Chess in Film by Egantx7

Champion(s):

MillerC37


Runner(s)-Up:

Neil


Quiz Description

Answer the following based on scenes or dialogue which depicting or allude to chess (note: knowledge of chess is likely not to be helpful, per se, in this quiz). All of the answers, except #10, will be titles of films.

Full Results:

Rank Player Total %ile 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Money Value (% Incorrect): 04 38 28 38 08 46 42 46 14 16 10 10
1 MillerC37 1686 99 125
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2 Neil 1684 97 125
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3 BradburnA 1660 95 125
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4 SportsNightonCSC 1646 91 125
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4 Tablesaw 1646 91 125
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4 PlotkinD 1646 91 125
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7 UllspergerA 1642 87 125
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8 KroegerJ 1640 85 125
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9 NathanL 1630 83 125
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10 AdamKing 1586 81 125
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11 WolfischL 1549 79 125
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12 SorensonG 1543 77 125
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13 CarpeDiem 1529 74 125
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13 Berek 1529 74 125
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15 OppenheimS 1525 71 125
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16 ChrisRosenberg 1499 69 125
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17 KonkelT 1495 67 125
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18 CarterBurke 1400 65 125
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19 randalleng 1394 63 125
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20 CoenM 1392 61 125
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21 VenguswamyK 1386 59 125
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22 KingJA 1376 57 125
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23 ThomasA 1366 55 125
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24 mujason 1362 52 125
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24 letouj 1362 52 125
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26 AdelmanM 1356 50 125
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27 LackC 1328 47 125
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27 Dynomutt 1328 47 125
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29 quarterrican 1297 44 125
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30 FredMoore 1251 42 125
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31 KreitzerJ 1233 40 125
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32 EmilyT 1229 38 125
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33 MercureT 1211 36 125
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34 EverettJ 1106 34 125
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35 HoH 1007 32 125
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36 ZellwegerS 977 30 125
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37 PatschakB 975 28 125
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38 PruettC 971 26 125
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39 twarner50 947 24 125
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40 BoyerA 945 22 125
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41 HessJa 943 20 125
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42 WeinbergD 941 18 00
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43 Vintsanity 838 16 125
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44 JJA 836 14 125
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45 ElendilPickle 814 12 125
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46 MyersB 810 10 00
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47 srs 806 8 125
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48 Shosin 667 6 125
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49 Pelc 596 4 125
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50 JonesRW 552 2 125
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51 PolinskyL 421 1 125
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Questions:

The title figure is referred to and shown in historic flashbacks, but does not personally appear on screen. The main character is Josh Waitzkin, a chess prodigy who learns to balance the demands of being a master and an ordinary kid. Joe Mantegna played Josh's father, who in real life wrote the book that the film was based on. Give the title of the film that features Lawrence Fishburne as a Washington Park chess hustler and Ben Kingsley as a chess tutor, a film that ends with Josh begging his obsessed opponent to take the draw, which he refuses, allowing Josh to win with honor. (The title "character" was hiding out in Budapest at the time, having defied UN sanctions from a match against Boris Spassky)

Click to Reveal Answer
Searching for Bobby Fischer (Innocent Moves for our UK friends)

An early scene in this film takes place at the Venice International Grandmasters Championship, where a Czechoslovakian named Kronsteen is playing a Canadian named MacAdams. Kronsteen wins the game after he receives a message written on a beverage coaster saying You are required at once, written above a stylized octopus. Kronsteen is actually planning to entice a British agent to steal a Soviet decoding device, then killing him so that his employers can keep the decoder. Name this film featuring Robert Shaw as the assassin "Red" Grant, and Sean Connery as a British agent on his second (film) outing.

Click to Reveal Answer
From Russia With Love

Name the film that ends with two men playing chess with clear and frosted plastic pieces in a cell. The following conversation takes place:

Antagonist: Doesn't it wake you in the middle of the night with the feeling that someday they will pass that foolish law, or one just like it, and come for you ... and your children?

His wheelchair bound opponent: It does indeed.

Antagonist: What do you do when you wake up to that?

Opponent: I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul who comes to that school looking for trouble.

