1. Who tweeted, in answer to the question ‘Do you still play chess?’: ‘I did as a child, but found it to be too simple to be useful in real life: a mere 8 by 8 grid, no fog of war, no technology tree, no random map or spawn position, only 2 players, both sides exact same pieces, etc. Polytopia addresses these limitations.’
2. Who was handed a six-month ban by the Fide Ethics commission for his cheerleading of the invasion of Ukraine, ruling out his participation in this year’s Candidates tournament?
3. Who came second behind Ian Nepomniachtchi, and will challenge ‘Nepo’ for the world title in 2023, in light of Magnus Carlsen’s abdication?
4. White to play and mate in two moves (diagram above left). (Leon Fontaine, Schach-Echo, November 1969)
5. Members of the winning team at the Chennai Olympiad were each awarded $60,000 and a new car by their country’s president. Which country?
6. The Women’s Olympiad was won by Ukraine. Whose note of congratulations included the line ‘…all the enemies of Ukraine sooner or later fall into zugzwang, a helpless position when any of their moves leads to the loss of the game’?
7. A morose Hans Niemann described the $1,000 food bill he had racked up in his attempt to ‘numb the pain’ during an event in Miami. Where had he spent it?
8. Later in the year, cheating allegations were levelled against Niemann. Lurid theories circulated about covert methods of communicating chess moves. In a nimble publicity grab, a website offered Niemann ‘up to $1m’ to do… what?
9. The president of which country’s chess federation resigned this year, having admitted to cheating in an online match of the 2016/17 PRO Chess League?
10. The company which sponsored the event in Miami was recently described by a psychiatrist: ‘It’s a pretty tame place.
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