Chess on "Pointless"!

[Kevin Thurlow]

Final subject on the "Head to Head" - Chess Greats

They gave the forename plus initial letter of the surname and contestants had to give the surname. For the uninitiated, 100 people are polled in advance, and you need to get a correct answer, but the one which fewest of the people polled got. So the lower the number the better, e.g. if asked for British Prime Ministers, it's better to say Andrew Bonar Law than Winston Churchill.

The Chess Greats...

Magnus C
Anatoly K
Garry K
Vladimir K
Bobby F

I'll withhold the scores until tomorrow for anyone who wants to guess the highest and lowest.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Kramnik was probably the lowest, and may even have been Pointless.

[Mick Norris]

Kramnik was probably the lowest, and may even have been Pointless.

Yes, but scored 3

[Mike Gunn]

My guesses would be: Fischer 75, Kasparov 55, Carlsen 15, Karpov 3, Kramnik 0.

[Mike Gunn]

Oh, got that wrong, then.

[Andy_Stoker]

Guess: Fischer 45, Kasparov 31, Karpov 12, Carlsen 11, Kramnik 3 ("cheated" on the last, obviously)

<Later>
Ah, just looked on iPlayer - won't comment further - though the actual scores demonstrate just how far below the parapet is the sport we think so well known

[Joshua Gibbs]

I say Karpov was pointless! I dont have a TV and never watch BBC.

[Kevin Thurlow]

If you don't want to know the answers, look away now...

I have noticed that people going on Pointless are revising common subjects. The aim is to score zero of course, and regular subjects relate to countries, chemical elements etc. The public seem to be getting better as well. Some answers that usually are "pointless" (i.e. score zero) are now more popular. Obscure chemical elements (e.g. bohrium and dubnium) and countries are suddenly scoring points.

I thought Kramnik would be low and when I talk to non-chess players, they still talk about Fischer and Kasparov. Of course they might have accidentally polled chess players!









Carlsen 8
Karpov 17
Kasparov 37
Kramnik 3
Fischer 55

[Brian Towers]

Obscure chemical elements (e.g. bohrium and dubnium) and countries are suddenly scoring points.

George W Bush has an element named after him? Has the world gone mad?

[Mick Norris]

If you don't want to know the answers, look away now...

I have noticed that people going on Pointless are revising common subjects. The aim is to score zero of course, and regular subjects relate to countries, chemical elements etc. The public seem to be getting better as well. Some answers that usually are "pointless" (i.e. score zero) are now more popular. Obscure chemical elements (e.g. bohrium and dubnium) and countries are suddenly scoring points.

I thought Kramnik would be low and when I talk to non-chess players, they still talk about Fischer and Kasparov. Of course they might have accidentally polled chess players!

Whether the Fischer film and Kasparov having moved into politics made a difference, I don't know - it is interesting that Magnus has limited name recognition, although he was the answer given by the younger pair on the show

[Kevin Thurlow]

"George W Bush has an element named after him? Has the world gone mad?"

not that mad! Named after Dubna, where they did the work...

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I thought I'd seen this before (isn't everything on television repeated? ):

http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... 93#p145493

That was 1.5 years ago (not sure if it was a repeat back then as well).

I wonder what the result would be if they re-did the survey now?

[Andy_Stoker]

Dubnium - actually named after the City where Tony Miles secured the GM title.

[Geoff Chandler]

On Bargain Hunt today....

One of the contestants 'Slav' in the Blue Team said he was a keen chess player.

Apparently he was playing in a Manchester tournament, he won his first four games but in the fifth
game castled using both hands, forfeited the game and was expelled from the tournament.

Slav and his partner (a bald headed guy with a beard ) won with £42.00.

[Andy_Stoker]

"Expelled" for that ... has to be ball-cocks, doesn't it?!