Click to Reveal Answer
X-Men

Lord Lew Grade, the producer of this bomb of a film once said It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic. This 1980 film is based around a project called the Sicilian Defense (named for the chess strategy), which will use a rare mineral, Byzanium, to power missile shields that will surround the U.S. (spoiler: the mineral will instead be used to power much more lethal nuclear weapons). The problem is that the only known source of the mineral was shipped from England on April 10, 1912, and never got to New York. Name this film, based on a Clive Cussler novel, starring Richard Jordan as Dirk Pitt, tasked with the impossible title job.

Click to Reveal Answer
Raise the Titanic

There is a longstanding rumor, never confirmed, that the correspondence game between Sebastian and Tyrell in this film is based on the famous "Immortal Game" played by Anderssen and Kieseritzky in 1851, something that would fit with one of the film's themes. Sebastian uses the guise of making a move in person to introduce Roy to Tyrell; a meeting which results in Roy killing both Sebastian and Tyrell. Identify this 1982 film-noir classic which stars Harrison Ford as a special law enforcement officer (or is he?)

Click to Reveal Answer
Blade Runner

The events in this film are precipitated by a bus breaking down in Rustwater, Kansas. Jonas converses with the disabled Boyd over a game of chess at the diner where Boyd's sister, Marva, works. After performing his con act in front of the townspeople during his revival tent show for several nights, Jonas is shocked when Boyd is able to miraculously walk again, causing Jonas to abandon his traveling revival show as his assistant in crime, Jane, falls for the town sheriff played by Liam Neeson. Identify this 1992 dramedy starring Debra Winger and Steve Martin as a con artist/faith healer.

Click to Reveal Answer
Leap of Faith

We are introduced to David and his father Julius Levinson as they play chess outdoors in New York City in which film that sees David draw parallels between the strategy of the film's protagonists and a chess match, uttering the word "Checkmate" as a timer reaches zero, and a bunch of buildings get blown up.

Click to Reveal Answer
Independence Day

The only female role in this entire 1982 film is the voice of the Chess Wizard computer, voiced by the director's wife, Adrienne Barbeau. The game ends with the Chess Wizard winning, and MacReady pouring his glass of J&B into the computer, calling it a "Cheating bitch". Name this film which sees Kurt Russell's MacReady and Keith David's Childs survive the final monstrosity ... or have they?

Click to Reveal Answer
The Thing

Which film includes the line, delivered by a veteran navy captain addressing his crew:

Once more, we play our dangerous game, a game of chess against our old adversary ... The American Navy. For forty years, your fathers before you and your older brothers played this game and played it well. But today the game is different. We have the advantage. It reminds me of the heady days of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin when the world trembled at the sound of our rockets. Now they will tremble again ... at the sound of our silence.

Click to Reveal Answer
The Hunt for Red October

Name the director or star. Undoubtedly the most poignant and famous chess scene in world cinema occurs in the 1957 film The Seventh Seal in which a Crusader returning home challenges Death to a game in order to delay his own demise. Either name the director of this classic of world cinema, or the actor who played the knight, Antonius Block. While the director has passed away, the actor is still going strong!

Click to Reveal Answer
Ingmar Bergman or Max von Sydow

The last section of this film features a scene in which Louis XVI plays a chess game against Poppinjay with people as chess pieces on a life-sized board. After Poppinjay's pawn literally threatens one of Louis' bishops by shaking his fist at the bishop, Louis invokes king's privilege of three moves to one, ordering his knight, bishop, and his pawns to jump the queen, before inviting everyone to jump the queen (after all, It's good to be the king!). Name this 1981 comedy, directed by and starring (in five roles) Mel Brooks.

Click to Reveal Answer
History of the World, (Part I)

Some of the flirting that takes place in this 1968 film takes place between the title character (played by Steve McQueen) and an insurance investigator, Vicki Anderson over a game of chess. McQueen's character has masterminded a Boston bank heist, and Anderson, having deduced that he has the money, pursues him for the money and his love. Faye Dunaway, who starred as Anderson, also appeared in the 1999 remake playing a psychologist counseling Pierce Brosnan's title character as he is pursued by Rene Russo's character after stealing a Monet from the Met. Name this film, which replaces the chess with replaces the flirting and chess with overt nudity and sex, and is best remembered for its Oscar winning song "The Windmills of Your Mind".

Click to Reveal Answer
The Thomas Crown Affair