The university chess club moved its Christmas social online this year with a chess adjacent quiz and a lichess arena. Turnout was actually an improvement over last year’s event with 15 people turned up for the quiz making for some healthy competition and a few more for the tournament afterwards. It was great to see some new faces too and hopefully we get to met proper in 2021.
Although, fear not if you missed the quiz, as the questions and answers are given here, plus a bonus round for those that were present.
Picture Round
General Knowledge 1
- (Pawn) The traditional pawnbroker’s symbol consists of three golden what suspended from a bar?
- (Knight) What is the name of the talking car in the TV show “Knight Rider” featuring David Hasselhoff?
- (Bishop) How many archbishops does the Church of England have?
- (Rook) What is the collective noun for a group of rooks?
- (Queen) What is the name of the lead character in the Netflix show “The Queen’s Gambit”?
- (King) Which England cricketeer is nicknamed the “King of Swing”?
A Journey
- What Roman road connects London to the Welsh Isle of Anglesey?
- What plastic explosive has a consistency similar to modelling clay allowing it to be moulded into any shape?
- What vitamin is also known by its full name Riboflavin?
- What name is given to a comedy Dungeons and Dragons dice, often used when there is no real decision to be made?
- What video gaming conference is usually held yearly in Los Angeles in June (although not this year)?
- What keyboard button reloads a webpage from a server?
- What is the name of the intergovernmental organisation of major advanced nations, named when Russia where suspended following the annexing of Crimea?
- What connects all of the previous answers?
General Knowledge 2
- Which American jazz trumpeter released the album “Bitches Brew” in 1970?
- Who played Alan Parrish, a young boy who gets trapped inside the board game Jumanji for 26 years?
- Which former choirboy is best known for singing “Walking in the Air” for the Christmas animated film “The Snowman”?
- Which former boxer was the first contestant on “Strictly Come Dancing” to dance in a same-sex partnership?
- What term is giving to the practise of selling stock before acquiring it, in the hope to make a profit when the price drops?
- What connects the previous answers?
Chess in Numbers
In this round, points are awarded for how close you are to the correct answer.
- As of 13th December 2020, how many followers does GM Hikaru Nakamara have on his Twitch streaming channel?
- The last World Chess Championship match in 2018 between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana started with all twelve classical games drawn. How many moves in total were played by both sides?
- As of 13th December 2020, there have been approximately 250 million rated games on lichess.org. How many of those started with the Double Bongcloud Attack (1.e4 e5 2.Ke2 Ke7)?
- According to esportsearnings.com, DrNykterstein, better known by his real name Magnus Carlsen, was the highest earning Esports player in 2020. How much, in US dollars, did he win in total?
- There are over 1,850 players who have ever been awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE. How many of these Grandmasters are Russian?
- This year chess.com introduced PogChamps, an online competition for non-chess playing streamers. How many moves were played by the winning side in the shortest game?
Answers
Picture Round
- Aladdin
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
- From Russia with Love
- Independence Day
- Queen of Katwe
General Knowledge 1
- (Pawn) Balls
- (Knight) KITT
- (Bishop) Two (Canterbury and York)
- (Rook) Parliament
- (Queen) Beth Harmon
- (King) James Anderson
A Journey
- A5
- C4
- B2
- D1
- E3
- F5
- G7
- They form a sequence of knight moves on a chessboard
General Knowledge 2
- Miles Davis
- Robin Williams
- Aled Jones
- Nicola Adams
- Short selling or shorting
- They are all English Grandmasters (Tony Miles, Simon Williams, Gawain Jones, Michael Adams and Nigel Short)
Chess in Numbers
- 670K (Within 200K, 1 point. Within 50K, 2 points. Within 20K, 3 points)
- 1,262 (Within 200, 1 point. Within 50, 2 points. Within 20, 3 points.)
- 76 (Within 100, 1 point. Within 25, 2 points. Within 10, 3 points.)
- $499,420 (Within $200,000, 1 point, $50,000, 2 points, $20,000, 3 points.)
- 269 (Within 100, 1 point. Within 25, 2 points. Within 10, 3 points.)
- 6 (Within 5 moves, 1 point. Within 2 moves, 2 points. Exact, 3 points.)