English Chess Forum

Well, the forum as a whole is the ultimate arbiter on that one I would say.

Putting the weirdest twist yet on things, would any of you guys believe that Question Fourteen, correctly answered by a retired GP to win 500K on Millionaire? a few days ago, was the very same Question Thirteen that Ingram answered correctly en route to his million!?

Only that was Ingram Wilcox. In 2006.

Most quiz shows are known to repeat questions, they just have different policies, for example, a question cannot be repeated in the same season. If you ever watched 15-1 avidly over the years, you'd find that many questions were repeated. The only chess related question I can remember on that show was 'Who was the first official world chess champion?' I believe the answer given was bobby fischer.

MJMcCready wrote: ↑

Wed May 27, 2020 12:27 pm

If you ever watched 15-1 avidly over the years, you'd find that many questions were repeated. The only chess related question I can remember on that show was 'Who was the first official world chess champion?' I believe the answer given was bobby fischer.

By the contestant not the quizmaster, I hope.

"By the contestant not the quizmaster, I hope."

I like it! I'm sure in William G Stewart's days, there were not many errors. I'm not sure Sandi's team is so good.

I recommend this https://historyproject.org.uk/interview/ann-meo if you're interested in correctness of quiz answers (there's a transcript if you don't want to listen to it). It's quite lengthy, but old-timers like me will probably enjoy her views on Michael Miles and Hughie Green.

Ah well, the three part TV drama, QUIZ, inspired by Bad Show, aired on ITV on April 13, 14 and 15 2020, will air in the USA on May 31st 2020 and then the next two Sundays.

Stay tuned for more fall out.

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Wed May 27, 2020 3:06 pm

"By the contestant not the quizmaster, I hope."

I like it! I'm sure in William G Stewart's days, there were not many errors. I'm not sure Sandi's team is so good.

I recommend this https://historyproject.org.uk/interview/ann-meo if you're interested in correctness of quiz answers (there's a transcript if you don't want to listen to it). It's quite lengthy, but old-timers like me will probably enjoy her views on Michael Miles and Hughie Green.

There was more errors than most shows if not all courtesy of the quick-fire questions and the sheer amount to get through each episode. In some cases William.G.Stewart didn't read the answer correctly, and on other times the questions were amibgious.

It was a great show and perhaps a better example of general knowledge as you sometimes got questions that were so broad it was very hard to answer them. You needed much more knowledge to win that show than who wants to become a millionaire. So much so, the two are practically incomparable.

The only chess related question I have ever seen appear on Who wants to be a millionaire?' was a while back. It was the first question, the £100 question. The question was which unofficial world chess champion claimed soon after he'd finished his pints at the bar he would become the official world champion and play the Leningrad Dutch with the white pieces in every game and the danish gambit with the black pieces in every game, concluding that it would be a doddle without requiring any preparation.

Was it:

A Eric Bristow.
B Alex 'hurricane' Higgins
C Graham Gooch
D Nigel Mansell

Any thoughts other than 'oh Mark's off on one again'?

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Wed May 27, 2020 3:06 pm

I recommend this https://historyproject.org.uk/interview/ann-meo if you're interested in correctness of quiz answers (there's a transcript if you don't want to listen to it). It's quite lengthy, but old-timers like me will probably enjoy her views on Michael Miles and Hughie Green.

Thanks for flagging that, Kevin. My gosh, so much I can comment on there, but it'll have to keep for now (and be severely edited before I post it). Haven't had a chance to plough through the whole thing yet.

Given that so many are interested in this thread, why don't we create our own 'Who wants to be a millionaire?'. But have it chess themed? Just imagine how that would set the imagination of the general British public on fire. It's bound to have at least 50 million viewers each episode...probably a lot more than that maybe 100 million even though there aren't anywhere near that many Brits.

MJMcCready wrote: ↑

Thu May 28, 2020 3:50 pm

Given that so many are interested in this thread, why don't we create our own 'Who wants to be a millionaire?'. But have it chess themed? Just imagine how that would set the imagination of the general British public on fire. It's bound to have at least 50 million viewers each episode...probably a lot more than that maybe 100 million even though there aren't anywhere near that many Brits.

Yes, I did think that asking for the first official World Chess Champion on 15 to 1 was tough for that type of show but perfect for, say, the £1000 question on your chess themed 'Millionaire'. I wonder what the pre-£1000, rather fatuous chess questions would be? 'Is chess played on A a sword B a hoard C a board D a cord?'
More interestingly, how often has something chessy been a specialist subject on 'Mastermind'?

Paul Habershon wrote: ↑

Thu May 28, 2020 5:39 pm

Yes, I did think that asking for the first official World Chess Champion on 15 to 1 was tough for that type of show but perfect for, say, the £1000 question on your chess themed 'Millionaire'.

If you threw in plausible but wrong answers like Staunton, Zukertort and Lasker, isn't that a question for higher up the ladder?

It's now long enough ago and knowledge of recent history seemingly that patchy that a question asking who Fischer beat in the 1972 World Championship final might be plausible. Wrong answers perhaps being Petrosian, Karpov and Korchnoi. Throw in Kasparov to make it easier (?).

"More interestingly, how often has something chessy been a specialist subject on 'Mastermind'?"

There have been some, but I can't remember details.

One example was the career of Tigran Petrosian, IIRC.

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Thu May 28, 2020 7:04 pm

"More interestingly, how often has something chessy been a specialist subject on 'Mastermind'?"

There have been some, but I can't remember details.

The World CHess Championship matches did appear at some point in the 90s but that's about all I could say, some of the questions were very difficult indeed, I remember thinking I got barely half right.