Rules of Chess Quiz

As a new educational item, we will feature periodic trivia questions about the rules of chess.  Ultimately, this will help everyone understand the nuances of tournament rules and avoid miscommunication.  This month’s quiz focuses on Draws & Stalemates:

Draws & Stalemates Quiz (see below for answers)

1. Stalemate question: Player “A” picks up his knight and places it on a square.  Shortly after releasing the piece and hitting the clock, the flag falls on his opponent’s clock.  The opponent, Player “B”, notices that the last move put him in stalemate.  What’s the correct ruling?

a. Player A is the winner.  The other player needs to make the stalemate claim before his flag falls.

b. Player A is negligent.  He must announce stalemate after making the move.  The director can rule the game a forfeit due to his lack of proper etiquette.

c. The game is drawn.  The stalemate occurred before the flag fell.

2. Draw offer etiquette:  What is the proper procedure if you would like to offer a draw?

 a. When it is your move, after you hit the clock.

b. When it is your move, before you have hit your clock.

c. After your opponent has moved and hit his clock.

d. Extend your hand to your opponent, if he shakes it, the draw is official

3. Triple Occurance: Player A, notices that the same position will occur after he makes his next move.  What is the proper way to claim the draw?

a. Announce “The game is drawn” and extend his hand.

b. Find the Tournament Director and ask him to review the scoresheets to determine the claim.

c. Make the proper move, hit the clock, and claim the draw.

d. Write the move down, stop the clocks and state the game is drawn.

4. Triple Occurance (sudden death): A game between players A and B has entered sudden death.  Both players have less than five minutes left on their clocks and have stopped taking notation.  Can either of the players claim a draw based on triple occurance?

a. Yes – the player wishing to make the claim, may stop the clocks and have the director make a ruling by demonstrating the ability to force the triple occurence.

 b. No – once notation has stopped, there is no way to verify the claim.

c. Yes – the player who wishes to make the claim should announce, “once” then “twice” and finally “thrice” as the three positions occur.  He can then claim the draw based on the prior announcements.

d. Yes – as long as both players have more than 60 seconds left on his clock.

Chess Celebrity Quiz

Match the following chess players with the chess fact that applies to them.  Answers are posted at the bottom of this page.

1. Vitaly Klitschko                                   a.  Used to hustle games in Toronto, also plays the Bass Guitar

2. Keanu Reeves                                       b. Has a Scottish chess coach

3. Bono                                                         c. Used to play chess between movie shoots in their trailer

4. Madonna                                                d. Once sponsored a tournament that sent the winner to Hawaii

5. Sean Alexander                                   e. Manager use to hide their chess pieces so they would focus on their career

6. Arnold Schwarzenegger                  f. Studied grandmaster games when he/she was 12 years old

7. Lennox Lewis                                      g. Has a doctorate in physical education, helped Kramnik prep for a tournament against Fritz

Chess Jokes

Correspondence Chess Joke (courtesy of the Chess Zone)

Two chess players, Vlad and Igor, decide to play a game of correspondence chess. The only problem is that Vlad is at the North Pole and Igor is at the South Pole, both at totally remote outposts.

However, they have devised an ingenious scheme where every month, they arrange for a team of huskies to battle the elements from the respective base camps to the outposts in order to deliver the moves inside a weatherproof vial, strapped to a dog’s neck.
This plan works fine for a few years. By move 27, the game is reaching the critical middle game point, where a wrong move would mean disaster for either player.  It is Vlad to move, and for some reason, Igor does not receive his move on the normal date.

Two months pass, then three, then six, then a complete year. By now, Igor can hardly stand the suspense and is climbing the walls with frustration. Suddenly, he sees a team of huskies approaching through the blizzard outside. He rushes out, and with trembling hands, opens the container. He unfolds the paper and can hardly bear to look at it. He tentatively opens his eyes and scans what is written on the paper:  “j’adoube”

Obsessions

(Two old friends get together after work for drinks and catch up on things)

• Joe:  “How are things, do you still play chess like we did in the old days?”
• Larry:  ”Sure do.  In fact, I play almost every weekend down at the club.”
• Joe:  “That must be tough on your personal life.”
• Larry:  ”A couple of months ago, I told my wife that I was going to play in a tournament on our anniversary.  She told me that if I went to the club that night, our marriage would be over!”
• Joe:  “Wow.  So what did you do?”
• Larry: “I played Nf3.  I always play the Kings Indian Attack!”

