Off the Wall Chess Quiz by Bill Wall (Jan 13, 2005)
(Answers at the bottom)
1. Who was India's first International Master?
2. Who was India's first Grandmaster?
3. Who played the most USCF rated games in one year?
4. Who was the youngest player to win the British Chess Championship?
5. Who was the youngest player to win the US Chess Championship?
6. Who was the second youngest player to win the US Chess Championship?
7. Who was the first Indonesian Grandmaster?
8. Who was Norway's first Grandmaster?
9. Who won the first chess oscar?
10. Who won the first Soviet Chess Championship?
11. What year did the first Russian Chess Federation form?
12. When was chess first mentioned in America?
13. Who published the first chess writing in America?
14. When was the first American chess tournament held?
15. Who won the first American Chess Congress?
16. Who won the first international chess tournament?
17. Who was the first Black grandmaster?
18. Who was won the British chess championship the most?
19. What was the first chess automaton?
20. What tournament introduced the chess clock?
21. What computer was first awarded the title of chess master?
22. Who is the goddess of chess?
23. Who is the patron saint of chess?
24. What is the longest running annual match in chess?
25. How many people play chess in the world?
26. Who was the first player to become a Grandmaster without first becoming an International Master?
27. When was the first chess club organized?
28. When was the first newspaper chess column published?
29. When was the first computer to play a proper game of chess?
30. Who won the first world computer championship?
31. Who designed the Staunton pattern chess pieces?
32. What computer won the first state championship?
33. Who was the oldest competitive grandmaster?
34. Who was the first official British chess champion?
35. Who was the first US chess champion?
36. When was FIDE founded?
37. Who was the first FIDE president?
38. What is the record for most games played simulaneously blindfolded?
39. What is the Fredkin Prize?
40. Who won the Fredkin Prize?
41. Who was the first woman to achieve the men's grandmaster title?
42. Who was the first woman to take first place at a "men's" chess tournament?
43. Who were the original grandmasters of chess?
44. Who was the first U.S. woman to acieve a master's rating?
45. What was the first major tournament after World War II?
46. What player has won the US and the USSR chess championship?
47. Who was the first Afercan-American chess master?
48. What is the oldest and longest running tournament in the world?
49. Who won the first US Senior Open?
50. Who was the first Dean of American Chess?
51. What country has the highest per capita chess population in the world?
52. Who won the first World Junior Championship?
53. Who has won more chess tournaments than any other person?
54. Who was the first British player to achieve a FIDE Grandmaster norm for OTB chess play?
55. Who introduced the Swiss System pairing to the United States?
56. How many tournaments did Paul Morphy participate in?
57. Who was the oldest player to qualify for a World Championship Candidates match?
58. Who was the first British player to get an OTB Grandmaster title?
59. When did the US Chess Federation (USCF) form?
60. Who are the only players who have a plus record against Bobby Fischer?
61. What was the strongest tournament ever held?
62. Who won the strongest tournament ever held?
63. Who won chess championships of Paris, London, New York, and Chicago?
64. What was the first magazine devoted entirely to chess?
65. Who was the first Soviet Grandmaster to immigrate to Israel?
66. What was the first English newspaper to publish a chess column?
67. Who was the first American to win an official world championship?
68. Who invented the demonstration chess board?
69. What is the oldest chess club in Britain?
70. Who was the first Italian grandmaster?
71. Who was the first American to defeat a Soviet player in international competition?
72. Who is the youngest player to gain a master's rating?
73. Who has played in more US Opens than any other player?
74. What is America's longest running tournament?
75. Who became the first grandmaster of over-the-board (OTB) chess and correspondence chess?
76. What university was the first to have a chess club?
77. Who won the Briish chess championship more than any other player?
78. Who issued the first chess stamp?
79. Who invented the pocket chess set?
80. Who is the oldest player ever to win a national chess championship?
81. Who won the first world correspondence chess championship?
82. What was the first international sports event after World War II?
83. When did the first international rating list appear?
84. Who was the first British player to be awarded the title of Grandmaster?
85. Who was the first president of FIDE?
86. Where was the first Interzonal tournament held?
87. Who has the largest private chess library in the world?
88. Who was the first American to beat a reigning world champion?
89. Who was the youngest player to qualify for the British Chess Championship?
90. Who was the first official US Chess Champion?
91. Who was the first President of the US Chess Federation?
92. When was the first telegraph chess match played?
