Quiz

 Finally (I meant to post it last night, but forgot!) the world is ready for the 2022 KCC Christmas Quiz. And because I've completely run out of alternative ideas, it is - once again - exactly that. A plain and simple Quiz. Except this year its bigger than ever. (You'll notice I didn't include the words "and better" in that last sentence!)

So, thinking caps on; search engines powered up; large pot of coffee at the ready (to stop you going to sleep from boredom, of course) and off we go. 60 questions; 200 answers; no prizes. Sounds like the perfect combination (chess related reference!) for Christmas Day. Good Luck. Because, once again, I defy anyone to get 100%, whatever external assistance you may call upon!

1	Name the players in the following World Championship Matches:- a) Havana 1889 b) New York 1890-91 c) Moscow 1896-97 d) Berlin 1910  (1 pt each - 8 pts total)
2	Since 1992 Peter Svidler has famously won the Russian Championship 8 times. Name the 4 other players who have managed to win the title more than once in the same period.  (1 pt each - 4 pts total)
3	Who is the only man to win the World Junior Championship title twice? (1 pt)
4	Who is the only English player ever to have beaten Tigran Petrosian (World Champion, 1963-69)?  Where, and in what year, did this occur?  And how many moves did the game last? (within 5 either way)  (I pt each – 4 pts total)
5	Karpov and Kasparov played 5 World Championship matches.  a) Name the 6 cities in which the matches were played. (1 pt each)  b) What was the points difference between the players over these 5 matches (144 games in total!) (1 pt)  (7 pts total)
6	a) Who preceded Yuri Averbakh as the world’s oldest Grand Master until his death in 2010, at the age of 99 yrs and 3 days?  b) How old was Averbakh’s opponent in his last ever published game, played in 2017 when he was 96?  c) And who succeeded Averbakh, after his demise in 2022, as the world’s oldest GM?  (1 pt each – 3 pts total)
7	What was the FIDE Budget for 2022? Any figure within 1 million Euros either way gets a point! (1 pt)
8	What did the relatively unknown John Keynes and Samuel Meredith each do 8 times, that GMs/future GMs Luke McShane, Michael Stean and Daniel Fernandez only managed 3 times each? (1 pt)
9	a) Which GM, infamous for two major cheating controversies at the board, served 9 months in prison for vehicular manslaughter?  b) Against which player did he retract a losing move at the 1967 Sousse Interzonal, in an incident which generated a less than flattering nickname?  c) And who was the opponent when he was accused of throwing a game for $400 at the 1970 Palma de Mallorca Interzonal?  (1 pt each – 3 pts total)
10	Which two Grand Masters had a street brawl in St Louis in 2018?  (1 pt each - 2 pts total)
11	Since 2010 Magnus Carlsen has only twice failed to win against opponents rated under 2500. Name the 2 players who have held him to a draw.  (1 pt each – 2 pts total)
12	Character played by Oscar Homolka: “Do you play chess?” Character played by Michael Caine: “Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating.” In which 1966 film did this exchange occur, and who wrote the novel on which it was based?  (1 pt each – 2 pts total)
13	a) Who was the first person to not win a single game in an official World Championship Match? (1 pt) b) And how many classical games has Magnus Carlsen won and lost (1 pt each) in his 5 World Championship Matches? (3 pts total)
14	Between 2009-22, the 14 US Championships have been shared between just 5 players. Name them.  (1 pt each – 5 pts total)
15	Name the Norwegian player (peak rating 2264), arbiter and organiser who has written 5 crime novels in which Inspector Kolbjorn Kristiansen (K2) and the wheelchair bound Patricia Borchmann are the leading protagonists. (And very good the books are, too!) (1 pt)
16	Which eminent critic and man of letters (1819-1900) was a Vice-President of the British Chess Association, and in regular correspondence with Henry Bird? Clue: his 6 year marriage to Effie Gray was famously never consummated. (1 pt)
17	Who was the only non-GM to play in a Grand Chess Tour event in 2022? (1 pt)
18	Which GM played 1 e4 c5 2 Qg4 against SP Sethuraman, a 2600+ GM, in an important play-off game at the 2021 Sunway Sitges Open? (1 pt)
19	a) Which World Champion had a cat called Chess?  b) Which super-GM (the best chess commentator in the world!) has a chihuahua called Chessy?(Spelling uncertain!)  c) Which GM’s daughter is this super-GM married to?  d) And which super-GM (possibly the second best chess commentator in the world) has a dog that is usually referred to on air as Doggo?  (1 pt each – 4 pts total)
