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Quiz about Chess Part XII
Quiz about Chess Part XII

Chess Part XII Trivia Quiz


My quiz has nothing to do with strategies, but is a fun test to see how good your chess logic is. You should open a chess program or set up a board if you can't hold the positions in your mind.

A multiple-choice quiz by iggy4. Estimated time: 7 mins.
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Author
iggy4
Time
7 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
260,076
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
5 / 10
Plays
553
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. From the starting position, what is the least number of moves it could possibly take to reach a position where Black has nine dark-squared bishops?

Answer: (two-digit numeral between 30 and 45)
Question 2 of 10
2. How many moves are in the shortest possible game where White is checkmated by Black's light-squared bishop?

Answer: (numeral)
Question 3 of 10
3. How many moves are in the shortest possible game where White's king is mated on its original square, but none of White's kingside pawns have moved?

Answer: (numeral)
Question 4 of 10
4. Black and White have only made 5 moves in a game, and White has already lost his queen and both his rooks to the same Black piece. Which of Black's pieces had to have taken all White's major pieces? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Imagine an empty board with just two kings. What is the most number of Black queens you could place on the board so that the White king isn't in check?
Queens are unlimited and the kings can be anywhere.

Answer: (numeral between 4 and 64)
Question 6 of 10
6. Which of these piece combinations cannot checkmate a king without the help of their own king? The checkmated king cannot have any other pieces, and the checkmate doesn't have to be forced. Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. On a completely empty board, what is the most number of rooks you can place so that not every square is threatened? Rooks are unlimited.

Answer: (numeral between 4 and 64)
Question 8 of 10
8. Imagine an empty board with just two kings. What is the most number of Black knights you can place so that the White king is not in check? Knights are unlimited and the kings can be anywhere.

Answer: (numeral between 6 and 64)
Question 9 of 10
9. On an empty board, which of these squares is the most knight moves away from e4? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. How many different types of pieces can have exactly 7 move options when they are the only piece on a completely empty board?
So if all pieces can have 7 move options, your answer would be 6 since there are 6 different types of pieces.

Answer: (numeral between 0 and 6)

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. From the starting position, what is the least number of moves it could possibly take to reach a position where Black has nine dark-squared bishops?

Answer: 44

It takes 5 moves to promote a pawn, so it takes Black 20 moves to promote four pawns to same-color bishops. It would take 20 more moves to promote the last four pawns, but there are only four dark squares on White's back rank, so Black must spend 4 extra moves moving his promoted bishops out of the way to get 4 new dark-squared bishops.
20 + 20 + 4 = 44 moves to get nine dark squared bishops. My example is too long to put here, but the problem isn't really that hard if you think about it logically.
2. How many moves are in the shortest possible game where White is checkmated by Black's light-squared bishop?

Answer: 4

It cannot be done in less than 4 moves because it takes Black at least two moves to develop his bishop, at least one move to get another piece to accompany the bishop in the mate, and another move to deliver checkmate. If you try to mate White with only the bishop, then it will take White a lot more moves to set himself up for mate.
One possible game is 1. e3 d5 2. Ke2 Qd6 3. Kf3 Nf6 4. a3 Bg4#
3. How many moves are in the shortest possible game where White's king is mated on its original square, but none of White's kingside pawns have moved?

Answer: 3

The 2-move checkmate can only be done if White advances his kingside pawns, so 3 has to be correct.
(1.d4 e5 2.Bg5 Qxg5 3.Qc1 Qxc1#)
4. Black and White have only made 5 moves in a game, and White has already lost his queen and both his rooks to the same Black piece. Which of Black's pieces had to have taken all White's major pieces?

Answer: knight or rook

Neither a bishop nor a queen can take all 3 major pieces in just 5 moves. It takes at least 6 moves for a bishop or queen to do it. Because of the squares the queen or bishop controls at the beginning, White cannot hang his major pieces on those squares quick enough.
Examples of how a knight or rook can do it are:
(1.e4 Nf6 2.Qg4 Nxg4 3.a4 Nxf2 4.Ra3 Nxh1 5.Rg3 Nxg3)
(1.e4 h5 2.Qxh5 Rxh5 3.a4 Rxh2 4.Ra3 Rxh1 5.Rh3 Rxh3)
5. Imagine an empty board with just two kings. What is the most number of Black queens you could place on the board so that the White king isn't in check? Queens are unlimited and the kings can be anywhere.

Answer: 47

The White king needs to be somewhere where it can avoid the most queens. Let's just say the White king is on h1 even though it can be in any corner. There are 21 squares a queen move away from h1. Including the White king's square, there are 22 squares a queen cannot be. 64 minus 22 is 42, so you can place 42 queens on the board where none of them attack a specific corner. Most people would answer 42, but you can actually place 5 more queens on the board. If you put the Black king on f1, h3, or f3, then five new squares can now have queens since the Black king is blocking them from checking the White king.
6. Which of these piece combinations cannot checkmate a king without the help of their own king? The checkmated king cannot have any other pieces, and the checkmate doesn't have to be forced.

Answer: rook and bishop

Consider the mated king to be on a1 in these scenarios.
Ka1 Ra2 Nc3 is mate with rook and knight.
Ka1 Bc3 Bb3 Bd3 is mate with three bishops.
Ka1 Nc3 Nb3 Nd3 is mate with three knights.
It's physically impossible to mate with just a rook and bishop, even if the king is trying to be mated.
7. On a completely empty board, what is the most number of rooks you can place so that not every square is threatened? Rooks are unlimited.

Answer: 50

You can place 49 rooks in a 7x7 square with corners (a1, a7, g1, and g7). The square h8 will not be threatened. You can then place 1 more rook on h8.
Or you can just consider the fact that rooks always have 14 move options on an empty board, and just subtract 14 from 64 squares.
8. Imagine an empty board with just two kings. What is the most number of Black knights you can place so that the White king is not in check? Knights are unlimited and the kings can be anywhere.

Answer: 61

If the White king is in the corner, then there are only 2 squares a knight move away from it. One of the squares should be empty and the other square contains the Black king. The remaining 61 squares can have knights.
9. On an empty board, which of these squares is the most knight moves away from e4?

Answer: c2

It takes a knight at least 4 moves to get from e4 to c2. (e4-f6-d5-e3-c2)

It takes a knight only 1 move to get to c5 from e4, and 3 moves to get to e3 (e4-f6-d5-e3) or e7 (e4-d6-f5-e7).
10. How many different types of pieces can have exactly 7 move options when they are the only piece on a completely empty board? So if all pieces can have 7 move options, your answer would be 6 since there are 6 different types of pieces.

Answer: 1

The bishop has 7 move options when it's in a corner. The rook always has 14 move options no matter what. The king can have 8, 5, or 3 depending on where it is. The pawn will always have less than 7 move options, while the queen will always have more than 7. The knight can have 8, 6, 4, 3 or 2, but never 7.
Source: Author iggy4

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor ozzz2002 before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
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