Chess Part X Trivia Quiz

Answer: 3

1.f3 e6, 2.g4 Be7 3.f4 Bh4#

Answer: 2

Black's knights are threatening a6 and h6 in the starting position, and it takes White two moves to get a bishop to one of those squares. Black's first move can be almost anything and is simply waiting for White to hang his bishop on a6 or h6. (1.d4 a5 2.Bh6 Nxh6) is one of the many examples.

Answer: 4

The queen must be on h4 in all scenarios, and White's g-pawn must be on g4 in all scenarios. White's f-pawn has the choice of f3 or f4, and Black's e-pawn has the choice of e6 or e5. There are 4 possible combinations: (f3 e5), (f4 e5), (f3 e6), and (f4 e6), where each combination must have a Black queen on h4, and White pawn on g4.
You have to disregard the move orders since there could be multiple move orders to reaching the same mating position.

Answer: 10

The only squares White could get checked on are f2, e2, and d2.
With White's king on f2, there are 3 possible checks Nf6-Ne4, Nh6-Ng4, and Nf6-Ng4.
With White's king on e2, the only possible check is Nc6-Nd4.
With White's king on d2, the only possible check is Nf6-Ne4.
Adding the possibilities, 3+1+1 is 5 possible games. But there are actually 10 possible games since there are two ways White can get to one of the checking squares (advancing the pawn one or two spaces)

Answer: 3

Unlike question 2, Black's knight isn't threatening the same color as White's bishop. Black must develop his queenside knight so it will be threatening the same color as White's bishop. Now White's bishop needs an extra move to get to those squares. An example of the many scenarios is (1.d3 Nc6 2.Bd2 a6 3.Ba5 Nxa5).

Answer: 6

White needs to play g4 and move the f-pawn in order to get mated quickest. It takes at least 5 moves to promote a pawn, so promoting the quickest would be to promote the g-pawn, or promote the f-pawn if it's on f4. Promoting only takes 4 moves since the pawn already moved, and 2+4 equals 6 moves it would take for White to promote a pawn the same move Black mates him. One of the many examples is:
(1.g4 e6 2.f4 Nc6 3.f5 Nb8 4.f6 Nc6 5.fxg7 Nb8 6.gxf8=B Qh4#)

Answer: 5

Logically, the fastest way White can get mated by Black's queenside rook is if White's king is on e2, Black's rook is on the e-file, and the f3 and d3 escape squares are somehow covered. The shortest way to cover the f3 and d3 squares is Nc6-Ne5. Then Black needs to somehow get the queenside rook to e4 to mate the king on e2.

The fastest way the queenside rook can get to e4 would be Ra4-Re4 if the a-pawn wasn't in the way. So Black must spend a move letting White get rid of the a-pawn for him. An example of Black's 5-move victory with the queenside rook, is: (1.e4 a6 2.Bxa6 Nc6 3.Bf1 Ra4 4.Ke2 Ne5 5.h3 Rxe4#)

Answer: 3

Since Black is mating with a knight, White must smother his king so that his own pieces are blocking his squares, but still allow a Black knight to checkmate. Examples of the shortest possible game where White gets mated by a Black knight are:
(1.e4 Nc6 2.Ne2 Ne5 3.c3 Nd3#)
(1.e3 Nc6 3.g4 Ne5 3.Ne2 Nf3#)
It's obvious Black's knight cannot mate White in less than 3 moves.

Answer: 4

First off, it takes at least 3 moves for White to get his king to g3. Although Black cannot maneuver his pieces in a way to checkmate White's king on g3 in just 3 moves. Examples of how White can get mated on g3 in 4 moves, are:
(1.f3 e6 2.Kf2 Ne7 3.Kg3 Ng6 4.e3 Qh4#)
(1.f4 e5 2.Kf2 Qf6 3.Kg3 d5 4.h4 Qxf4#)

Answer: 4

The only way White could get mated from g2 is if he's smothered mated by a knight on g2, or if he moves his king to a square touching g2 and gets mated by another piece. Moving the king to a square touching g2 would take at least 5 moves for White to get mated. (Black would have to move the queen and bishop to both attack g2)
Black can do it in 4 moves if he mates with a knight.
(1.Nf3 Nf6 2.e3 Nh5 3.Be2 Nf4 4.Rf1 Nxg2#)