The wrong confession...perhaps?

[MJMcCready]

Unbelievable, e4bestbytest has scored 100%. I am assuming this person is a chess journalist or something.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Well, I'd expect very active chess players on the international scene to score 100% here.

The other thing is that it is easy to cheat by doing the quiz once with a fake name (making a note of the answers) and then to do the quiz again (using your real name) and claim to be really good at it (though that is incredibly pointless). That both uses up the quota of players, and is just wrong. A special place in hell reserved for people who do that!

(Of course, people who do the quiz more than once because they want to see the questions again, that does use up the number of people taking part, but is maybe more understandable. A lot of social goodwill needed here and assumptions of good faith.)

[MJMcCready]

Agreed. You do get some who go to extraordinary lengths to get ahead but they are usually a very small minority. Well it was fun making it anyway. I think female players is likely to be the next one.

[Joey Stewart]

If you make an impossible quiz you invite cheats - there are probably several of those names who are the same player taking it repeatedly until they get the right answer

[MJMcCready]

I hope not.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Well, these Russians they do like a drink and become unruly themselves so we don't know what he did for it to happen, probably he caused it (good thing he wasn't bald in those days). At least he didn't jump through a window like Lembet Oll did.

Lembit Oll was, of course, not a Russian.

[Jonathan Bryant]

It would take a bit more work, but maybe famous chess positions?

Many moons ago Matthew Sadler appeared on an ITV Saturday* evening programme called You Bet.
Various people came on to do certain unlikely feats. The celeb panel had to bet on whether they could do it or not.

Sadler’s task was to identify 50 (I think) chess positions - players year and venue - in a couple of minutes.

Iirc he did it.

[Roger de Coverly]

Sadler’s task was to identify 50 (I think) chess positions - players year and venue - in a couple of minutes.

It was positions from Fischer's games. It was made easier that they confined the test to MSMG. Sadler could probably have reeled off Fischer's comments as well.

[Nick Ivell]

You don't have to be a genius to do that. I could probably have done it myself, as I know Fischer's games inside out.

[Joey Stewart]

I would back the memory of a GM against any normal human being - photographic memories are the one common feature you can guarantee to find in every holder of that title!

[NickFaulks]

I would back the memory of a GM against any normal human being - photographic memories are the one common feature you can guarantee to find in every holder of that title!

I could name one certain counterexample, but I know what you mean. It must make chess so much easier!

[Jonathan Bryant]

Sadler’s task was to identify 50 (I think) chess positions - players year and venue - in a couple of minutes.

It was positions from Fischer's games. It was made easier that they confined the test to MSMG. Sadler could probably have reeled off Fischer's comments as well.

Ah yes. I’d forgotten you mentioned that when we discussed it before.


Remembering positions from famous games is probably something a lot of amateurs could do just by being interested.

There was a video of Carlsen supposedly showing his enormous memory for positions. In truth - I got 4 of the 6 too.

Of course the extent he could do this is much greater than anything I could do. But get the right period / right games and I think most of us would do pretty well with that kind of test.

[Roger de Coverly]

Remembering positions from famous games is probably something a lot of amateurs could do just by being interested.

It's the patterns as well. There was a televised test on Nigel Short once. If they showed him a position for teconds, he could recall it provided it was a plausible game position. Place pieces and pawns at random on the board and he couldn't. Argaubly that's because you see familar structures, so there's a lot less to remember. With random placing you have to remember the whereabouts of up to 32 items or the contents of 64 squares.

[MJMcCready]

Sadler’s task was to identify 50 (I think) chess positions - players year and venue - in a couple of minutes.

It was positions from Fischer's games. It was made easier that they confined the test to MSMG. Sadler could probably have reeled off Fischer's comments as well.

Yes correct, and also that show was very big in its day. Primetime weekend tv.

[MJMcCready]

You don't have to be a genius to do that. I could probably have done it myself, as I know Fischer's games inside out.

Many do although if I am honest, after all these years I just can't see what all the attraction is in that guy. Tal I can kind of understand but Fischer not really tbh.

Just a thought.