ChessBase is a personal, stand-alone chess database that has become the standard throughout the world. Everyone uses ChessBase, from the World Champion to the amateur next door. It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it.
The twenty questions posed by Norwood are funny (Where in chess would you find the Monkey's Bum?), obscure (Which world champion wrote a thesis entitled "The Theory and Prospects of Application of Asynchronized Synchronous Machines?"), sometimes very easy (Who has won both the USA and USSR chess championships? or Which English GM once famously wrote a book review consisting of just two words?) but generally entertaining. Certainly many arouse one's curiosity. Here are some we are working on:
What was unusual about the longest ever game in world championship history? (Apart from it being the longest game of course.)
Who became world chess champion for a single day, and how?
Who was the first player to have to play against the Alekhine Defence in a world championship match and what was strange about this?
Here's the Telegraph column, which has some pictures to help you answer the questions. The correct solutions will appear in next week's column, on Saturday, December 27th).
You have to register, free of charge, to read the the full Telegraph columns of David, Nigel Short and Malcolm Pein. This entails giving an email address and a password for future logins.
