Silly Christmas quiz

[Jonathan Rogers]

It's Christmas, and so here is the occasional end of year quiz, not to be taken too seriously. Why do I even write it? I have no idea. But here it is.

1 RIP those legends, then. But did Korchnoi and Taimanov have more wives and children than individual wins over Karpov?

2 What was familiar, in recent years, about England’s performance in the Open Olympiad in Baku?
a) They beat China
b) They beat Azerbaijan
c) Three team members did very well, whilst two had a disaster, including the board two
d) They finished in the top ten

3 What is the hair colour of the arbiter who wished to search Nigel Short during his game against China?

4 Which court judgement this year was adverse to Kasparov, and which one was favourable?

5 Who won the ECF Player of the Year award, costing the bookmakers millions of pounds in a year which they will want to forget for all sorts of reasons?

6 Did anyone else play in the British, apart from Michael Adams? Who in particular did not play, when one might have expected him to do so? Who became Women’s Champion?

7 Sherlock Holmes’ dog in the night: how many English players were formally awarded IM or GM titles this year?

8 Is it a good thing that the UK Chess Challenge is now being managed by a chess playing lawyer, married to an accountant?
a) All things considered, yes, yes, and OMG yes
b) Sadly yes, but that Michael Basman was kind of memorable, though
c) Yes, if the whole event actually starts get significant numbers of children still playing chess beyond the age of 12

9 Which of the following would you most like to do? And least?
a) Listen to a speech by Karjakin on the merits of Vladimir Putin
b) Listen to an explanation by Nakamura of the touch-move incident in the candidates
c) Draft a statement by Ilyumzhinov as to why he is not allowed to enter the USA
d) Write a letter of complaint every time someone in the mass media claims that there are 600 million chess players in the world

10 What is the most likely novelty, in recent times, in the year 2018 (yes, 2018)?
a) Someone outside the current top six will play for England in the Open Olympiad
b) Yorkshire will not win the Counties Final
c) There will be one Irish, one Scottish and one Welsh team in the first division of 4NCL
d) No Berlins in the World Championship match?

[JustinHorton]

4 is CAS and ECHR, I think

[IM Jack Rudd]

10 c) This may depend on which teams you are willing to categorise as Welsh.