Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The two finalists, Eric and Arjun, switch seats for the finals. Alex will stand at a lectern
between them on the lower tier as they each use paper cards to write answers to the same
questions. Whoever answers more of the five final questions correctly is the champion.
“The so-called winning question every year is actually a
losing
question,” explains
Anders Knospe, sitting in the audience next to me. Anders signed quite a few autographs
in his Bozeman, Montana, middle school after winning the 1994 bee; he's returned fifteen
years later to reminisce and say hi to Mary Lee Elden and other bee organizers. He came
down on the train from Yale, where he's finishing up a PhD in physics.
“Look how calm they are,” I say. Grown men have been known to faint dead away
from the stress of competing on
Jeopardy!,
but these middle schoolers have come through
the quiz crucible with flying colors. Eric, on Alex's left, has stayed perfectly poker-
faced—aloof, even—through theentire finals. Thecucumber,justlike hisparents said.Ar-
jun has been more antsy throughout, a little more the awkward adolescent than the other
nine finalists, exhaling visibly with relief in the tenth round when he stayed alive with a
wild guess of Bogotá, Colombia, as the home of Plaza Bolívar. But now he too is staring at
the paper in front of him with stony concentration.
Anders shakes his head. “I'm sure they're very nervous,” he whispers, remembering his
own final matchup. “I don't know why I remember this, but there was a bead of sweat run-
ning from my shoulder all the way down my arm.”
“If you're ready to go, here is question number one,” Alex begins. “Slavonia and Dal-
matia are historic regions located in which present-day country?”
It's one of the former Yugoslav republics, I know, but which one? Serbia? Croatia? Bos-
nia?
“Put your cards up,” prompts Alex. “The correct response is the one you have written
down, Croatia. You are tied, one apiece. Here's the next question. What is the local name
given to the katabatic winds in southern France that can cause damage to crops in the
Rhone Valley?”
Eric and Arjun both wrote “mistral.” “You are right once again,” says Alex. “This is go-
ing to be fun, isn't it, folks? You can tell already.”
Sure enough, the round ends with neither finalist having missed a single question. They
know that Kandy is in Sri Lanka; Zaragoza, Spain, on the Ebro; and Sochi, Russia, on the
Black Sea. Alex pulls out a sheaf of tiebreaker questions. The first wrong answer now will
end the bee.
“Located northwest of Qatar, Sitrah is a port city in what oil-exporting island country?”
Eric's parents are sitting in front of Arjun's in the audience to my left. The Yangs seem as
tranquil as their son. The Kandaswamys are also motionless, but they're sitting up ramrod
straight with wide eyes, as if slightly aghast at the proceedings.
Eric pauses a moment before writing his answer, but both come up with “Bahrain,” so
the final extends to a seventh question. “Akimiski Island is the largest island in a bay that