The Presidents Christmas Quiz

The evenings are getting longer so it must be time for the quiz. Two points for a correct answer, one for what is in my view  partially correct . It's only a bit of fun so don't take it too seriously but there is a prize for the highest score by a bona fide (geddit?) Marple member, namely "White King and Red Queen" by Daniel Johnson (Atlantic Books £22.00). Entries to me by the 2nd of January please.

1 As a warm up see if you  can do better than one of my nine year old students who solved this in less than ten seconds and then prompted by the startled  look on my face gave me the variations to prove it wasn't a lucky guess.
White has Ral, Kc8 and pawn at b6. Black has Bb8,Ka8 and pawns at a7 & b7. It's White to play and mate in two.

2 But enough of this frippery let's get on to the serious stuff. Who was the only participant at the Hastings 1895 tournament without facial hair?

3 Here's the start of  my favourite game in 2014 played by two very experienced GMs. 1d4 f5 2Bg5 g6
3e3 Nh6 4h4 Nf7 5Bf4 d6 6Nf3Nd7 7Bc4 Bg7 8Bf7: Kf7; 9Ng5 Kf6 10Nc3 c6 11Qf3 e5. What did White play now?

4"Like the moon but colder" was Michael Steans description of the venue of which chess event?

5 What building was the 1995 world chess championship match played in?

6 Heres a game played on New Years Day 1955 - 1c4 Nf6 2Nc3 e6 3Nf3 c5 4e3 d5 5d4 Nc6 6Bd3 a6 70-0 dc: 8Bc4: b5 9Bb3 Bb7 10Qe2 cd: 11Rd1 d3 12Rd3 Qc7 13e4 Be7 14Bg5 h6 15Bh4 Nh5 16Bg3 Ng3 17hg: 0-0 18Re1 Rfd8 19Rd8 Rd8 20Nd5 ed 21ed Bf6 22dc Qc6: 23Rd1 Rd1 24Qd1 a5 25Qd2 a4 26Bc2 g5 27g4 Qc4 28Bf5 Kg7 29a3 Qb3 30Qd7 Bd5 0-1.
Name the players please.   What - you  want some clues? OK, well White was born less than two miles from where I'm writing this. What can I say about Black....Hmm well I was I was saddened to hear that his Wife Maria died on the 31st of October this year.

7 According to Suetin who said "You must always play on the edge of the abyss"?

8 In 1972 Viktor Korchnoi gave a simul at Marple Chess Club, he stayed at Don Swifts house! The only player to beat VK was Clifford Hilton but he did concede draws to Vic Knox and which Marple player?

9 Which World Championship challenger used to routinely annotate 3...Nf6 with a ? in the sequence 1d4 d5 2c4 e6 3Nc3 Nf6 ?

10 This is probably my favourite position with both sides only having one pawn each. White Kb4, pawn b2, Black Kh6, pawn g7. Its White to play. What should he do and what should the result be with best play?

11 The Noteboom  (some prefer Abrahams) variation is becoming popular with some of our players. How old was Daniel Noteboom when he died?

12  The following game was played at Queen odds on the 17th of September 1893. (Remove Whites Queen from d1) 1e4 e5 2Nf3 Nf6 3Ne5 Ne4 4d4 d6 5Nf3 Be7 6Bd3 Nf6 7c4 0-0 8Nc3 Nc6 9a3 a6 10Bd2 b6 11 0-0-0 Bd7 12Kb1 Na5 13Rc1 Nb3 14Rc2 c5 15d5 Re8 16h4 b5 17g4 Nd4 18Nd4 cd: 19Ne4 bc: 20Nf6:+ Bf6: 21Bc4: Bg4: 22Bd3 Bf3  23Rh3 Bd5: 24h5 Be6 25Rg3 g6 26f4 Bh4 27Rg1 Kh8 28f5 Bf5: 29Bf5: gf: 30Bh6 Rg8 31Rcg2 Rg2: 32Rg2: Qf6 33Bg7+ Qg7: 34Rg7: Kg7: 35Kc2 Kf6 36Kd3 Ke5 37h6 f4 38Ke2 0-1.
You may be wondering why this game has any significance - Black didn't really need the extra Queen. However I think Blacks play in this game may be one of the greatest achievements in the history of chess. Why?

13 Black in this game played in about 1920 is Brian Harley, chess editor of the Observer. It shows why Kramnik doesn't take on d4 in the Berlin. 1e4 e5 2Nf3 Nc6 3Bb5 Nf6 40-0 Ne4 5d4 ed 6Nd4 Nd6 7Re1+ Be7 8Qg4 Nd4: 9Qd4: Nb5: 10Qg7: Rf8 11Bh6 d5 12Qf8:+ Kd7 13Qf7: Kd6 14Re7: 1-0.
Who was White? What - another clue? OK, well he wasn't well known as a chess player but reached the top of the greasy pole in his  chosen profession.

14 Alex's 16/16 in the Stockport League last season was an awesome achievement but at the Berlin tournament of 1885 who scored 34/34?

15 And finally which  novel finishes with -

"It was night. I went home and put my old house clothes on and set the chessmen out and mixed a drink and played over another Capablanca. It went 59 moves. Beautiful cold remorseless chess, almost creepy in its silent implacability.
When it was done I listened at the open window for a while and smelled the night. Then I carried my glass out to the kitchen and rinsed it and filled it with ice water and stood at the sink sipping it and looking at my face in the mirror.

"You and Capablanca" I said"