The Vilnius Cup – the Grand Prix of Poland – is a highly enjoyable, strong annual tournament, impeccably organised by Erikas Vainikonis. Thirty-two teams played to qualify for the eight-team final which team SUSHI dominated, cruising undefeated through the playoffs to claim the €3,000 prize by a big margin. Congrats to Nathalie Shashou and Nick
A queen and king can force mate against a lone king – that is as fundamental as it gets. Almost all regular players know that to be true, and they also know how to execute it. But players are regularly confronted by the distinction between ‘knowing that’, and ‘knowing how’. Many know that king, bishop
White to play and mate in two moves. Composed by Andrii Sergiienko, Fide Youth Composing Championship 2023. Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 9 October. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last
In Competition No. 3319 you were invited to supply a description of the house of a well-known figure from the field of fact or fiction that provides clues to their personality. This assignment was prompted by Laura Freeman’s reference in a Spectator articleto ‘Great Men’s Houses’, an essay Virginia Woolf wrote for Good Housekeeping in
The unclued lights (one of two words) and four others clued without their thematic definition are of a kind. Across 1 Two little boys tapped their heads (6)7 Birettas seldom reveal this tuft (6)13 US challenge to foil and dismiss at the wicket (5)14 Material from The Spectator, London (5)17 Salary and gratuity, collected by
The unclued lights are PUB NAMES which include the pair 38/31 First prize Mary Newbery, Devizes, WiltshireRunners-up David Burnside, Rosewell, Midlothian; John Brown, Rolleston-on-Dove, Staffordshire
