All the King's Men Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pawns

"Ah yes, the courageous foot soldiers that lead my troops into battle. The faithful pawn is often considered the weakest of the king's men. However, their brave charge up the field can result in an ultimate promotion to the rank of knight, bishop, castle, or queen. Unfortunately, their movements are limited to but a single move forward, or two steps on their first move. They also are the only men of my household to not be able to retreat and move backwards. The proud name of 'pawn' is spawned from the old French word 'paon' meaning 'foot soldier.'"

Answer: Knight

"The proud knight represents my famed cavalrymen. I am permitted to have two such warriors at my side at the start of battle. They are allowed to move in an L-shaped pattern of two squares in any North-South-East-West direction followed by one square in a different direction.

They may also move one square then two squares in a similar fashion. This odd movement pattern possibly explains the procilivity for dancing talent among the knights of my court."

Answer: Bishops

"Indeed these two advisors are of the same worth as my knights. They are limited to only diagonal movements during the course of battle but are permitted to travel forwards and backwards in and out of enemy territory. Interestingly, those French Kings prefer to occupy their bishop's square with the "fou" which translates as "fool." I personally would rather a holy man on the field of battle than a jester. The Slovaks elect to carry a "strelec" meaning archer, the Russians a "slon" meaning elephant, and the Germans a "Läufer" meaning runner."

Answer: Rooks

"We English are indeed proud of the architectural strength and fortitude of our castles. It was the Persians that birthed the word rook. In their medieval shatranj war games the 'rukh' was a chariot. These heavily fortified chariots had walls that protected at least one archer. In Italy, the people took the Persian word 'rukh' and turned it into 'rocca' meaning fortress. So you can quickly see why the European kings take castles known as rooks into battle. In Russia the name for the rook is ladya meaning ship or boat."

Answer: Queen

"How beautiful is the queen that valiantly defends her king from those that would choose to plot his downfall? My queen can travel forwards, backwards, diagonally, north to south and east to west. Her capture can be particularly detrimental to retaining my kingship. My fair lady has not always been so mobile.

In ancient Persian chess she could only move a single place in a diagonal direction. By the year 1300 she had earned the right to move two spaces. By the 1600's, "Queen's Chess" was spreading through Europe and my beautiful protector was permitted to travel as widely as she does today around the battlefield."

Answer: Castling

"Castling is indeed a defensive maneuver. One time in the ensuing battle, I am permitted to move two spaces towards my rook and he then takes his place next to me on my other side. Alas the rules of engagement forbid this maneuver to take place if either of us has moved during the battle or if any other of the king's men is between us."

Answer: India

"Indeed those exemplary tacticians of the Gupta Empire in 6th Century India are thought to have first devised the game. Chaturanga was thought to be its birth-name. The four military divisions consisting of infantry, cavalry, elephants, and charioteers, today are represented by my pawns, knights, bishops and rooks. As a cognitive pursuit it spread swiftly through Persia and by the 14th Century it was starting to gain in popularity throughout Europe."

Answer: Stalemate

"Through the years I have been party to many a stalemate. It is a sad state of affairs to lose many of one's king's men. It is still an even sadder day to leave the field of battle in a tie. Such occurrences happen when your opponent cannot make a legal move without placing themselves in a perilous check position." A tie may also be called if neither side has king's men enough to check-mate the other. Finally, a tie might also be called should players make three consecutive moves without changing the pattern of those moves."

Answer: Suicide Chess

"Personally, I would never promote such a bloodbath, but suicide chess is indeed a reality. Generals in this contest move their king's men in such a manner that it forces the opponent to slay them and remove them from the field of battle. The victor is he that loses the lives of all those in his charge."

Answer: Deep Blue

"In 1997, IBM Super-computer "Deep Blue" played Russian Garry Kasparov, a fearsome warrior of the chess boards. In six heated battles, Deep Blue recorded two wins, three draws, and one loss to complete a 3.5 to 2.5 overall victory. Since then, even faster and more powerful computer programs have been developed which have made it virtually impossible for human participants to win."