QUIZ 30 - QUESTIONS

by Chris Bray

Independent Christmas Quiz 2008



Saturday Magazine

(Published in conjunction with The Independent on Saturday 20th December 2008)

 

Welcome, welcome to the Independent Christmas Quiz. Are you tired of making small talk with that aunt from Barnstaple? Bored already with your five new pairs of socks? Don’t want to see if Steve McQueen finally makes it onto the train in ‘The Great Escape’? If your answers are yes, yes and yes then you are in the right place.

This quiz should see you through the Christmas holiday and maybe beyond as it’s just that little bit tricky! I set a couple of quizzes earlier this year and was pleasantly surprised by the strength of the response. Given that so many people got the last quiz correct I thought the time had come for a somewhat more fiendish test of backgammon knowledge and this is it.

There are twelve questions to match the twelve days of Christmas with a different number of points awarded to each answer depending upon the difficulty of the question. There are a total of 270 points available. Even if you can’t answer all the questions it could well be worth be sending in your entry as I will be very impressed if anybody gets a perfect score.

Answers must be submitted to me at chris.bray@btconnect.com no later than Saturday 3rd January with winners being announced the following week.

There are two prizes of £30 each which can be taken in any one of four ways:

1) As a credit towards entry into Backgammon in London tournaments
2) As a credit at Chris Ternel’s excellent www.bgshop.com
3) As a 90 minute backgammon lesson with myself
4) As any two of my five published books

As with all competitions the judge’s decision is final. The only clue I will give you before you set out is that it helps to be well-read in terms of backgammon bibliography and if you have attended my seminars over the years that might prove useful as well.
 

Question 1 (30 Points)

What is the shortest sequence of moves (you need to provide a list of the moves) that will get you from position 1 where black is on roll:
 

to position 2 (black on roll):
 

Question 2 (20 Points)

What do these three players have in common?

John Simon, Jeff Westheimer, Shlomo Vahab
 

Question 3 (30 Points)

Name the player. Who are these three players (10 points each)?
 

b)
 

c) The one on the right
 

Question 4 (20 Points)
 

This is one of backgammon’s most analysed and published positions:
 

Who were the two players involved and what was the final outcome of the game?
 

Question 5 (10 points)
 

Which club (in 1931) produced the first set of agreed “Laws of Backgammon”?
 

Question 6 (20 Points)
 

What is the connection between the trial of O.J. Simpson for the murder of his wife and the book “Dynamic Cube Strategy”?
 

Question 7 (30 Points)
 

Name the Celebrity. Who are these celebrities indulging in our favourite game (10 points each)?
 

b) the one on the left!
 

c)                           
 

Question 8 – (10 Points)
 

Who wrote “Backgammon Standards”?
 

Question 9 – (30 Points)
 

This position:
 

has long been known as one where white can drop or take black’s double and both actions are correct as white wins exactly 25% of the time. Can you provide a position with seven or more men on the board where white’s winning chances are exactly 25%? As a clue white wins some games with a double/redouble.

Question 10 – (10 Points)
 

Which Roman emperor had a backgammon (or Duodecum Scripta et Tabula as it was then known) board built into his chariot so he could while away the tedium of long journeys?
 

Question 11- (30 Points)
 

a) How should black play double ones in this position (15 points)
 

b) Explain in not more than 75 words why your play is the best available? (15 points)
 

Question 12 – (30 points)
 

Name the painting. What are the names of both the painting and the painter of these famous backgammon pictures (10 points each)?