The Morals of Chess quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Which form best describes "The Morals of Chess"?

   • Personal memoir
   • Philosophical dialogue
   • Satirical sketch
   • Correct answer: Didactic moral essay

   Right. The piece teaches: it lists the habits of mind chess builds and then gives numbered rules of conduct, all aimed at improving the reader.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What claim does Franklin make to tie the game to everyday experience?

   • Correct answer: Life is a kind of chess, with points to gain and rivals to face
   • Chess mirrors court politics, where kings and bishops rule
   • Life is a game of chance, so luck matters more than any skill
   • Chess is a kind of school, where only the patient graduate

   Franklin writes that "life is a kind of chess, in which we have often points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with." This analogy carries the whole essay: the habits the board trains are the ones life demands.

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3. 3

   Question 3. Foresight, Franklin says, keeps the player asking which question?

   • How much time remains before I must commit to my next move?
   • Correct answer: What could my opponent do with the position my move makes?
   • Which of my pieces holds the most value at this stage of play?
   • How have the great masters played this same opening before?

   Foresight "considers the consequences that may attend an action," so the player asks, "What use can my adversary make of it to annoy me?" It is thinking ahead about how a move will be answered.

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4. 4

   Question 4. In the line "Circumspection, which surveys the whole chess-board, or scene of action", what does circumspection mean?

   • Suspicion of an opponent's true motives
   • Courteous respect shown toward a rival
   • Correct answer: Careful attention to every circumstance
   • Boldness in seizing each chance at once

   Circumspection is wary, all-around attention before acting. Franklin's definition shows it: it surveys the whole board, the dangers each piece faces, and the moves the opponent may make.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Which law of the game does Franklin say best builds the habit of caution?

   • Each player has a fixed span of time in which to make a move
   • A captured piece may not return to the board during that game
   • Correct answer: A touched piece must be moved, and a piece set down must stay
   • A player must announce check aloud when the king is threatened

   Caution is learned by observing the laws of the game strictly, such as "If you touch a piece, you must move it somewhere; if you set it down, you must let it stand." A hasty move cannot be undone, so the player learns to think first.

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6. 6

   Question 6. Why do strict rules make the game "more the image of human life, and particularly of war"?

   • In war a truce is possible, and chess should allow a pause too
   • Correct answer: In war you cannot get the enemy's leave to pull troops back
   • In war a general sacrifices soldiers as a player gives up pawns
   • In war the larger army wins, as more pieces win at the board

   Franklin says that in war, if you have put yourself in a dangerous position, "you cannot obtain your enemy's leave to withdraw your troops"; you must "abide all the consequences of your rashness." The touch-move rule works the same way.

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7. 7

   Question 7. How long has Europe had chess, according to the essay?

   • Correct answer: Above 1,000 years
   • About 300 years
   • About 500 years
   • Above 2,000 years

   The opening says, "Europe has had it above 1,000 years," while Asia has played it for "numberless ages."

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8. 8

   Question 8. Why, according to Franklin, should a player who is losing not despair?

   • Spectators tend to step in and help the player who is behind
   • A weaker player can force a stalemate by trading pieces early
   • The rules let a losing player take back one move late in the game
   • Correct answer: Success tends to make the player ahead presumptuous and careless

   Franklin notes that "particular pieces of success are apt to produce presumption, and its consequent, inattention," while misfortune produces "more care and attention." So the game teaches hope and perseverance.

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9. 9

   Question 9. In the phrase "the fortune of it is so subject to sudden vicissitudes", what does vicissitudes mean?

   • Correct answer: Unexpected changes of circumstance
   • Errors that come from careless haste
   • Settled conditions that rarely shift
   • Traps set in secret by a crafty rival

   Vicissitudes are changes of fortune, the ups and downs of a situation. Because the game has "such a variety of turns in it," a player who looks beaten may still recover.

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10. 10

    Question 10. If your opponent is slow to move, which behaviors does Franklin tell you to avoid?

