Chess Questions in Quiz Programmes

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John Clarke
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Re: Chess Questions in Quiz Programmes

Post by John Clarke » Sun Dec 19, 2021 9:07 pm

Stewart Reuben wrote:
Thu Dec 16, 2021 5:49 pm
Again, on Who wants to be a millionaire? many of the contestants seem unaware of how to gamble. e.g. They have just the 50/50 lifeline left. They have no idea about the correct answer. They should reduce the answers to one correct and one incorrect. Then the odd are always better than even money, especially with the additional chance you may actually know the next answer. That is except the £1 million as then there is no next answer.
Instead people chicken out. I realise for many people they have never before been involved with such large sums. So now they are disobeying the First Law of Gambling - never gamble with money you cannot afford to lose. But some of the sums are derisory, perhaps as little as £10,000.
With most forms of gambling, funds permitting, there's always another hand/throw/race/pull of the handle/whatever. On Millionaire you only get the one game, so I don't see playing the odds there as a practical proposition (except of course for the "free shots" when you're going after $2,000 or $64,000).
"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.)

Stewart Reuben
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Re: Chess Questions in Quiz Programmes

Post by Stewart Reuben » Sun Dec 19, 2021 11:24 pm

Comments have led me to realise that, when I wrote £10,000 as being derisory, I meant in terms of the game. You start of playing for £1 million. 1% of that is, to me very low.

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Joey Stewart
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Re: Chess Questions in Quiz Programmes

Post by Joey Stewart » Mon Dec 20, 2021 2:34 am

Talking about derisory sums it amuses me how often on the chase a player has a mediocre round and gets offered an especially low amount and the rest of the team tells them it was an insult - I find myself thinking do they really not know how good these quizzers are, they have ever right to insult you with offers when their knowledge ranks them in the top 1% of all humanity
Lose one queen and it is a disaster, Lose 1000 queens and it is just a statistic.

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: Chess Questions in Quiz Programmes

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Mon Dec 20, 2021 6:55 pm

Which makes it all the better when they turn down the "insulting" offer and still get through.
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)

LawrenceCooper
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Re: Chess Questions in Quiz Programmes

Post by LawrenceCooper » Mon Dec 20, 2021 8:44 pm

I don't know enough about Bitcoin to know if the prize fund in this tournament is derisory: https://lichess.org/tournament/WMEZdyxr ... sxFlIIbrSk

Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Chess Questions in Quiz Programmes

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Tue Dec 21, 2021 12:19 am

At present 1 bitcoin is allegedly worth about £36000, but it does fluctuate a bit, and it might be regarded as a bit shady

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Joey Stewart
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Re: Chess Questions in Quiz Programmes

Post by Joey Stewart » Tue Dec 21, 2021 12:22 am

It's amazing, bitcoin had fluctuated between £20,000 and £40,000 over the last year - this guy must be absolutely raking it in with YouTube videos to be able to offer such generous prizes, if I were a super GM I would definitely be clearing my schedule tomorrow no matter what it was!
Lose one queen and it is a disaster, Lose 1000 queens and it is just a statistic.

LawrenceCooper
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Re: Chess Questions in Quiz Programmes

Post by LawrenceCooper » Tue Dec 21, 2021 8:38 am

Joey Stewart wrote:
Tue Dec 21, 2021 12:22 am
It's amazing, bitcoin had fluctuated between £20,000 and £40,000 over the last year - this guy must be absolutely raking it in with YouTube videos to be able to offer such generous prizes, if I were a super GM I would definitely be clearing my schedule tomorrow no matter what it was!
"IMPORTANT : To receive the prizes, winners must have verified accounts on cakedefi.com/ as they are sponsoring and distributing the prizes."

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Joey Stewart
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Re: Chess Questions in Quiz Programmes

Post by Joey Stewart » Wed Dec 22, 2021 12:27 pm

Looks like cakedefi made out like bandits on this deal - they got lots of publicity and new accounts and then lichess crashed mid tournament so they didn't even have to pay that bitcoin out.
Lose one queen and it is a disaster, Lose 1000 queens and it is just a statistic.

Simon Rogers
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Re: Chess Questions in Quiz Programmes

Post by Simon Rogers » Wed Dec 29, 2021 7:38 pm

Tonight's episode of The Weakest Link on BBC1 6.30pm to 7.15pm. Celebrity edition.
The presenter Romesh Ranganathan asked the actress Lesley Joseph (Dorien Green in Birds of a Feather):
What B is a chess piece that moves diagonally?
Lesley replied "Pawn".
She lost the team £750 by breaking the chain.
Romesh asked her at the end of the round why she had got it wrong and Lesley said she misheard.
Lesley then admitted that she plays chess and had played chess all her life.
Romesh then said "the team has now established that you play chess."
Lesley was voted off and after the walk of shame said again how she plays chess.

Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Chess Questions in Quiz Programmes

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Wed Dec 29, 2021 8:09 pm

"The presenter Romesh Ranganathan asked the actress Lesley Joseph (Dorien Green in Birds of a Feather):
What B is a chess piece that moves diagonally?
Lesley replied "Pawn".
She lost the team £750 by breaking the chain.
Romesh asked her at the end of the round why she had got it wrong and Lesley said she misheard."

Does Romesh mumble? B and P sound similar.

Someone who went on a celebrity version of Weakest Link when Anne Robinson was in charge, said he gave a stupid answer as she dropped her voice at the end of the sentence so he misheard.

Those of us who are at all deaf do sympathise.

Nick Ivell
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Re: Chess Questions in Quiz Programmes

Post by Nick Ivell » Wed Dec 29, 2021 8:24 pm

To be precise, a piece that ONLY moves diagonally.

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John Clarke
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Re: Chess Questions in Quiz Programmes

Post by John Clarke » Wed Dec 29, 2021 9:12 pm

Enunciation is so important, especially in a fast-moving format, and too often just isn't good enough. Bradley Walsh is a lovely fella (we get The Chase out here in NZ - sometimes Australia's less successful version as well) but omigosh he can can be hard to make out at times. "Which group had a hi' wiv Begsteeyaborr?" went one question in the final rapid-fire segment. Eh??

And yes, inflection can leave a lot to be desired too. If I had one gripe with the host of NZ's Mastermind, it was that sometimes he'd give the impression that he'd finished the question, and you ended up interrupting him, provoking a frosty time-consuming rebuke.
"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.)

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Joey Stewart
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Re: Chess Questions in Quiz Programmes

Post by Joey Stewart » Wed Dec 29, 2021 10:59 pm

There is a very fine art to being a quiz host in speed rounds, too slow and you disadvantage the contestants but too fast and you risk being difficult to understand. Also, the setters have a lot to answer for when it comes to screwing contestants - long and overly wordy questions waste a lot of time and can be quite noticeable if they are intermixed with short conscience ones (mastermind particularly guilty of this if they feel a specialist subject is too easy)
Lose one queen and it is a disaster, Lose 1000 queens and it is just a statistic.

Simon Rogers
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Re: Chess Questions in Quiz Programmes

Post by Simon Rogers » Tue Jan 18, 2022 8:19 pm

Only Connect BBC2 8pm to 8.30pm
28th December 2021
Connections wall:
Weeknight, Mocking, Spawn, Brook
The team managed to find the link that all the words end in a chess piece.

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