Chess by YuC

I like to start with an easy one. How many moves must the winning side make in the shortest possible game ending in a win by checkmate?

In 2016, we saw a match to decide the World Championship that was all even after 12 games, after which defending champion Magnus Carlsen won a rapid tiebreaker match 3 points to 1. Who was the runner up in this match?

Let's talk Broadway. "Chess" was a short-lived musical created by Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus of ABBA, and what lyricist, also (probably better) known for his work with some Disney films?

In 1993, the Professional Chess Association (PCA) was formed as a rival to FIDE, the international governing body for chess. Along with Nigel Short, his challenger for the World Championship, what player, the FIDE World Champion at the time, formed the PCA?

The 1993 film "Searching for Bobby Fischer" tells the story of Josh Waitzkin, a young chess prodigy in New York. Ben Kingsley plays Josh's coach, a real-life master. What is his name?

"Fischer Random" chess is a variant where pawns start on the second rank (as they normally would) but pieces are semi-randomly arranged on the first rank, subject to the constraints that the King must start between the Rooks, and the Bishops must start on opposite-colored squares. Black's pieces will always "mirror" White's, as they do in a traditional game of chess. This variant is also known as "Chess ___." What number, equal to the number of possible starting positions in this game, fills in the blank?

A queen sacrifice on g8 followed by a smothered mate delivered by a knight on f7 for white is a mating pattern named for what French player, considered the best player of his era?

Another variant, using a 10x8 board and adding two new pieces, usually known as a Chancellor (combining a Rook and a Knight) and an Archbishop (combining a Bishop and Knight) was named for what former World Champion, the only undisputed champion other than Bobby Fischer born in North America?

One more variant- perhaps a bit too cost-prohibitive to have hit the mainstream, Leonard, Howard, Raj, and Sheldon, of Big Bang Theory fame, played a variant of chess involving navigating a field of laser beams before making a move. What was this game called?

A 2001 Super Bowl commercial featured a former world champion defeating a computer in a chess match, and proceeding to say that machines are stupid by nature. The champion then meets his match against an elevator, floor waxer, and a machine bearing the name of what company, who sponsored the ad?

What does the French term "j'adoube," sometimes used in tournament play, translate to in English? It is sometimes used to temporarily suspend the touch-move rule.

Finally, White to move and mate in 2. As your answer, write down the first move in the sequence.

Click for additional information