    • Sighing aloud, pacing the room, or offering to call it a draw
    • Correct answer: Singing, whistling, looking at your watch, or tapping your fingers
    • Counting captured pieces aloud or naming the moves he might make
    • Leaving the table, calling for food, or chatting with friends nearby

    Rule 4 says, "You should not sing, nor whistle, nor look at your watch, nor take up a book to read," nor tap your feet or fingers. Such things show not skill but "your craftiness or your rudeness."

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11. 11

    Question 11. Pretending to make bad moves is 'fraud, and deceit, not' what?

    • Fair play
    • Proper manners
    • Correct answer: Skill in the game
    • Honest courage

    Rule 5 condemns fooling an opponent by pretending to blunder: "for this is fraud, and deceit, not skill in the game."

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does Franklin advise a player to do after winning?

    • Praise the loser's skill even beyond what is strictly true
    • Say nothing at all, so the loser can keep his dignity
    • Offer the loser a rematch at once to win back his pride
    • Correct answer: Console the loser with kind remarks that can be said with truth

    The winner should avoid "any triumphing or insulting expression" and console the loser "by every kind and civil expression, that may be used with truth," such as "You play too fast." Flattery that is not true is ruled out.

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13. 13

    Question 13. Why does a spectator's advice offend even the player it helps?

    • A spectator's advice is usually worse than the move he planned
    • He is shamed before others for missing such an obvious move
    • His opponent may later accuse him of winning with outside help
    • Correct answer: He loses the pleasure of finding the move by his own thinking

    Even good advice costs the player "the pleasure he might have had, if you had permitted him to think till it occurred to himself." Franklin values the game as a pleasure of one's own thinking.

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14. 14

    Question 14. How does Franklin organize the lessons chess teaches and the rules for playing it?

    • As a series of letters exchanged with a French friend
    • Correct answer: As numbered points, each lesson or rule stated in turn
    • As a dialogue between a master and his young pupil
    • As a story about one game played from start to finish

    Franklin enumerates: the lessons are numbered 1 to 3 with a closing 'lastly', and the rules run from '1st' to 7 and a final 'Lastly'. The numbered form suits a teaching essay and makes each maxim easy to remember.

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15. 15

    Question 15. In casual play, what does Franklin say a generous player wins even if he loses the game?

    • A name as the strongest chess player in the town
    • The right to set the rules for the game to follow
    • Correct answer: His opponent's esteem, respect, and affection
    • A promise that his rival will return the favor

    By pointing out an opponent's dangers, "you may indeed happen to lose the game to your opponent, but you will win what is better, his esteem, his respect, and his affection." The essay ends by ranking friendship above victory.

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16. 16

    Question 16. Which of these does the essay say or advise?

    • The essay says chess has been played across Asia for numberless ages.

      Happened

      It has been the amusement of "all the civilized nations of Asia" for "numberless ages."

    • The essay says chess is often played for high stakes in the northern states.

      Didn't happen

      It says chess is so interesting in itself that "it is never played for money."

    • The essay says it was written to correct small improprieties among young friends.

      Happened

      The piece was written "with a view to correct (among a few young friends) some little improprieties in the practice of it."

    • The essay advises letting a player take back a move he set down too hastily.

      Didn't happen

      The opposite: "if you set it down, you must let it stand."

    • The essay says success can make a player presumptuous and then inattentive.

      Happened

      Success is "apt to produce presumption, and its consequent, inattention."

    • The essay advises a waiting player to read a book while the opponent thinks.

      Didn't happen

      Rule 4 forbids it: you should not "take up a book to read" while your opponent thinks.

    • The essay advises that a player who asks for indulgences allow them in return.

      Happened

      Rule 2: if one party demands indulgences, "he should then be as willing to allow them to the other."

    • The essay advises pretending to blunder as a clever way to catch an opponent.

      Didn't happen

      Rule 5 calls this "fraud, and deceit, not skill in the game."

    • The essay advises spectators to keep perfect silence while others are playing.

      Happened

      Rule 7: "If you are a spectator, while others play, observe the most perfect silence."

    • The essay advises spectators to replay the moves afterward to show better play.

      Didn't happen

      Spectators "must not, by replacing the pieces, show how it might have been played better."

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