Take the Chess Aptitude Quiz and Know Your Score

A chess grandmaster by the name of Jonathan Levitt formulated this self-test to help you check how much you are familiar about the game of chess. You can find out more about this exam in his book, "Genius in Chess."

Prior to taking the quiz, you would need to know the symbols used in chess. If you know about chess notations, you don't have to read this part and just go to the test itself. If you check the chessboard, there are eight columns and eight rows. Each column and row is numbered by a chess notation called algebraic notation. Each column is identified with a lowercase letter from "a" to "h" beginning from the white player's left square. Therefore, "a" is white's left column and black's right column. The rows are designated from "1" to "8" starting from white's side. So "1" is white's bottom row and black's topmost row. Each square, which is an intersection of a row and column, is labeled by a unique combination of a letter and a number. So, the black square on the leftmost side of the white player is "a1". You can get a excellent view by checking the website indicated above.

I've added an illustration of a board showing the algebraic notation method on my chess tips site. You need to go to the bottom and click on the resources link to access the illustration.

Let me describe the quiz:

This test requires some sort of clock, a chessboard, 1 white knight, and a black queen.

The knight is positioned on b1. Place the black queen on d4. All the squares needs to be visited by the white knight moving in this sequence: c1, e1, f1, h1, a2, c2, e2, g2, h2, and so on until g8 is reached. Some squares like h8 that cannot be visited because the black queen is attacking it. At any point while taking the exam, the black queen should not be taken nor can the white knight be placed at risk of being captured by the black queen.

It's all right to visit the squares in the list out of order, but only if you're using them to move from one square to another, say, c1 to e1. Nonetheless, the black knight has to return to the original order. Take the test once, and time yourself. A person who can complete the test in fewer than 10 minutes on their first try reveals, according to Levitt, "real chess talent."

What may seem to be an easy test is actually a quiz of tremendous concentration and perseverance, especially for the novice players. You have to think well on how the knight should move. Thus far, not everybody who had taken the test was able to even get to c1.

I have given the answer to the test to help you evaluate yourself. You can find the answer in my chess game strategies site. You would have to click on the resources link to see it. The results, listed in seconds, of some of the top chess players in the world are found in the site too.

Get a break from your pc and try this!

You shouldn't be discouraged if you end up finishing the quiz after the ten-minute mark. Remember, it's not about memorizing the moves but to be able to plan your move.

The people who simply memorize the movements, but do not understand chess strategy, will have trouble with this exam. Real chess skill is not about memorizing chess moves and tactics but about strategy. You also need to be skilled with the algebraic notation so as to get your bearings around the board. You learn these talents primarily from experience, constant learning, and training.

Bio: Chad Kimball has been playing chess even as a small child. He is presently an editor and publisher of chess books. His books are published online. He also offers chess courses online. Because of him, we have "The Grandmaster Strategy Video Training Library." This is a very valuable resource found on the Internet.

The collection of twenty-nine training videos and 14 training books has hours of instructions, and 2,213 pages of victorious strategies in chess for the price of a single chess tips book at the bookstore. All of the twenty-nine videos will show you how simple it is to beat your opponents. You can go online and get this amazing chess tips resource.