93. When was the first telephone chess game played?
94. Where was Paul Morphy's father born?
95. Who was nicknamed the anonymouse Modenese?
96. What year was the first American chess book published?
97. What year was the first authenticated correspondence match played?
98. Who were the Pleiades?
99. Who defeated Paul Morphy more than any other player?
100. Who was known as Alter?
101. How many pieces were discovered that are now known as the Lewis chessmen?
102. Who designed the Staunton chessmen?
103. What was the first chess magazine?
104. Who was the first master to suggest a time limit in chess?
105. When was the first known photograph of a chess player taken?
106. Who invented the first chess clock?
107. Who won the first British chess championship?
108. Who wrote the first US chess column?
109. When was the first organized chess event in the US?
Answers
1. Manuel Aaron was India's first International Master, in 1961.
2. Viswanathan Anand was India's first Grandmaster, in 1987.
3. In 1995, Robert Smeltzer played the most USCF games in one year - 2,266 games.
4. Michael Adams was the youngest player to win the British Chess Championship at 17.
5. Bobby Fischer was the youngest player to win the US Chess Championship at 14 in 1957/58.
6. Hikaru Nakamura was the 2nd youngest player to win the US Chess Championship at 16 in 2004.
7. Utat Adianto was the first Indonesian Grandmaster, in 1986.
8. Simen Agdestein was Norway's first Grandmaster, in 1985.
9. In 1967, Bent Larsen won the first chess oscar informally. In 1968, it was formally won by Spassky.
10. In 1920, Alexander Alekhine won the first Soviet Chess Championship.
11. The first Russian Chess Federation formed in 1914. It had 865 members.
12. Chess was first mentioned in America in 1641. See "Dutch New York" by Esther Singleton.
13. In 1786, Franklin published the first chess writing in America with his "The Morals of Chess," written in 1779.
14. The first American chess tournament held was in 1843 in New York.
15. In 1857, Paul Morphy won the first American Chess Congress.
16. Adolf Anderssen won the first international chess tournament in London in 1851.
17. Maurice Ashley of New York was the first Black grandmaster, in 1999.
18. Jonathan Penrose was won the British chess championship the most. He won it 10 times.
19. Wolfgang von Kempelen's "The Turk" was the first chess automaton, in 1769.
20. Baden-Baden 1870 was the first tournament to introduce chess clocks.
21. In 1983, BELLE became the first computer to be awarded the title of US Chess Master.
22. Caissa is the goddess or muse (wood nymph) of chess, from a poem by Sir William Jones in 1763.
23. St. Teresa (the roving nun) of Avila (1515-1582) is the patron saint of chess.
24. The longest running annual match in chess is the annual Cambridge vs. Oxford match, startin in 1873.
25. The World Chess Federation (FIDE) estimates that there are 600 million chess players in the world.
26. In 1977 Larry Christiansen became a Grandmaster without ever being an International Master.
27. The first chess club was organized in Italy in 1550.
28. The first newspaper column was published in 1813 in the Liverpool Mercury.
29. The first computer program to play a proper game of chess was in 1959, at MIT.
30. KAISSA of the USSR won the first world computer championship, held in Stockholm in 1974.
31. Nathaniel Cook and John Jacques designed the first Staunton pattern chess set in 1835.
32. In 1981 Cray Blitz won the first state championship, when it won the championship of Mississippi.
33. Arthur Dake (1910-2000) was the oldest competitive grandmaster, still playin in his late 80s.
34. Cecil de Vere was the first official British chess champion, in 1866.
35. Charles Stanley was the first US chess champion, in 1845. He defeated Eugene Rousseau.
36. FIDE, the World Chess Federation, was founded in 1924 by Pierre Vincent of France.
37. Alexandre Rueb was the first FIDE president. He was president from 1924 to 1949.
38. The record for the most games played simultaneously blindfolded in 52 games, by Janos Flesch in 1960.
39. The Fredkin Prize was a $100,000 prize for the first computer to beat a reigning world champion.
40. The inventors (Hsu, Campbell, and Hoane) of Deep Blue won the Fredkin Prize in 1997.
41. In 1978, Nona Gaprindashvili was the first woman to achieve the men's grandmaster title.
42. In 1977, Nona Gaprindashvili tied for 1st place at Lone Pine.
43. In 1914 the Russian Czar gave the title of grandmaster to Lasker, Alekhine, Capablanca, Tarrasch, and Marshall.
44. Gisela Gresser (1906-2000) was the first U.S. woman to a achieve a master's rating.
45. The first major tournament after WW II was Groningen, in 1946. It was won by Botvinnik.
46. Boris Gulko won the USSR championship in 1977 and the US championship in 1994 and 1999.
47. In 1963, Walter Harris became the first African-American master.
48. Hasting is the oldest and longest running tournament in the world. It was first held in 1895.
49. In 1981, Rea Hayes won the first US Senior Open, held in Sun City, Arizona.
50. Hermann Helms (1870-1963) was the first Dean of American Chess.
51. Iceland has the highest per capita chess population in the world.
