Chess: Strategy Across the Squares!

#83 Week 17

Author

Sigrun Sørumgård
April 25, 2025

How well do you know the rules, legends, and tactics of the world’s most iconic board game?

  1. How many squares are there on a chessboard?

  2. What is the special move where the king and pawn swap places?

  3. Which Russian player held the world championship title from 1985 to 2000 and is known for his strong political commitment?

  4. What happens if both players only have the king left?

  5. What was the name of the American player who became world champion in 1972 in the famous match called “The Match of the Century”?

  6. What is the act of sacrificing a piece to gain a strategic advantage called?

  7. What does “FIDE” stand for?

  8. Magnus Carlsen set the chess circus on fire when he accused which other chess player of cheating?

  9. What is a fork in chess?

  10. Who is considered the strongest female chess player of all time?

The Wonder Wall

  • The second book published in English was about chess. The Game and Playe of Chesse was published in the 1470s by the first English printer, William Caxton.

  • July 20th is celebrated as World Chess Day, officially proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2019.

  • Initially, the queen was the weakest piece on the board, moving only one square at a time. The modern queen gained its power in Spain in the 15th century.

Yesterday´s Questions & Answers

  1. What was the name of the leader of the Soviet Union who ruled with an iron fist from the 1920s to 1953?

    Joseph Stalin. Stalin's rule was characterized by a strong cult of personality, extreme concentration of power, and little consideration for the harsher consequences of his policies.

  2. Who was dictator of Italy at the same time as Hitler?

    Benito Mussolini

  3. What is the name of the dictator who ruled Spain from the civil war to 1975?

    Francisco Franco was a Spanish general, head of state, and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975. His regime was called Francoism (franquismo), and he had the title of caudillo.

  4. Which country did António de Oliveira Salazar rule as a dictator?

    Portugal

  5. Which Libyan leader was overthrown and killed in 2011?

    Muammar al-Gaddafi was a Libyan officer and politician. Gaddafi was Libya's head of state from 1969 to August 2011, when he was de facto deposed as a result of the war in Libya. He was killed on October 20, 2011.

  6. Who was the leader of the Khmer Rouge guerrilla group that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979?

    Pol Pot, who was a Cambodian politician.

  7. Which Iraqi dictator was overthrown during the 2003 US invasion?

    Saddam Hussein (April 28, 1937–December 30, 2006), born near Tikrit, Iraq, was the absolute president and dictator of Iraq from 1979 to 2003.

  8. Which country did Josip Broz Tito rule?

    Yugoslavia

  9. What was the name of Uganda's notorious dictator in the 1970s?

    Idi Amin (Dada Oumee) (1928–2003) was a Ugandan officer who was president and dictator of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin became known as a very brutal leader and was compared in the 1970s to historical figures such as Caligula, Hitler, Beria and Himmler. In several of his neighboring countries, he was labeled a "sadist, murderer, fascist and oppressor".

  10. Which Chinese leader was behind the "Great Leap Forward" and the Cultural Revolution?

    Mao Zedong (1893–1976) was a Chinese communist, statesman, revolutionary and theorist. He led the Communist Party of China to victory in the Chinese Civil War and founded the People's Republic of China in 1949, which he led until his death in 1976. Mao is also the founder of a school of Marxism-Leninism known as Maoism.