A Game of Chess: The Rematch Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Seventh Seal

The film is about a knight, played by Max von Sydow, who has been fighting in the Crusades and returned home to find his homeland, Sweden, being devastated by the plague. He comes across the character of Death, portrayed by Bengt Ekerot, and challenges him to a game of chess. So long as the game continues, the knight can delay his death. Max von Sydow has had a long and successful career, making films in many different languages. Among his many films are 'The Greatest Story Ever Told' (1965) and 'Shutter Island' (2010). All the options are films directed by Bergman.

Answer: Terry Pratchett

The game of 'Stealth Chess' involves two additional columns, called 'slurks' on either side of the board and an additional playing piece called 'The Assassin'. The game is played by the 'Guild of Assassins' in the city of Ankh-Morpork. Pratchett has created a huge fantasy world, which is described as being a flat world supported on the backs of four elephants who themselves stand on the back of a turtle.

The first novel in the series is 'The Colour of Magic' which was published in 1983. Pratchett received a knighthood in 2009 and is now known as Sir Terry Pratchett.

He revealed in late 2007 that he had been diagnosed with a form of Alzheimer's disease and has since devoted much time and money to research into the illness.

Answer: Patrick McGoohan

The episode was originally shown on British television on 24 November 1967, and featured a chessboard where all the game pieces were people. 'The Prisoner' became cult viewing, involving themes of spy fiction with psychology and science fiction. The series was created by Patrick McGoohan and George Markstein, with the characters not having names nor knowing which of them were prisoners and which were guards.

Much of the filming was done at Portmeirion, in Wales, an Italian inspired village created by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis.

Answer: Checkmate

Sir Arthur Bliss came up with the idea of the ballet, having become interested in it after seeing the Ballet Russes. The theme is one of chess pieces coming to life and the Red Knight falling in love with the Black Queen. The ballet was first performed in June 1937 in Paris and featured Robert Helpmann, Frederick Ashton and Margot Fonteyn.

It had its UK premiere in October 1937. Bliss was appointed Master of the Queen's Music in 1953 and, as was usual at the time, held the post until his death in 1975.

Answer: Redding

Ellis Boyd Redding was played by Morgan Freeman in the film, which was released in 1994. In the story on which the film was based, written by Stephen King, the character was an Irishman and the nickname applied to his heritage as well as his name. Andy Dufresne was played by Tim Robbins, and his acquisition of the small hammer which he used to create his chess pieces was central to the story.

Answer: Arthur C Clarke

The story was Clarke's response to a challenge to write a story short enough to fit on a postcard. It was published in the first issue of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in the Spring of 1977. The story itself is readily available on the internet and is well worth reading, so I will not spoil it, but I will quote one line: 'They encountered a - problem - that could not be fully analyzed within the lifetime of the Universe'.

Answer: Sylvester McCoy

The story involved the doctor setting the villainous Fenric a tricky chess problem to solve, as a delaying tactic. He had come across Fenric previously and had managed to defeat him by using the same ploy. The 'Dr. Who' series has been running since 1963, with various actors in the lead role. Since the doctor does not die, but 'regenerates' in a different body it it easy for a new actor to take over. McCoy played the role from 1987 to 1989 with a one off reappearance in 1996. William Hartnell was the first doctor, from 1963 until 1966 and Patrick Troughton was the second from 1966 until 1969. David Tennant was the tenth actor in the role, which he played from 2005 to 2010.

Answer: John Tenniel

Sir John Tenniel provided the illustrations for both of Lewis Carroll's books, 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There'. He drew a total of ninety-two pictures for the two novels and most of them can be found on johntenniel.com.

As well as drawing for the 'Alice' books, Tenniel was the chief political cartoonist for over fifty years on the British magazine 'Punch'.

Answer: 2001: A Space Odyssey

The film was directed by Stanley Kubrick, himself a good chess player, and has a scene where Poole plays against the onboard computer, HAL 9000. Poole, unsurprisingly, loses as the computer is supposed to be infallible. In the short story, 'The Sentinel' written by Arthur C Clarke, on which the film was based the computer had been programmed to lose half of the games played so that the astronauts playing did not lose heart. Poole was played by Gary Lockwood and the voice of HAL was provided by Douglas Rain. All the films listed were released in 1968, with '2001: A Space Odyssey' being the biggest box office success, based on box office receipts.

Answer: Vladimir Nabokov

The story is about a boy who finds refuge from the bullying of his peers by learning to play chess. Despite achieving great success, his isolation from the world becomes even greater eventually leading to a complete mental breakdown and suicide. The novel was published in English in 1964. Nabokov is best remembered for his controversial 1955 book 'Lolita'. Kafka wrote in German, with his novels including 'The Trial' and Hesse was a German author, whose works include 'Der Steppenwolf'. Cocteau wrote in French, and his works include 'Les Enfants Terribles' translated into English as 'The Holy Terrors'.