Who wants to be a millionaire – part two

by ChessBase
11/29/2002 – Remember our report on the Austrian lady who missed a chance to become a millionaire by not knowing the name of the program that played against Vladimir Kramnik in Bahrain? Well, a couple of weeks later the story repeated itself on German television, with a candidate once again facing the same incredibly difficult (and strangly sleasy) question. This is how she fared...

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In Austria the answers offer to the question of who had played Vladimir Kramnik in Bahrain were High Paul, Wide Andy, Near Peter and Deep Fritz? The candidate did not know and dropped out of the contest.

Now in the German version entitled "Wer wird Millionär" the alternatives offered were A) Deep Impact, B) Deep Fritz, C) Deep Purple and D) Deep Throat. At stake was 8000 Euro (approximately $8000). Ach, the lady did not know. So she used her "50-50 Joker" which eliminated two incorrect answers, leaving her with the following two:


She still didn't know, even when the very popular German anchor started dropping hints: "Deep Throat is something for connoisseurs!" Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Nope, sorry, doesn't ring a bell. So she used a second option of asking the public to help her. The vote revealed: Kramnik probably played Deep Throat in Bahrain.

Fortunately the candidate did not go for this answers. She used her third option of calling a friend to ask for help. Unfortunately he did not know either, musing that it was called "First program" or something like that.

So in the end the candidate trusted her instincts and guessed: Deep Fritz. Correct! That gave her the chance to go on to the next round, which she unfortunately lost, having used up all her help options on the previous question.

There is a lesson here. Since these shows are sprouting up in countries all over the world, it is better you start practicing now. Cances are the will ask about Deep Fritz's opponent in Bahrain the next time. So was it A) Vladimir Cranberry B) Vitaly Creamcake C) Vassily Peacenik D) Vladimir Kramnik?

Work on it.

 


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