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Chessgames.com Holiday Present Hunt

2008 PRESENT HUNT PRIZES SPONSORED BY:

New in Chess   House of Staunton   Impala Press

and Chessgames.com

RULES FOR THE 2008 HOLIDAY PRESENT HUNT: Each clue below refers to a chess game in our database, and these games contain a banner that you can click on to claim a present. Be the first to find the game and click the banner to claim your prize. We will be adding more clues to this page at random intervals until December 25th, 2008. See our Official Rules to view the prizes and for other important information.

NOTE: You are not currently signed into Chessgames.com. In order to claim a prize, you must have a registered account at Chessgames.com. Registration is easy, free, and confidential. Visit our page to sign-up.

The Clues So Far:

The 2008 Chessgames Holiday Present Hunt is over. Congratulations to all the winners!

Merry Christmas!
The Chessgames.com Staff

-- * --

THESE CLUES HAVE BEEN RECENTLY SOLVED: [click here for full list]

clue #49: prize claimed by Domdaniel!
After 7...Ne5? White was salivating.

SOLUTION: Pavlov vs Dragos, 1987
PRIZE: A Four Month Free Subscription to Chessgames.com
COMMENT: A play on the name Pavlov.

clue #50: prize claimed by mack!
Beaten by a tramp.

SOLUTION: N Banks vs Marshall, 1926
PRIZE: A Four Month Free Subscription to Chessgames.com
COMMENT: A reference to Morphy's famous (albeit perhaps apocryphal) quote, "Checkers is for tramps." Newell Banks was the world checkers champion.

clue #51: prize claimed by percyblakeney!
Prisoner imprisoned.

SOLUTION: C Bloodgood vs M Haack, 1975
PRIZE: A Four Month Free Subscription to Chessgames.com
COMMENT: Claude Frizzel Bloodgood was in prison for murder during this game, in which his queen becomes trapped.

clue #52: prize claimed by Frank Castle!
❒❒❒❒❒ = It could be silver
❒❒❒ = Pulpit of old
❒❒❒❒❒❒ = Wicked things
❒❒❒❒❒ = To heap up
❒❒ = First lady?
❒❒❒❒❒❒ = Iron Mike's nemesis
❒❒❒ = Quicksilver

SOLUTION: I Nikolic vs G Arsovic, 1989
PRIZE: A Four Month Free Subscription to Chessgames.com
COMMENT: The solutions to the mini-clues are: lining, ambo, candles, aggest, Eve, Smyslov, and azoth. The circled letters spell "longest". While this is not the longest game in the database, for many years it was the longest recorded game played under normal tournament conditions.

clue #53: prize claimed by SwitchingQuylthulg!
AK vs VK

SOLUTION: Khalifman vs Kotronias, 1993
PRIZE: A Four Month Free Subscription to Chessgames.com
COMMENT: Maybe you thought it was Karpov and Korchnoi, but these are never that easy.

clue #54: prize claimed by dakgootje!
He beats an amateur with his own gambit.

SOLUTION: E J Diemer vs NN, 1949
PRIZE: The book World Chess Championship 2008, published by Impala Press
COMMENT: Emil Joseph Diemer beats that perennial amateur NN with the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit.

clue #55: prize claimed by Domdaniel!
Valiant "Big Mat" Realties

SOLUTION: Polerio vs G da Cutri, 1590
PRIZE: A Four Month Free Subscription to Chessgames.com
COMMENT: Valiant is an anagram of Latvian, while "Big Mat" is an anagram of "gambit", and realties is an anagram of earliest. This is probably the earliest Latvian Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5?!) in the database.

clue #56: prize claimed by sleepyirv!
Some people call me Maurice.

SOLUTION: S C Miller vs M Dougherty, 2002
PRIZE: A Four Month Free Subscription to Chessgames.com
COMMENT: A phrase from the song The Joker by the Steve Miller Band.

clue #57: prize claimed by sleepyirv!
Kasparov beats AK.

SOLUTION: S Kasparov vs A Al Khateeb, 2000
PRIZE: A Four Month Free Subscription to Chessgames.com
COMMENT: The red herring is that it's not Garry Kasparov but the lesser known Belarusian grandmaster, Sergey Kasparov.

clue #58: prize claimed by ToTheKings!
"One of the most poetical chess compositions that has ever been devised in practical play."

SOLUTION: Paulsen vs Morphy, 1857
PRIZE: A Four Month Free Subscription to Chessgames.com
COMMENT: Said by Wilhelm Steinitz of this game.

clue #59: prize claimed by Stonehenge!
The doctor's gift.

SOLUTION: T Palmer vs R Present, 1986
PRIZE: A Four Month Free Subscription to Chessgames.com
COMMENT: Play on the name Present, this game features longtime Chessgames contributor Dr. Tony Palmer. It was played a few days after Christmas.

clue #60: prize claimed by aphasia!
12345
          Across:
  1. Round numbers?
  2. Anoint
  3. Bride or groom, for example
  4. Tree resin incense
  5. The player with the black pieces
   Down:
  1. The player with the white pieces
  2. _____ Gay
  3. Gunlock
  4. Town near San Francisco
  5. Decoration on a letter

SOLUTION: Z Andriasian vs I A Nataf, 2007
PRIZE: A One Year Subscription to New in Chess Magazine
COMMENT: The solution to the acrostic is:
ZEROS
ANELE
VOWER
ELEMI
NATAF

clue #61: prize claimed by cu8sfan!
At Christmas I no more desire a rose
Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled mirth;
But like of each thing that in season grows.

