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Trivia Why's
Archive for 200612 ( return to current blog )
Sunday December 3, 2006
In the movie Michael, which Beatles song does John Travolta sing in the car?
a) "All You Need Is Love"
b) "Hey Jude"
c) "Yellow Submarine"
d) "Yesterday" | | | |
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- A1) 64. There are eight rows (also called ranks) and eight columns. In standard algebraic chess notation, the rows are numbered from 1 to 8, and the columns are lettered from a to h. The white queen begins on d1, which should be a light square (remember "queen on color").
- A2) Pawn. Each side starts with eight of the little guys, along with two knights, two bishops, two rooks, a queen, and a king for a total of 16 pieces of each color.
- A3) Knight. It looks like a horse for a reason.
- A4) Castling. The king moves two squares toward the corner, and the rook is placed on the adjacent square on the center side. For castling to be legal, neither the king nor the relevant rook can have moved earlier, and the king can not castle out of through or into check.
- A5) Pawn. It moves forward but captures one square forward and one square to the side. In addition, from its starting square in the second row, the pawn can move two squares forward, whereas after its first move, it can only advance a single square at a time.
- A6) Queen. Bishops move diagonally, rooks horizontally and vertically, and queens in any of the eight directions.
- A7) En passant (French for "in passing"). If an opponent's pawn goes two squares on its first move, ending directly on the side of your pawn, you can capture it as if it had moved only one square.
- A8) A queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color. Although most promotions are to queens (using an upside down rook or other placeholder if necessary), underpromotion is sometimes the best move (especially in composed chess problems).
- A9) O-O. Castling on the queenside is written as O-O-O.
- A10) Draw. Each player earns half a point for a stalemate.
- A11) 3. Draw by threefold repetition can be claimed as the player is making the move that repeats the exact same position for the third time. The exact same position means that the ability to castle and capture en passant on the next move also have to be identical.
- A12) 50. In the past, there have been exceptions to the 50-move rule, such as a king and two knights against a king and pawn and a king, rook, and bishop against a king and rook. Both FIDE (the World Chess Federation) and the USCF (United States Chess Federation) currently use a strict 50-move rule.
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Saturday December 2, 2006
My six-year-old son learned to play chess on his own from a web site, so we played our first game the other day! I spotted him a queen, but not surprisingly, it wasn't anywhere near enough. Hopefully, the handicap will shrink rapidly over the next few years until I start begging for mercy...
Rules of Chess Questions
- Q1) How many squares are on a chessboard?
- Q2) What is the most numerous chess piece?
- Q3) What is the only piece that can jump over another piece?
- Q4) What is the only maneuver in chess where you move two of your pieces at the same time?
- Q5) What is the only piece that captures in a different direction than it moves?
- Q6) What piece combines the power of a bishop and a rook?
- Q7) What special maneuver allows you to capture a piece on a square that it doesn't sit on?
- Q8) What can a pawn be promoted to when it reaches the eighth rank?
- Q9) What is the standard chess notation for castling with the king's rook?
- Q10) What is the result of the game if a player has no legal moves?
- Q11) How many times does the same position with the same player to move have to occur for a player to claim a draw?
- Q12) After how many moves by each side without a capture or pawn move can a player claim a draw?
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Score yourself at home: 1 point for each correct category answer and 4 points for solving the quilt (see title clue). Complete rules can be found with the first quilt.
Category Questions:
History & Government
| What legal term refers to a resident of a state who is not a national or citizen of that state?
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Entertainment & Food
| Who was the Lone Ranger's Indian sidekick?
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Math & Science
| What is the result of the corrosion of iron, by way of oxidation, in the presence of water?
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Sports & Games
| Which type of figure skating jump takes off from the forward outside edge and lands on the back outside edge of the opposite foot?
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Geography & Nature
| What is the most populous city in Indonesia?
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Literature & Arts
| Who is the narrator in Lord Jim, Youth, Heart of Darkness, and Chance?
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Category Answers:
Literature & Arts
| DOGPATCH
| Al Capp drew the hillbilly comic strip from 1934 to 1977.
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History & Government
| GINSBURG
| Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born as Joan Ruth Bader in Brooklyn, New York in 1933.
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Math & Science
| ALVEOLI
| They also take carbon dioxide out of the blood.
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Entertainment & Food
| THOMAS
| Santa Monica High School graduate Heather Thomas was voted "Favorite Female Newcomer" by US magazine readers in 1982.
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Sports & Games
| MCENROE
| John McEnroe beat his younger sibling Patrick 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. Patrick replaced John as captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team in 2000.
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Geography & Nature
| RWANDA
| The country gained its independence from Belgium on July 1, 1962.
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Quiz Quilt Answer: ABOARD (Fifth letters)
A stowaway "aboard" a pirate ship might be asked to walk "a board" called the plank. | | | |
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