Am I Dead?
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Week of 8/17/2026

51% Went Bold. Garry Kasparov Took Their Lunch.

1,865 players, 149 perfect rounds, and a wager mix that tilted decisively toward bold: 51% of all bets went 3x, against only 45% at 1x. Players who leaned into it earned a solid return — 3x accuracy hit 82% versus 71% on 1x. The bold-and-right rate settled at 55%. Then Portrait of Garry KasparovGarry Kasparov showed up and made a mess of it.

By the Numbers

Total guesses
18,650
Average accuracy
76%
Hardest celebrity
Portrait of Garry KasparovGarry Kasparov (23%)
Easiest celebrity
Portrait of Nikola TeslaNikola Tesla (100%)
Biggest upset
Portrait of Garry KasparovGarry Kasparov
Players this week
1,865
Perfect rounds
149
Wager mix
1× 45% · 2× 4% · 3× 51%

What stood out

This week had an unusual cluster near the 50/50 line. Portrait of Ray KurzweilRay Kurzweil and Portrait of Herbie HancockHerbie Hancock both split the field exactly 50–50 — Kurzweil on 266 guesses, Hancock on 282. Both are alive, so both produced a coin-flip accuracy on a majority vote. Portrait of Robert MuellerRobert Mueller came in one point worse: 51% of players called him alive, 49% correct. He's deceased. Three names, three near-misses, all within a point of each other.

Portrait of Robert MuellerHow 282 players guessed Robert Mueller
Alive
51%
Dead
49%

Wrong-direction misses filled out the middle of the board. Portrait of Sandy KoufaxSandy Koufax drew 67% deceased calls on 266 guesses — he's alive, 33% accuracy. Portrait of Bruce DernBruce Dern pulled 56% toward deceased; he's alive. Portrait of Carlos SantanaCarlos Santana went 52% deceased; also alive. Musicians and athletes from the 1960s ran hard against players all week.

Bonus exact-year hits: 456. Top score: 3,410.

Portrait of Garry Kasparov
other
Garry Kasparov
1980s-2000s · Russian

He became the youngest world chess champion in history and was the first world champion to lose a match to a computer when he was defeated by IBM's Deep Blue in a highly publicized rematch.

77% of players called Portrait of Garry KasparovGarry Kasparov deceased. He's alive. That's 23% accuracy on 322 guesses — the largest sample of the week, and the worst result on the board. In a week where the field went bold at a high rate, the 3x damage here was considerable. The chess champion ran as the week's hardest celebrity by a wide margin; the next-hardest miss was Portrait of Sandy KoufaxSandy Koufax at 33%.

Portrait of Garry KasparovHow 322 players guessed Garry Kasparov
Alive
23%
Dead
77%

Honorable mentions

  • Portrait of Sandy KoufaxSandy Koufax at 33% — 67% of players called the 1960s pitcher deceased. He's alive. Second-hardest miss of the week and a clean wrong-direction error.
  • Portrait of Peter GabrielPeter Gabriel at 46% and Portrait of Joan BaezJoan Baez at 46% — both alive, both drew a majority of deceased calls. Neither cracked the top two for misses, but they kept the 1970s-era musicians category honest.
  • Portrait of Nikola TeslaNikola Tesla at 100% and Portrait of Laila AliLaila Ali at 100% — the floor and ceiling. Every single guess on both names was correct. Make of that what you will.