Unlike poker, there’s not much money to be made from bridge tournaments (consider yourself lucky if you win £40 in vouchers). There is one event, however, where big bucks — actually, euros — are at stake. The invitation-only Cavendish Pairs attracts top players from all over the world; they are auctioned off (they can buy
Fabiano Caruana has dominated the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis in a way that almost defies belief. The Italo-American grandmaster, just 22 years old, reeled off seven straight wins against an elite field which included the world champion, Magnus Carlsen, as well as two Olympiad gold medal winners. The final scores out of 10 were as
In Competition No. 2864 you were invited to submit an imaginary feature from a newspaper’s health pages extolling the benefits to wellbeing of something traditionally thought to be bad for you. Brian Murdoch cast a new light on excessive boozing: ‘The Romans knew about it, of course, and new guidelines have re-endorsed the values of
The unclued lights are of a specific kind. Additionally each is a legitimate inflected headword in Chambers. Elsewhere, ignore one acute accent and an apostrophe. Across 4 By the way, black weapon is a valuable curio (9, two words) 9 C.O.O.L.E.R. characters in the mail? (10, two words) 12 Types
The unclued lights are BUTTERFLIES (as is the ‘comma’ in the title). The pairs are 7/34A, 13/24, 33/6 and 35/25. First prize Sheila Beesley, Coventry Runners-up J. Caldwell, Winster, Windermere; Kim Conchie, Falmouth, Cornwall
White to play. This is from Caruana–Nakamura, Sinquefield Cup, St Louis 2014. Caruana could have registered an even greater performance in St Louis had he taken his chance here. He played 1 Bf2. What did he miss? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 16 September or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. The winner will