20	Which GM is an elected member of the Dutch Senate?  And which GM played professional football for 9 seasons, and made 8 appearances for his country, scoring one goal?  (1 pt each – 2 pts total)
21	Who literally fell off his chair at the 2021 World Blitz Championship after blundering into mate against Tigran Petrosian (no, not the famous one!)? And which player (and chess author) collapsed at the end of the 1954 British Championship, after losing a last round game that would have given him a tie for 1st place? (1 pt each – 2 pts total)
22	Identify these GMs from their online usernames:- a) Atomrod b) DrNykterstein c) Chefshouse d) Lordillidan  (1 pt each - 4 pts total)
23	How many times were the following World Champions married:-  Capablanca Alekhine Spassky  (I pt each - 3 pts total)
24	a) Unknown new GM: “Good-day, Grand Master Korchnoi. We are now colleagues.” Korchnoi: “ You are no colleague of mine.  You are a colleague of …..” Which Yugoslav GM did Korchnoi reputedly now disparagingly name?  b) Korchnoi (in winning position): Do you speak English? Unknown opponent (possibly GM Al Modiahki): Yes What did Korchnoi now say? (1 pt each – 2 pts total)
25	a) Who once famously claimed: “There is a God and he is not Bulgarian!”  b) Where did he say it?  c) And who had he just beaten to prompt this remark?  (1 pt each – 3 pts total)
26	When Captain Kirk played Mister Spock at 3D Chess, who won? (1 pt)
27	Identify the 3 most recent holders of the record for the longest unbeaten streak at elite level:- a)       95 games from 1973-74 b)      100 games from Aug 2017 - Nov 2018 c)       125 games from Aug 2018 - Oct 2020  (1      pt each - 3 pts total)
28	a) What chess World Championship took place (partially) at the Sibree Hall in Coventry? b) Where was the rest of the event played? c) Who won? d) And which English player came second?  (1 pt each – 4 pts total )
29	Which 2022 Grand Chess Tour participant responded to the question, “What are you goals for this event?” with the answer, “To eat all the sandwiches!” (1 pt)
30	Of which IM & Honorary GM compatriot, a national champion and 12 times Olympiad player, did Jan Hein Donner write: “He hasn’t got a clue. He is the worst player in the whole wide world…… It is a sad thing that a player of his level must rate officially as the strongest in Holland…… Ugh!” (1 pt)
31	The BCF Laws and Regulations sub-committee of 1950 had four members (JT Boyd, W Ritson Morry, W Winter and AF Stammwitz), supported  by the BCF Hon Sec, Frank Chetwynd. What, ironically in the circumstances, linked 4 of these 5 names? And who was the odd man out?  (1 pt each - 2 pts total)
32	In which 3 countries has Anish Giri lived for at least 5 years?  (1 pt each – 3 pts total)
33	Name any 10 of the 26 Russian Grand Masters who signed the Open Letter to Putin demanding an end to the war with Ukraine.  (1 pt each – 10 pts total)
34	Identify the following chess legends:-  a) Born Wroclaw, Poland 1862; died Munich, Germany 1934 b) Born Somerville, USA 1872; died Philadelphia, USA 1906 c) Born Rostov, Russia 1887; died Paris, France 1956 d) Born Odessa, USSR, 1925; died Peredelkino, Russia 1998  ( 1 pt each – 4 pts total)
35	Which two Chinese GMs played a 3 game match in 2022 that sounded like they were crying?  (1 pt each – 2 pts total)
36	a) Name the 6 members of the Hungarian team that broke the long standing (excluding the boycotted 1976 Olympiad in Haifa) USSR monopoly on the Olympiad when triumphing in Buenos Aires in 1978.  b) And a bonus question – which of the 6 got mated by the Kenilworth Chess Club Organiser in a 1979 simultaneous display in Coventry?  (1 pt each – 7 pts total)
37	And name the 6 members of the USSR team that “only” won the silver medal from that same Olympiad.  ( 1 pt each – 6 pts total)
38	Which future super-GM lost first place on tiebreak in consecutive years in the World U-10 and World U-12 Championships? (1 pt)
39	a) When Karjakin was suspended for 6 months by the FIDE Ethics Committee in March 2022, which other Russian GM was found not guilty of a similar disrepute charge? b) Which super-GM said that Karjakin would be “a very interesting subject for a scientist”? c) And which super-GM said of Karjakin, “I think he has lost his mind in the last couple of months”? (1 pt each – 3 pts total)
40	Who was the first English born person to be awarded a Grand Master title by FIDE? Clue: it wasn’t Tony Miles! (1 pt)
41	What is particularly significant about the game Francisco De Castellvi – Narcisco Vinoles? (1 pt)
