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Chessville
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The Mad Aussie's Chess Trivia From Graham Clayton Submit your trivia to the
Mad Aussie! Reprinted from past issues of The Chessville Weekly, "The Mad Aussie's Chess Trivia", brought to you by the Mad Aussie himself, Graham Clayton. Graham earned his nickname from fellow ChessChatters because of his penchant for playing unusual openings in his correspondence games. Says Graham, "I am a librarian by profession, 37 years old, single, and live on the north-western outskirts of Sydney, Australia. I was taught the moves when I was about 10 or 11, and learnt to play by reading books from the local public library. My only significant OTB play was 4 years of high school chess between 1979 and 1982. I have been a member of the Correspondence Chess League of Australia since 1980, and play both within Australia and overseas." "With my overseas games, I enjoy the social side of meeting new people and making friendships as much as the actual games. Chess is much more than the actual moves on the board. I have always been fascinated by the history of the game - the great players, tournaments, controversies and incidents, as well as the unusual things. Chess for me is fun!" Clayton uses, among other sources, the "Oxford Companion to Chess" by Ken Whyld and David Hooper. See today's additions below, or check out the archives! Playing Sparsely: In the 14 years between the turn of the 20th century and the commencement of World War 1, World Champion Emanuel Lasker only competed in the following 4 international tournaments during that time:
Writing Sparsely: In 1919, Emanuel Lasker published in Berlin a 20 page monograph on the studies of Russian study composer A Selesniev. Olympic Heroes: Two World champions have competed for France in chess Olympiads, although neither player was born in France. Alexander Alekhine played in the 1928, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1935 and 1939 Olympiads, while Boris Spassky played in the 1984, 1986 and 1988 Olympiads. Olympic Heroics: Victor Korchnoi's only loss at the 1970 Chess Olympiad was in Round 3 against Spain, when Korchnoi overslept and lost on time. What's In A Name?: In 1950, FIDE started awarding the "Grandmaster" title to players. Whoever received the title was open to the discretion of FIDE. In 1951, a set of conditions was introduced for the awarding of the GM title. Today, there are thousands of GM titles, and many feel the title has been devalued in recent years. Which Name?: Quoting Hans Kmoch about Aron Nimzowitsch, (1886-1935), called “The Father of Hypermodern Chess Theory”:
To which ICCF-IM Keith Hayward adds:
Simultaneous Championships: At one point in 2004, the International Correspondence Chess Federation were simultaneously conducting 3 World Championship final tournaments at the same time, namely finals XVII, XVII and XIX (17th, 18th and 19th finals). Simultaneous Success: Jose Capablanca played approximately 13,500 games of simultaneous chess during his career, finishing with a fantastic winning ratio of 92%. Shades of 1992! Samuel Reshevshky was refused permission by the US State Department to travel to Hungary to compete in the 1950 World Championship candidates tournament. Another Draw-Meister: Yuri Razuveyev drew 18 of the 19 games that he played in the 52nd USSR championship tournament at Riga in 1983. He lost the other game. The Best of the Best: Of the games played in World Championship matches between 1886 and 1990, the most popular move for White was 1.d4 (364 games), followed by 1.e4 (275), 1.c4 (94), 1. Nf3 (55) and a solitary example of 1.g3. The Worst of the Best? (And that's still pretty good!): Viktor Kupreichik finished in last place in the first three USSR championship tournaments that he played in (1969, 1974 & 1976). He improved to =5th in 1979 and =6th in 1980/81. Rampaging Indian: Viswanathan Anand is the only player to have won, at the same time, all three different tournaments (rapid, blindfold and combined) that are held at the Amber tournament in Monaco each year. He did this in 1997, and then repeated the feat in 2005. Rampaging Knights: I thought that I would post the following two game scores. Do any readers have their own examples of rampaging knights that they would like to share? Smith-Hanley, British Rapidplay Ch, Leeds 1998 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Qh5 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Ng5 g6 8. Qf3 Qe7 9. Nb5 Nd4 10. Nd6+ Kd8 11. Ngf7+ Kc7 12. Qc3 Bg7 13. Bg5 Qf8 14. f4 h6 15. Bd8+ Kb8 16. Bb5 b6 17. Rd1 Nf5 18. Qa3 a6 19. Bd7 Nd6 20. ed6 Qf7 21. Bc7+ Kb7 22. Qb3 Bd7 23. Qb6+ Kc8 24. Bd8 Bd5 25. Be7 Kd7 26. Qb7+ Ke8 27. Qa8+ Kd7 28. Qb7+ Ke8 29. Qc8# Khloyber-Nagy, Budapest 1942 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cd4 4. Nd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 a6 7. Qd2 Nd7 8. Be2 g6 9. Nd5 f6 10. Ne6 Qa5 11. Ndc7+ Kf7 12. Nd8+ Kg7 13. Ne8+ 1-0 (13...Kg7 14. Bc4+) Who Am I? A: I have been award the titles of International Grandmaster, International Arbiter and International Judge of Chess Compositions. I competed in my country's national championship 15 times, winning the title outright, and losing a play-off on another occasion. I qualified for the Candidates tournament once, and won several international tournaments. Apart from my play, my greatest contribution has been through my writings. I was involved in chess magazines in my country, but my main work was a multi-volume set on the endgame. Originally published in 3 volumes, the set was updated to 5 volumes in the early 1980's. Finally, I have also been the president of the national chess federation as well. Who am !? Who Am I? B: For approximately 20 years I was considered one of the best players in my country, although I won my national championship only twice in 13 appearances. I also played in 6 Olympiads over this period. My best tournament result was an =1st with David Bronstein, whom I defeated in a marathon 120 move game. The game was published in the national newspapers of my country. I took up CC after retiring from OTB play. I wrote chess columns for several large newspapers, and wrote books as well. Away from chess, I was one of the people who was involved in breaking the German "Enigma" code during WW2, and I received an OBE for my work. Due to my war service, I was not allowed to travel to play in tournaments that were held on Soviet-controlled countries after World War 2. Who am I? Demanded of FIDE: After winning the World Championship in 1972, Bobby Fischer submitted to FIDE a 14 page document listing the 179 conditions that he required to be met before he would consider defending the title. Two of the major conditions were: (a) The first player to win 10 games would win the match; and (b) If the score reached 9-9, the champion would retain his title. Demanded by FIDE: At the 2001 FIDE World Championship knockout tournament in Moscow, 20 of the players had to undergo drug testing, while all players had to declare if they were taking any medications as well. The First Time: The London 1862 tournament was the first international tournament to be played as a round-robin event. The Last Time:
Alexander Alekhine's last recorded game of chess was played on the 9th of
March 1946. He played against English problem composer Gerald Anderson, who
was working in the British Foreign Office in Lisbon at the time. Who Am I? A) Yuri Averbakh B) C.H.O.D. ALEXANDER Return to the Trivia Questions
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