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Alex Trebek (July 22, 1940 – Nov. 8, 2020)

Today, we lost the beloved host of the television game show Jeopardy to cancer. I have many fond memories of watching Jeopardy during his thirty-seven years as the host. However, I thought it would be particularly fitting for this blog to share the Double Jeopardy category from Show # 5651 – Monday, March 16th, 2009. It was on this day, during the Tournament of Champions, that Alex Trebek unveiled the category entitled, “Let’s Talk About Chess, Champs!” I present the category for your pleasure below:

Let’s Talk About Chess, Champs!

$400:  Even with two extra pawns, white can’t force a win here, because these pieces can travel only on opposite-colored squares.

$800:  Literally “in passing”, it’s the 2-word term for how a pawn can capture another pawn that’s moved past it.

$1200:  White should have an easy win here, but he blows it by moving his queen to the D6 square, leading to this drawn outcome.

$1600:  Initiated by the moves E4 E6, this defense got its name from its use by a Paris team in an 1834 match with London.

$2000:  White can’t move his knight, because doing so would expose his king; the knight’s said to be stuck to the king with this tactic, named for a pointy little object.

Published by chessmusings

Chris Torres is a nationally renowned scholastic chess coach working in the San Francisco Bay Area. His classes have attracted players of strengths ranging from rank beginners to world champions. A chess professional since 1998, Chris is widely recognized as one of the main driving forces behind the explosion in popularity and sudden rise in quality of scholastic chess in California. Chris Torres served as the President of the Torres Chess and Music Academy from 2005-2020 and currently is recognized as a correspondence chess master with the United States Chess Federation. Since 1998 Chris Torres has taught 6 individual national champions as well as led multiple school teams to win national championship titles. In addition, Chris Torres has directed and taught at 10 different schools which have been California State Champions at chess. In 2011 and 2012, several former and current students of Chris Torres have been selected to represent the United States at the World Youth Chess Championships. Mr. Torres’ hobbies include playing classical guitar and getting his students to appear on the national top 100 chess rating lists.

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