42	a) Who is the youngest player ever to achieve a rating of 2700? b) At what age did he do this? c) And talking of ratings, which player has a lifetime live rating peak of 2799.6? So near, yet so far away! (1 pt each – 3 pts total)
43	Tony Miles famously beat Karpov at the 1980 European team Championships, but which other English player also won (against Lev Polugaevsky) with Black in the 4-4 draw between England and the USSR? (1 pt)
44	These people have all given their names to opening variations. What nationality were they? a) Caro b) Kann c) McCutcheon d) Winawer e) Richter f) Trompowsky g) Grob h) Morra i) Breyer j) Colle (1 pt each – 10 pts total)
45	In which US states are the following, all locations of famous 20th century tournaments?  a) Cambridge Springs (1904) b) Lake Hopatcong (1926) c) Lone Pine (1971-81) And name the winners of (a) and (b), and the two players who won (c) more than once (each had one outright win and one tie for 1st):-  (1 pt each – 7 pts total)
46	Name the only two English players to have won the Wijk aan Zee tournament. And how many times did each win? And which player has won the tournament the most times – and how many?  (1 pt each - 6 pts total)
47	a) Who, in May 2022, scored his final 2 GM Norms (in classical chess) in less than 24 hours? b) And which fellow national was awarded the GM title in 2022, 11 years after her first norm? (1 pt each – 2 pts total)
48	Name 5 pairs of siblings, both of whom hold the full GM title. (Clue: There are 3 pairs of sisters, and 6 pairs of brothers to choose from.) (1 pt per pair - 5 pts total)
49	The USSR beat Britain 18.5-1.5 in a double round match at Caxton Hall, London in 1954 (winning 10-0 in Rd 1!). Which three British players managed to get a draw? (1 pt each – 3 pts total)
50	Name the 6 teams in the Open Section at the 2022 Chennai Olympiad that did not have a single FIDE rated player in their 5 person squad. (1 pt each) And which European country had two female players on the top three boards in the Open Section of the 2022 Olympiad? (1 pt) (7 pts total)
51	Which former World Blitz Champion lost 8 blitz games in a row in a 2022 international tournament? And where did it happen? And which GM did this former Blitz World Champion beat later in the year in classical chess in just 10 moves at their national championship? (1 pt each – 3 pts total)
52	Which British company unsuccessfully tried to sponsor a 2 game match between Bobby Fischer and an English player in 1973? And which English player was to be Fischer’s opponent?  (1 pt each – 2 pts total)
53	Which English GM shares a name with a character (now deceased) in The Archers? And the surname of which (titled) competitor at the 2022 US Championships contained two famous motor manufacturers? (1 pt each – 2 pts total)
54	Which World Champion lost a game at the 2003 European Team Championships when his mobile phone went off – and what was particularly ironic about this? (1 pt each – 2 pts total)
55	a) Which super-GM is a brand ambassador for Lenovo computers? b) Which young GM signed a sponsorship deal in 2022 with a Singapore company, worth a reported $1.5 million over 5 years? c) Which female IM is a brand ambassador for Ford cars? d) And which two sporting mega stars were pictured playing chess against each other in a 2022 advert for Louis Vuitton? (1 pt each – 5 pts total)
56	Which GM resigned after 1 move against Magnus Carlsen in a 2022 online game? And what was Carlsen’s first move (as Black), to which he took such extreme exception? (1 pt each – 2 pts total)
57	a) Which French GM was subsequently banned for cheating at the 2010 Chess Olympiad? b) Who was the non-playing French Team Captain (a GM) who was also banned? c) And who was the French IM who was also banned for transmitting computer suggested moves to the Captain? (1 pt each – 3 pts total)
58	a) The first 4 women to be awarded the full GM title came from just 2 countries. Name the 2 countries. b) Of the 40 women to be full GMs, only 4 are still under the age of 30. Name them. (1 pt each – 6 pts in total)
59	Name the 5 players in the England team that won the World U-26 Team Championships, ahead of the USSR, in 1976 in Mexico City. (1 pt each – 5 pts total)
60	Name the 5 players in the England team that won the World U-26 Team Championships in 1986 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. And which English player won the World U-12 title at the same venue/time? (He also won the World U-16 title in 1991.) (1 pt each - 6 pts total)

Answers will be published .......... when I can get around to it, so probably sometime before the New Year.