Chess Trivia

Kalish, John (1937- )
Kalish has won the championship of Okinawa 25 consecutive times.

Kamsky, Gata (1974- )
Born in Siberia, Gata Kamsky won the USSR Junior Championship (under 18) at the age of 12. Gata and father Rustam defected from the Soviet Union after playing in the 1989 New York International. He became a grandmaster at 16. He won the U.S. Championship in 1991 at age 17, the youngest since Fischer won it in 1957-58 at age 14. He retired from chess and is in medical school.

Kanel, Hans
Swiss player who set the world blitz (5-minute game) continuous play record in 1981 after playing 60 hours and 39 minutes. He played 420 games and made 17,286 moves. We won 320 games, lost 79, and drew 31. The average rating of his opponents was 2222. He had played an average of 7.1 games per hour. The most prominent opponent was Victor Korhnoi whom he won 1, drew 1, and lost 4 games.

Karff, Mona May(1914-1998)
Played in 18 US Women's Championships, winning 7 of them.

Karnamuk
A Persian romance written in 600. It is the first Persian writing of chatrang, an early form of chess.

Karpov, Anatoly (1951- )
The first world champion to win the title without playing a chess match. He got the title in 1975 when Fischer refused to defend his title. Anatoly became a Candidate Master at the age of 11, a Master at 15, an International Grandmaster at 19, and world champion at 24. In 1978 he was named Soviet Union Sportsman of the Year and was personally decorated by President Breshnev. Karpov became World Champion before he became USSR Champion. He never scored worse than 4th place while world champion. No Soviet opponent has ever beat him outside the Soviet Union. He became the first millionaire playing chess. He is a member of the Supreme Soviet Commission for Foreign Affairs and the President of the Soviet Peace Fund. He is the first world champion to be born in Asia. He has the most complete collection of postage stamps on the topic of chess and specializes in stamps with reproductions of paintings. In 1989 a poll in the BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE showed the Karpov was the world's most boring player, followed by Sammy Reshevsky. Karpov's diploma thesis at the Leningrad State University was entitled: "Spare time and its economic significance under Socialism." There is no mention of chess.

Kashdan, Isaac (1905-1985)
Founded CHESS REVIEW in 1933. He once appeared on Groucho Marx's "You Bet Your Life" and Groucho called him "Mr. Ash Can" throughout the show. Isaac Kashdan's wife was asked to join a harem for 150 English pounds by Umar Khan at an Olympiad. He received the Grandmaster title in 1954.

Kasparov, Garry (1963- )
Originally named Weinstein. He became a grandmaster at 17, the youngest Soviet champion at 18 and the youngest world champion at 22 years, 210 days. In his first international tournament, Baku 1979, he exceeded the Grandmaster norm and took first place as an unrated player. His first FIDE rating was 2500. He became the World Junior Champion in 1980 and co-champion of the USSR in 1981. He was the first Soviet to do a Western commercial. His highest rating was 2810 after scoring 9 1/2 - 1 1/2 in a Category 15 tournament in Belgrade in 1989.

Kasparov-Karpov matches
After five world championship matches, Kasparov and Karpov have played 144 games with Kasparov leading 73-71 overall (21 wins, 19 losses, and 104 draws).

Kavalek, Lubomir (1943- )
Winner of an international tournament representing the United States without ever setting foot in the U.S. at the time.

Keene, Raymond (1948- )
British Grandmaster (1976), author of over 50 chess books, and organizer of many international chess matches. He receive the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his chess services in 1985. He was British Champion in 1971.

Kempelen, Farkas (1734-1804)
Inventor of the first automation, The Turk, in 1769. He built it for the sole purpose of entertaining and mystifying the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. For years he labored to improve the science of hydraulics, designing fire engines and hydraulic pumps. But nobody was interested in those. They were all interested in The turk. Eventually, he became so annoyed by the continuous stream of visitors thae he dismatled the Turk, announcing that it had been damaged and could no longer be exhibited. In 1783 Emperor Joseph II commanded him to display the Turk once again.