SOLUTION: W Grimshaw vs A Love, 1886
PRIZE: A Four Month Free Subscription to Chessgames.com
COMMENT: A quote from Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost which is also the title given to the Chessgames game of the day on March 22, 2008.

clue #62: prize claimed by sleepyirv!

SOLUTION: J Nogueiras vs M Gongora, 2001
PRIZE: A Four Month Free Subscription to Chessgames.com
COMMENT: Incredibly, Jesus Nogueiras achieved mate with only a king and a knight. This was the 2005 Christmas Day pun, dubbed "Wholly Knight."

clue #63: prize claimed by Buddy Revell!
Rejected Christmas pun: "______ Other Reindeer"
(This game features a prominent grandmaster losing to a relative unknown.)

SOLUTION: K Spraggett vs O Brendel, 1986
PRIZE: A Four Month Free Subscription to Chessgames.com
COMMENT: Canada's Kevin Spragget became a GM in 1985, but German IM Oliver Brendel made him look like a beginner. The rejected pun would have been "Oliver Other Reindeer". Now you know why it was rejected.

clue #64: prize claimed by Pi Guy!
Deck the halls with boughs of folly.
    HINT #1: WHAT DO SANTA'S EARMUFFS KEEP WARM?
    HINT #2: THE GAME BEGINS 1.d4

SOLUTION: Djurkovic vs Z Zvan, 2001
PRIZE: A Four Month Free Subscription to Chessgames.com
COMMENT: This game features the rare opening Santasiere's Folly, which usually begins 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.b4!?

SOME GENERAL TIPS AND HINTS:

  1. This list is designed to provide some helpful hints and tips to win the contest. See the Official Rules for complete information.
  2. Bookmark this page and check back frequently. You never know when the next clue might appear, and as soon as it does, the race is on.
  3. Some clues involve initials. E.g., the clue "B.F. vs B.S." might refer to Bobby Fischer vs Boris Spassky.
  4. Some clues draw upon popular chess literature and anecdotes.
  5. Not all clues will narrow the field down to a single game; some clues may refer to more than one possible game. Some clues are very hard exactly because they are very vague. For clues like these, you'll simply have to search through the possible games and hope that you get lucky.
  6. Some clues are anagrams. For example, if a clue was "Apply Humor 1850" then you might want to look at Paul Morphy games from 1850. ("Apply Humor" is an anagram of "Paul Morphy".)
  7. Some clues are puns, similar to what you might find on our Game of the Day. The Game of the Day Archive might come in handy, even though it only goes back one year.
  8. For some clues, a knowledge of chess players and chess history is helpful--but there are also references to literature, language, pop culture, mathematics, and the arts.
  9. Many clues are intentionally misleading, in the spirit of crossword puzzles.
  10. Sometimes a clue will be very hard, and then a subsequent clue will make a reference designed to act as a hint for the earlier very hard clue. So if everybody is stuck on a real stumper, pay careful attention to the new clues being released.
  11. We promise that we will never insert hints into the HTML of the pages. This includes the filenames and "alt text" that we choose for our graphics. Don't bother investigating those details, because we assure you that it will never help.
  12. Don't ask the chessgames administrators for any clarification of the meanings of clues. Some of them are designed to be confusing and ambiguous; we will refuse to clarify their meaning. However, we sometimes offer additional hints to clues which go unsolved for a long period of time.
  13. To give everybody a fair chance, there is a limit of five (5) prizes per member. If you are skilled enough to win 5 prizes you'll have to stop playing until next year.
  14. If you are trying to solve a clue for which the solution is a seven-digit game ID number, be aware that the valid range of game ID's goes from 1,000,000 to (approx.) 1,500,000. So you don't have to examine all 10 million numbers, "only" half a million.
  15. It is possible to design software that downloads thousands of games in bulk to scan the HTML pages for prize graphics. This is regarded as cheating. We have measures in place designed to detect and prevent this. Anybody caught using these methods will be disqualified, and the prizes will not be awarded but instead returned to the prize pool.
  16. Chessgames.com will be the most important site to use for all clues, but being skilled with Google.com can also help a lot. Some of the clues will involve anagrams, for which the Internet Anagram Server is an indispensable resource. For questions of history, art, mathematics, or a number of other subjects that our clues reference, Wikipedia will surely come in handy. Having a good dictionary will also be an asset.
  17. Since many clues refer to player names, our Player Directory will be a valuable tool. When searching for players by name, it's probably best to use the Advanced Search on the homepage.
  18. This contest would not exist were it not for the generous contributions of our sponsors. Whether or not you win, you should take a minute to visit their websites and see the fine publications and merchandise they have to offer.
  19. These hints are not inclusive; some types of clues might not be described herein. You're on your own--good luck!


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