English Chess Forum

There was a chess question on the TV show 'Pointless' tonight - "We gave 100 people 100 seconds to name as many chess pieces as they could that can move diagonally". (For those unfamiliar with this show, the respondents are 100 randomly selected people).

Predictably, the pawn got the lowest score, cited by 40 respondents. Somewhat more surprisingly it was closely followed by the bishop with only 45. The king was next lowest and the queen received the highest number of answers.

It's an interesting question as to whether or not the knight also moves diagonally. Draw a line between its start and end points and you have a sloping line, which I believe is the simplest definition of 'diagonal', although of course we conveniently regard the diagonal in chess as being a 45 degree line belonging to a white or black square complex.

Assuming this a random sample, that implies about half the populations know how the pieces move in chess. That is more than I would have expected.

I had the same thought. But it's also possible that some people just guessed the names of some pieces that they'd heard of, so it's hard to draw any conclusions.

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Ian Kingston
Working – http://www.iankingston.com/
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Reading – http://www.britishchessmagazine.co.uk/

Yes, I think Neill has drawn the wrong conclusion. The question was "We gave 100 people 100 seconds to name as many chess pieces as they could that can move diagonally".

The question is designed to enable people to say random piece names in the hope of saying a piece that moves diagonally.

If the question was "We gave 100 people 100 seconds to name as many Oscar-winning actors as they could", then I for one would just spout out the names of random actors, because I'd have no idea as to whether they were Oscar winners or not.

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February 16-17: 2013 BUCA Team Championship
April 20: 2013 British Blitz Championship
July 27-August 10: 100th British Chess Championships

I don't know whether they have a process for avoiding this sort of thing, e.g. by ignoring all respondents who give any incorrect answers.

I think I can see why the show is called 'Pointless'

Is the title intended to be ironic?

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"Tactics flow naturally from a superior strategical position".
Bobby Fischer

Well, why else would they be given 100 seconds?

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February 16-17: 2013 BUCA Team Championship
April 20: 2013 British Blitz Championship
July 27-August 10: 100th British Chess Championships

They've occasionally mentioned some of the wrong answers people give, so I suspect not.


Definitely an element of that.

Our President will be appearing on the celebrity version of the show - Pointless Celebrities - soon. I think he's partnering snooker player Shaun Murphy.

_________________
Ian Kingston
Working – http://www.iankingston.com/
Blogging – http://square65.wordpress.com/
Reading – http://www.britishchessmagazine.co.uk/

Agreed. It should have been that 50% of the population know the names of the chess pieces.

"Pointless Celebrities"? Shurely a tautology??

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"The chess-board is the world ..... the player on the other side is hidden from us ..... he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance."
(He doesn't let you resign and start again, either.)

I haven't seen the programme. Is it intended that the question is worded in a rather meaningless fashion?
Much better would have been:
There are 6 different chess pieces in a chess game. Name all those which can legally move diagonally.
That probably isn't perfect either.

More Pointless chess today: contestants were asked:

• Number of pieces on the board at the start of the game
• World governing body
• Name of the IBM computer that beat Kasparov
• US World Champion
• The piece which can only move diagonally

_________________
Ian Kingston
Working – http://www.iankingston.com/
Blogging – http://square65.wordpress.com/
Reading – http://www.britishchessmagazine.co.uk/

Should we be pleased that 49% of people surveyed knew how many pieces there are on the board at the start of the game or disappointed that 51% didn't know? Similarly, pleased that 57% knew a bishop moves diagonally or disappointed 43% didn't know? I was a bit surprised that only 20% knew Fischer and 6% Deep Blue, but not at all surprised that only 1% knew of FIDE.

Really? That means c. 600,000 British people did know! Halve it to eliminate children, the insane, and obsessive football supporters. That makes 300,000 Brits who have heard of FIDE. Frankly, this is alarming!