Round 2: Tossup 12

Xerxes I was credited with inventing this activity in a treatise on it by Pedro Damiano. A Sasanian Book of the Deeds claims that Ardashir I mastered a predecessor to this activity. 1-by-1 (15[1])“citadels” are utilized in a “large” variant of this activity named for Tamerlane. To impress Maria Theresa, (15[1])Wolfgang von Kempelen constructed a fake automaton that could supposedly perform (15[1])this activity called the (*) Mechanical Turk. This activity (10[1])evolved from the ancient Indian chaturanga. The Spanish priest Ruy (“ROO-ee”) López names a sequence used in this game. For 10 points, the Persian “shāh māt” is the origin of what board game’s term “checkmate”? ■END■

ANSWER: playing chess [accept Great Chess or Large Chess; prompt on Shatranj or Chatrang or Chaturanga before “chaturanga” is read]
<History - Other, Khang Le> | VAULT II Packet 02
= Average correct buzzpoint

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Buzzes


Summary

TournamentEditionMatchHeardConv. %Power %Neg %Avg. Buzz
VAULT II at Georgia Tech2026-01-246100%100%0%46.50
Triangle Cup2026-03-133100%67%0%52.00
VAULT II at Eden Prairie HS2026-03-133100%67%0%48.00
VAULT II at McGill2026-03-134100%100%0%50.75
VAULT II at UCSB2026-03-135100%80%20%61.20
VAULT II Northern UK2026-04-243100%100%0%58.67
VAULT II Southern UK2026-04-244100%50%25%69.75
VAULT II at Harvard2026-04-304100%75%0%52.25
VAULT II at MINT2026-06-195100%80%20%67.40
VAULT II Stanford Online2026-07-178100%88%0%47.88