CITL Festival + Quizzes

The Chess in the Library Festival yesterday was awesome! We have an amazing, new executive team, and a great year to come. Everyone should pitch into this program - we're hoping to build a nationwide movement for the benefit of kids, families, and chess fans everywhere!

Website: http://www.chessinthelibrary.com/

I had the honour of hosting the CITL activities. We had a puzzle contest, a CITL quiz, and a fun chess quiz. The puzzles were derived from http://homepage.ntlworld.com/adam.bozon/ChessPuzzles.htm (some were slightly modified, since we had five levels of difficulty). I will be posting the quiz questions here. Answers will be posted in a few days.

Thanks so much to Lennart, Stefan, and other volunteers who helped set up the puzzles/quizzes + assist the kids. Thanks to WIM Yuanling and CITL sponsors for providing twelve chess book prizes. With your help, the events were very successful.

Thanks also to GM Mark Bluvshtein for making a stellar speech on behalf of volunteers...including a joke about broccoli :) Eat broccoli and play chess!!! Mark's blog: http://markbluvshtein.wordpress.com/

Congrats North York Central Library for taking home the big trophy! Both the library and the trophy are beautiful - a good match!

Now for the quizzes:

CITL Quiz

1. What colour is CITL's logo?
2. How many library branches does CITL currently operate in?
3. Who is President of CITL?
4. Name three branches and leaders of those branches.
5. Name three provinces CITL operates in.
6. What year did CITL start operating and what was its first branch?
7. What library branch won last year's festival?
8. Find the names of five CITL participants + something cool about them!
9. In what town did CITL most recently open?
10. What's one thing you like about CITL?

Top score at the festival: 10/10
Second highest: 8/10

Fun Chess Quiz

1. When was chess invented?

a) Millions of years ago
b) Thousands of years ago
c) Hundreds of years ago
d) Yesterday

2. In May 2011, who was the top ranked chess player in the world (FIDE rating 2817)?

a) GM Garry Kasparov
b) GM Magnus Carlsen
c) GM Viswanathan Anand
d) GM Hikaru Nakamura

3. One of the following is not a true chess variant. Which is it?

a) Hedgehog Chess
b) Bomb Chess
c) Bug Eyed Monster Chess
d) Chicken Chess

4. “Scacchi” means chess in what language?

a) Greek
b) Spanish
c) Italian
d) Chicken Language

5. The longest game of chess ever played lasted how many moves?

a) Between 100 and 150 moves
b) Between 150 and 200 moves
c) Between 200 and 250 moves
d) More than 250 moves

6. What does ECO stand for?

a) Educational Chess Organization
b) Encyclopedia of Chess Openings
c) Early Childhood Opportunities
d) Easy Candle Oils

7. What is a “pig” in chess?

a) A player that eats too much before a game
b) An isolated pawn deep in the opponent’s territory
c) A move that wins a lot of material
d) A rook on the 7th rank

8. Who said “chess is life”?

a) GM Bobby Fischer
b) GM Anatoly Karpov
c) GM Mark Bluvshtein
d) GM Alexander Alekhine

9. What did the USSR (around Russia) ban in 1930?

a) Simultaneous Chess
b) Correspondence Chess
c) Blind Chess
d) All Chess

10. Which chess piece was once called an “asp”?

a) Pawn
b) Knight
c) Rook
d) King

11. Which country was the first to issue a stamp with a chess theme?

a) Poland
b) Armenia
c) United States
d) Bulgaria

12. How many possible positions exist after white and black make their first move?

a) 200
b) 300
c) 400
d) 500

13. The first game between astronauts in space and people on earth ended in a:

a) win for the astronauts
b) win for people on earth
c) draw
d) crash

14. GM Judit Polgar’s husband held what type of job?

a) magician
b) construction worker
c) veterinarian
d) plumber

15. GM Alexander Alekhine found what kind of animal to be good luck?

a) cat
b) dog
c) rabbit
d) elephant

Top score at the festival: 7/15
Second highest: 6/15
Top score by a volunteer: 8/15

THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONE WHO MADE THIS EVENT POSSIBLE! KEEP SUPPORTING CHESS IN CANADA!

Twisted Tuesday - Chess Puzzles

Brad Schaefer, a past MIT student, held campus-wide puzzle competitions, including a few chess puzzle selections. What a cool idea!

Find his work here: http://www.mit.edu/~puzzle/hunthistory.html

Twisted Tuesday - Puzzle Link, F.M. Answers

Try some puzzles at this link: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/adam.bozon/ChessPuzzles.htm

Answers to "Facial Matters" - how many did you guess?

Vassily Ivanchuk Michael Adams Alexandra Kosteniuk
Magnus Carlsen
Levon Aronian

Twisted Tuesday - Puzzles

These are the puzzles I selected for the OGCC this past weekend (+ added the rhymes). Try them for yourself!

Kindergarten - Grade 1
"I really want to take the knight, but after 2. Kc2 the game is tight. Can I win material in three? Help me, help me, what can you see?"


Grade 2
"When I got his queen, my advantage grew. Now I have mate in two!"


Grade 3
"Two knights patiently wait, for the next two moves become checkmate!"


Grade 4
"My access to black's king seems quite low. But wait, isn't he on the back row?"


Grade 5
"A few moves here and there - I'm sure to get to his king - beware!"


Grade 6
"Now we're starting to get in the groove. Tell me, tell me, what's the best move?"


Grade 7 - 8
"Pieces, pieces, point east and west. Which move here is the best?"


Grade 9 - 12
"A couple ways to end this game. More or less, the checkmate's the same."

On another "bizarre" note...

"The most incredible and bizarre draws"

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More available in this collection:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1006424

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1339137

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Upmark - Johansson, 1995 (10 moves)
Hohmeister - Frank, 1993 (12 moves)

Puzzle Per Day on Facebook

Get a cool interactive puzzle each day at http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=20618542088 (must have a facebook account)

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Today's puzzle...White to move & mate in 4

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Chess Puzzle

USSR (Spassky...black) vs. the Rest of the World (Larsen...white)

Belgrade, 1970
Black to move and win.

Chess Puzzle

White to move. Force mate in two moves!

Selfmate!

White to move and selfmate in 6 moves.

Here is the link to the solution: http://www.problemonline.com/F0034.htm

Someone had a bit too much free time...

I found this interesting youtube video based on selfmates (puzzles in which you attempt to force mate onto yourself).

The puzzle: Selfmate in 222 moves!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKXGd6PUgok&feature=related

Chess Puzzle (White to Move)

A guy named Gilles Charleux posted this position. Mate in 21!

Another Chess Puzzle (White to Move)

Cute position. Mate in 2.

Chess Puzzle (White to Move)

I came across this puzzle and found it quite interesting. Mate in 5.

White to move, Mate in 2

Susan Polgar created this problem at age 4!

Reader Input --> Puzzle!

Submitted by Predrag Putic!

White to Move (Challenge for Advanced)

Of course I wouldn't let you off easy! Clue: The theme is pins, 2 moves to mate. Very pretty!

Black to Move (Challenge for Beginners)

Not so difficult, but pretty! 2 moves to mate.

Try this Puzzle :)

This is another favourite! So many ways to attack...only one way to win!

Try this Puzzle :)

Try this Puzzle :)

This was a childhood favourite of mine. You may have seen it before, but I just had to put it on my blog! White to move. Force a checkmate in three moves.