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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is the best chess player since Morphy?

2. Beth feels how the tournament in Chapter 10 is second-rate, as chess does not have the popularity of what sports?

3. While drinking several beers, who does Beth see with his family in Chapter 8?

4. What happens and Beth and Benny play speed chess?

5. When Beth graduates from high school, what does Mrs. Wheatley give her?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Beth feel about losing to Benny Watts?

2. How does Harry Beltik help improve Beth skills at chess?

3. How does Beth end up in New York?

4. What are two things that make Beth happy at the end of Chapter 7?

5. What does Beth do for the first time at the college party?

6. How does Beth feel, at first, at the college party?

7. Why is Beth worried at the end of Chapter 5?

8. Why is Beth feeling as if her time with Benny is coming to an end at the end of Chapter 11?

9. What does Beth think about Las Vegas? Why?

10. What does Beth think of the young chess prodigy in Mexico City?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Beth gets involved with several men. Describe her relationships with them. What similarities are there? How does the man’s intelligence and ability or inability to play chess influence her feelings for them? How do her physical relationships compare to other relationships she has?

Essay Topic 2

In Chapter 4, Beth competes in her first chess tournament. Describe her experience. How does this experience compare to future chess tournaments? How does Beth grow as both a character and a chess player throughout the book?

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 8, when Beth plays the young prodigy and asks him what he will do once he is world champion. How will he spend the rest of his life? He looks at her puzzled. How would Beth have responded to this question if she had been asked when she was young? Why might Beth have asked this question? Might she also be asking herself this question? How does the struggle between Beth’s commitment to chess and life outside of chess show itself throughout the book?

(see the answer keys)

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