Keres, Paul (1916-1975)
Estonian Grandmaster. He participated in German tournaments during World War II. When the Red Army liberated the country, Soviet authorities planned initally to execute Keres. Botvinnik interceded by talking to Stalin and Keres was spared. In 1953 Paul Keres became the first sportsman of the year in chess in the Soviet Union. He was Estonian Sportsman of the Year in 1962. He never became world champion but defeated nine world champions in his career. When asked why he never became world champion, he replied: "I was unlucky, like my country." He had over 100,000 people at his funeral in Tallin, Estonia. The National Bank of Estonia issued a 5 krooni (5 crowns) note with a portrait of Paul Keres.

Kholmov, Ratmir (1925- )
This grandmaster was once suspended for a year from tournament play because of conduct unbefitting a chess master (he was drunk).

Kieseritzky, Lionel (1806-1853)
Baltic-European mathematics teacher of International Master strength who was a regular at the Cafe de la Regence in Paris. He was not well liked. When he died penniless, he was buried in a pauper's grave because no one would contribute to his burial. Only one person came to his funeral - a waiter at the Cafe.

King's Gambit
The first book on the King's Gambit was published in 1706 by M. Caze.

King's leap
In the 15th century the King was allowed to leap to any 3rd square on its first move, provided it did not leap out of or over check. The King's leap survived until the 17th century in England and France. It survived in Spain and Portugal up to 1750. It survived until the 19th century in Iceland. From this move, castling developed.

Knight tour
The number of possibilities of a knight's tour is over 122 million.

Knoppert, Eric
In 1985, played 500 games of 10-minute chess in 68 hours.

Kolisch, Ignatz (1837-1889)
In his early years he was the private secretary of the Russian Prince Urusov. He later became a wandering chess professional. He moved to Vienna and met Albert Rothschild. He became involved in banking and became a millionaire and chess patron.

Koltanowski, George (1903- )
Dean of American Chess and past President of the US Chess Federation. He became one of the world's greatest blindfold players in chess history. In 1937 he played 34 opponents blindfolded, winning 24 and drawing 10 in 13.5 hours. In 1960 he played 56 consecutive blindfold games in a row, winning 50 and drawing 6. He has won the Belgium championship 4 times. He is a founding member of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) which formed in 1924.

Konstantinopolsky, Alexander (1909-1990)
Winner of the first USSR Correspondence Championship. He was one of the leading trainers in the USSR during the 1950s and 1960s.

Korchnoi, Victor (1931- )
Four times Soviet champion and played on six of the USSR's Olympic teams. In the 1970 Chess Olympiad in Skopje, Yugoslavia, Victor overslept and missed his round against Spain lost be default. The round started at 3 pm. He defected to the West in July 1976, after a tournament in Amsterdam. Victor Korchnoi's son, Igor, was sent to a Siberian labor camp for 30 months for refusing military service. In 1991 Korchnoi was granted Swiss citizenship after 14 years of residency. He has appeared in eight Candidates Matches. In his 1980 match with Petrosian, he had a bullet-proof screen put between him and the audience.

Korn, Walter (1908- )
Editor of MODERN CHESS OPENINGS (MCO) and the only FIDE International Judge for Chess Endgame Compositions in North America.

Kotov, Alexander (1913-1981)
Awarded the Order of Lenin for an important invention relating to mortar.

Krush, Irena (1984- )
In 1993 Irene Krush beat a master, the youngest ever to beat a master in rated play.

Krylenko, Nikolai (1885-1938)
Chess enthusiast responsible for persuading the Soviet government to support chess. He was Commissar for War in the first Bolshevik government, then Commander-in-Chief of the Russian armed forces, chief prosecuter for the revolutionary tribunals, and later Commissar for Justice for the USSR. His chess title was Chairman of the Chess Section of the Supreme Council for Physical Culture of the Russian Federal Republic, and later, Secretary of the Soviet Chess Federation. In 1937 he was arrested and charged with retarding the development of chess, cutting it off from the social and political life of the Soviet Union. He was ordered executed by Stalin as an enemy of the people.