Cartoons

For MORE chess jokes – click this link: More Chess Jokes

Top 10 Lists

Top 10 questions I’ve heard when I tell people I play in a local chess club

10.          Did you every play against a Grandmaster like, Flavor Flav? (ok, I made that one up, but the rest are true!)

 9.           I have a friend (or … uncle, nephew, son, classmate, cat, dog, pet rock) that likes chess too, would you like to play them sometime?

8.            How many games do you play in one night?

7.            Why don’t you just play on the internet?  (Yahoo has a good site)

6.            Do you ever play in Washington Square Park?

5.            Do you play checkers too?

4.            How many moves do you think ahead?

3.            Have you seen Searching For Bobby Fisher?

2.            How much time do you have per move?

1.            Chess club? Like a place where you smoke cigars and drink beers?

Top 10 injuries in the US Chess League

10. Strained LCK (Loss of Luciena Knowledge)

9. Broken heart

8. Forked-up personality

7. Lack of Luft

6. Sprained wrist from piece slamming

5. Pawn poisoning

4. Temporary (position) blindness

3. Paper cuts (from torn up scoresheets)

2. Zugzwankle

1. Crushed Spirit

Top 10 reasons chess is better than baseball:

10. Diamonds are overrated

9. It’s much easier to figure out late game substitutions

8. No pitch counts

7. Grandmasters don’t have to deal with hordes of chess groupies

6. You don’t have to worry about which base to cover on a double play

5. There are no extra innings

4. It’s really fun to say Zugzwang and Zwischenzug!

3. You can be mentally unbalanced and still be a revered Grandmaster

2. You get to sit for 3 hours in complete silence and mental anguish – and it’s not a congressional hearing on steroids

1. Every patzer has his day

Chess References in Rock/Pop Songs

1. Fly By Night – Rush (“It’s time I was King, not just one more pawn”) Song Link
2. I’ve Seen All Good People – Yes (“Make the white Queen run so fast, she hasn’t got time to make you a wife”) Song Link
3. Human Hands – Elvis Costello (“With the kings and queens of the dance hall craze
   Checkmate in three moves in your heyday, But the girls don`t listen to your line anymore”)  Song Link
4. Solitaire – Suzanne Vega (“You and your fate in a kind of check-mate, only you are your only competition”) Song Link
5. ‘#1 Zero’ – Audioslave (“… I’ll be your king, I’ll be your pawn, I will build you a pedastal and put you on it …”) Album Link

Let us know your suggestions for songs to add to the list …

Quiz Answers

Celebrity Chess Quiz

1. g, 2. a, 3. f, 4. b, 5. d, 6. c, 7. e

Draws & Stalemates:

Question 1 = c: USCF rules state that once the piece is released on the square, the move is “determined”.  If this results in a stalemate, the game is over immediately.  So if the player completes the move by pressing his clock and the opponent’s flag falls, that is irrelevant as the stalemate has already occurred.

Question 2 = b:  The proper etiquette is to “determine” you move by placing a piece on a square and offering a draw.  Then you can complete the move by hitting your clock.  Note that a draw offer may not be withdrawn, so once you offer it, your opponent may consider it for as long as he likes until he makes his next move.  If you offer a draw before moving your piece, the opponent may accept it immediately OR he has the right to ask you to make your move first – then he can still consider the merits of accepting or declining the offer before he makes his next move.  Offering a draw during your oppenents move is considered bad etiquette, however once the offer is made, he can still consider it and accept it.

Question 3 = d:  The proper way to make a claim in this situation is to write the move down and stop the clocks.  If your oppenenet does not agree with the claim, you may summon the director to verify the claim.

Question 4 = a:  This is the only correct answer.  The player stopping the clocks can call over the director and if an impartial witness or deputy director has observed the sequence of moves, the draw can be upheld.  Alternatively, as noted here, the player can ask the director to observe the match and they can play on.  If he can demonstrate the triple occurrence the director may rule the position a draw.