52. Borislav Ivkov of Yugoslavia won the first World Junior Chess Championship, held in England in 1951.
53. Anatoly Karpov has won more chess tournaments (over 160 tournaments) than any other person.
54. Raymond Keene was the first British player to achieve a FIDE Grandmaster norm in over-the-board chess.
55. In 1947, George Koltanowski introduced the Swiss System at the 1947 US Open in Corpus Christi, Texas.
56. Morphy only played in one tournament in his life. He won the American Chess Congress in 1857.
57. In 1982, Vasily Smyslov qualified for the Candidates match by taking 2nd at the Palma Interzonal at age 61.
58. In 1976 Tony Miles became the first British Grandmaster in OTB play.
59. The USCF formed in 1939 from the merger of the American Chess Federation and the National Chess Federation.
60. Geller, Tal, and Janosevic have all defeated Fischer more times than they have lost to him.
61. The strongest tournament ever held was Frankfurt 1998, with an average rating of 2781.
62. Kramnik won Frankfurt 1998, the strongest tournament ever held.
63. Edward Lasker won Paris in 1912, London in 1914, New York in 1915, and Chicago in 1916.
64. Le Palamede was the first magazine devoted entirely to chess. It ran from 1836 to 1839, then 1842 to 1847.
65. Vladimir Liberzon was the first grandmaster to immigrate to Israel, in 1973.
66. The Liverpool Mercury was the first English newspaper to publish a chess column, in 1813.
67. Bill Lombardy was the first American to win an official world chess championship, the World Junior Ch in 1957.
68. Johann Lowenthall invented the deomonstration chess board in 1857.
69. The Manchester Chess Club was the oldest chess club in Britain, formed in 1817.
70. Segio Mariotti was the first and only Italian Grandmaster, who gained his title in 1974.
71. Frank Marshall was the first American to defeat a Soviet player in international competition, New York 1924.
72. Hikaru Nakamura became the youngest player to gain a master rating at age 10 years 79 days, in 1998.
73. Edgar McCormick played in more US Opens than any other player, playing in 37 US Opens.
74. The New York State Championship is America's longest running tournament, which began in 1878.
75. Alberic O'Kelly de Galway became the first GM of OTB and correspondence chess.
76. Oxford was the first university to have a chess club.
77. Jonathan Penrose has won the British championship more than any other player, a record 10 times.
78. Bulgaria issued the first chess stamp, in 1947, on the occasion of the Balkan games.
79. In 1845, Dr. Peter Mark Roget (Roget's Thesaurus) devised the first pocket chess set.
80. Judith Price was the oldest person to win a national championship when she won the British Ladies Ch at age 76.
81. Cecil Purdy won the first world correspondence chess championship (1950-1953).
82. The 1945 USA-USSR Radion Chess Match was the first international sports event after World War II.
83. The first international rating list appeared in 1969. Fischer topped the list at 2720.
84. Keith Richardson was the 1st Britsh player to be awarded the Grandmaster title, for Correspondence Chess, in 1975.
85. Alexander Rueb was the first president of FIDE. He was president from 1924 to 1949.
86. The first Interzonal tournament was held in Saltsjobaden, Sweden in 1958 and won by David Bronstein.
87. Lothar Schmid has the largest private chess library in the world with over 20,000 chess books.
88. Yassar Seirawan was the first American to beat a reigning world champion when he beat Karpov in 1982.
89. Nigel Short was the youngest to qualify for the British Championship, at age 11.
90. Jackson Showalter was the first official US Chess Champion, in 1890.
91. George Sturgis was the first President of the US Chess Federation, in 1939.
92. The first telegraph match was played in 1844, between Washington DC and Baltimore.
93. The first telephone chess game was played in 1878, between two players is Derbyshire, England.
94. Paul Morphy's father, Alonzo Morphy, was born in Charleston, South Carolina.
95. Ercole Del Rio was nicknamed the anonymous Modenese.
96. The first American chess book, CHESS MADE EASY, was published at Philadelphia in 1802 by James Humphreys.
97. The first authenticated correspondence match, between The Hague and Breda, was played in 1804.
98. The Pleiades were Bledow, Hanstein, Schorn, Horwitz, Mayet, von Bilguer, and von der Lasa.
99. Thomas Wilson Barnes scored more wins, at least 3 games, against Paul Morphy than anyone else.
100. John Owen (1827-1901), and English vicar, wrote chess columns under the pseudonym 'Alter.'
101. There were 67 pieces discovered in the Lewis chessmen in 1831.
102. Nathaniel Cook designed the Staunton chessmen in 1849.
103. The first chess magazine was LE PALAMEDE, published by La Bourdonnais and Mery in 1836.
104. St. Amant was the first master to suggest a time limit in chess, in 1836.
105. The first known photograph of a chess player was taken in 1843.
106. Thomas Bright Wilson (1843-1915) invented the first chess clock in 1883.
107. Cecil de Vere won the first British chess championship in 1866.
108. Charles Stanley wrote the first US chess column.
109. The Stanley-Rousseau match in New Orleans was the first organized chess event in the US.
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