2/26/2011 – In Georgia there is a TV show modeled after "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” The prize sum is quite modest by Western standards, but when Garry Kasparov and his wife Dasha took part they had pledged to donate their winnings to a brother and sister who urgently need heart surgery. We have all the questions and challenge you to match your wits with the former World Champion.
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The Kasparovs win 20,000 for ailing children
On a recent five-day trip to Georgia former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov
held lectures (on the Geopolitical Challenges in 21st Century) at the Free University
and in the Europe House, but he also took time to appear on a Rustavi 2 TV game
show. The Rustavi 2 Broadcasting Company, which is based in Tbilisi, Georgia,
is a privately owned free to air terrestrial broadcaster that currently reaches
around 85% of the country's population. It can be seen via 24-hour satellite
broadcasting in Europe, the European part of Russia and in the Middle East.
Kasparov and his wife Dasha on "Who Wants To Win 20,000?” The
show is in
Russian, but the questions appear in the national Georgian script
The show in question was is called "Who Wants To Win 20,000?” and
is modeled after "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” The prize is 20,000
Georgian Lari (which converts
to about 8,340 Euro or US $11,500). Kasparov pleged to donate whatever he won
to a brother and sister who are in need of heart surgery. He was assisted in
the show by his wife Dasha.
The siblings in need of surgery for whom Kasparov was playing
You can watch the
full Rustavi 2 report, but will need to have a Microsoft Windows Media Player
plugin installed for Firefox. A higher-res version of the show itself has been
posted on YouTube. There is a player embedded at the bottom of the page, but
before you start the video you might want to try to answer the questions, which
were posted on ChessNews, all by
yourself.
1. (20 lari) Which chess award is given to the best chess players in
the world?
A. Oscar
B. Golden Globe
C. Palme d'Or
D. Silver Bear
2. (30 lari) How old was Garry Kasparov in 1985 when he became the
youngest World Champion ever in chess?
A. 20
B. 22
C. 24
D. 26
3. (40 lari) Which grandmaster was in the list of the “Top 100
geniuses of our time” published in the Daily Telegraph newspaper in 2007?
A. Vladimir Kramnik
B. Anatoly Karpov
C. Garry Kasparov
D. Magnus Carlsen
4. (50 lari) Which traditional Georgian dish is similar to pelmeni
dumplings?
A. Khinkali
B. Satsivi
C. Khachapuri
D. Lobiani
5. (100 lari, first guaranteed prize) Which of these well-known wines
isn’t Georgian?
A. Khvanchkara
B. Saperavi
C. Château Margaux
D. Kindzmarauli
6. (200 lari) What is the meaning of the phrase “shakh mat”,
from which the Russian “shakhmaty” comes?
A. Long live the king
B. The king is dead
C. Naked king
D. God save the king
The host of the show
7. (400 lari) What is the Latin abbreviation in international currency
conventions of the Georgian “lari”?
A. GLE
B. LAR
C. GNC
D. GEL
8. (800 lari) Which of these twentieth century events took place before
all the others?
A. The construction of the Berlin Wall
B. Gagarin flies into space
C. John F. Kennedy’s inauguration
D. The murder of John Lennon
Garry knows that three of these events happened in 1961, and cleverly works
out which one was the earliest.
9. (1600 lari) Leonid Gaidai’s film “Ivan Vasilievich Changes
his Profession” is based on a novel by which author?
A. Ilf and Petrov
B. Alexei Tolstoy
C. Eduard Uspensky
D. Mikhail Bulgakov
10. (3000 lari, second guaranteed prize) The reigning monarch of which
country is a five-time Olympic bobsleigh competitor?
A. Monaco
B. Belgium
C. Norway
D. Sweden
Kasparov rejects the correct answer, but is uncertain what to choose. He
uses the “Ask the Audience” option and gets it right by
a very narrow margin.
11. (4000 lari) Which nervous tic is to be observed in onychophagia?
A. Frequent blinking
B. Nose rubbing
C. Gnashing of teeth
D. Nail biting
12. (6000 lari) How many sovereign states make up the European Union?
A. 18
B. 23
C. 27
D. 30
Kasparov, the memory freak, tries to solve this one by actually naming
all the members one by one (try that yourself!). He gets all but one and guesses
the nearest number correctly.
13. (8,000 lari) St. Malachy prophesied the name of the last Pope,
which is said to be the reason that Popes never choose it. What is that name?
A. Stephen
B. Peter
C. Adrian
D. Alexander
14. (12,000 lari) Which of the following was the last opera of Giuseppe
Verdi?
A. Aida
B. Falstaff
C. La Traviata
D. Othello
The Kasparovs used their Fifty-Fifty option here – the computer randomly
eliminates two incorrect answer choices, leaving the contestant with a choice
between the correct answer and one incorrect one.
15. (20,000 lari) Which of these combinations corresponds to the number
5 in Morse Code?
A. 5 dashes
B. 5 dots
C. 2 dashes 2 dots
D. None of the above
Here the Kasparovs used their Phone-A-Friend option, but unsuccessfully
– the time runs out before the friend can come up with a coherent answer.
However the charity version of the quiz has an extra lifeline: the contestants
may ask for an alternative question. This is what the Kasparovs did.
15. (20,000 lari) Which strait was Louis Blériot the first to
fly across on 25 July 1909?
A. The Dardanelles
B. The Bosphorus
C. The Strait of Gibraltar
D. La Manche (The English Channel)
Garry and Dasha spend an inordinate amount of time on this one. Is it a
trick question – it seems too easy. Actually they later discovered that
the producers had not prepared a difficult question for this final phase, because
nobody had got so far in the past.
How far can a plane fly? Garry and Dasha discussing the final question.
Carefull, the host may be trying to trick us...
The decision is taken, 20,000 lari are at stake
The answer is correct, the Kasparovs have won 20,000 for the children's urgently
needed heart surgery. Garry told us that in the phone-in action an additional
46,020 lari was donated.
Watch the show
If you speak Russian, even a smattering, the show is well worth watching
(our Russian speaking friends tell us)
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