‘You know what people say about you?’ Zia Mahmood told me the other day. ‘You play really well but then go berserk. Good-good-good-berserk.’ He’s absolutely right, and I love him for telling me straight, in typical Zia fashion. I’ve been struggling for a long time to overcome my sporadic lapses of concentration at the
In my column of 20 April I reported on the overwhelming victory by world champion Magnus Carlsen in the elite Gashimov Memorial tournament at Shamkir, Azerbaijan. Almost immediately he went on to repeat his annihilation of the world’s best by taking first prize at the Grenke tournament in Baden Baden and Karlsruhe, in Germany. After
In Competition No. 3096 you were invited to submit a short story that ends ‘I feel like a half-eaten gorgonzola.’ Thanks to reader Mark O’Connor, who suggested that this observation which, in case you were wondering, comes from a letter written by Lytton Strachey to his elder brother James on 27 July 1908, might
Clockwise round the grid from 6 run the names (9,5,7,6,8,7,8) of the leading members of a group. The unchecked and corner letters could make SILVER INVENTORS RUN AROUND and 18 is an anagram of the group’s name (two words). An English version of the name (two words) the group gave to a seminal work will
The second and fourth letters of six unclued lights gave abbreviations of the states forming New England: ACATER (13) Connecticut, ERNIE (24) Rhode Island, AMBEROID (27) Maine, ANCHOS (1D) New Hampshire, KVETCHED (22) Vermont and SMEAR (34) Massachusetts. NAG/LEND (17/36) is an anagram of ENGLAND suggesting ‘New England’. First prize Mike Conway, Grantham, Lincs Runners-up
Black to play. This position is a variation from Keymer-Carlsen, Grenke 2019. Black is a piece down. What is the only move to stay in the game? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 7 May or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of
