Pierre Zimmermann, captain of the hugely successful Monaco team, plays with Franck Multon and they are probably the best sponsor/professional partnership in the world. Franck occasionally partners a somewhat less gifted lady who, after he opened a minor, bid 3NT. He put dummy down and left the table. When he returned, she had gone one
The London Chess Classic, graced by two former world champions Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik, as well as the world number two, Fabiano Caruana, is nearing its close. Full details can be found on www.londonchessclassic.com and there is still time for chess fans to visit the event at Olympia, since it runs to 14 December.
In Competition No. 2877 you were invited to submit a Christmas round robin as it might have been written by a well-known fictional character. Most of the entries were bursting with forced jocularity, but Basil Ransome-Davies, with an unusually frank Jeeves, neatly subverts the round-robin tradition of presenting a relentlessly positive face to the world.
A first prize of £100, three prizes of £25 and six further prizes of the Chambers Book of Great Speeches (hardback) will be awarded for the first correct solutions opened. The first four prizewinners will, in addition, each receive a bottle of champagne. Entries to: Christmas Crossword, The Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP by
Answers to clues in italics — stramash (1A), pasteboard (33) and lineated (36) — are treated as in the ROMAN (15A) custom of SUOVETAURILIA (1D), involving the SACRIFICE (4A) of a sheep, a pig and an ox, to create entries defined by 32, 21 and 22. First prize David Henderson, Almonte, Ontario Runners-up Chris
White to play. This position is from Anderssen-Kieseritzky, London 1851. It is a brilliant encounter that became known as the Immortal Game. White has already gambitted both rooks. How does he finish off? Please note that this is not a prize competition. No need to send in answers! Last week’s solution 1 Be3
So they say In 2014, who was quoted as saying: 1. ‘There is no status for the partner of a head of state, and there has never been one.’ 2. ‘He’s there to serve a very important ceremonial function as David Cameron’s lapdog-cum-prophylactic protection device.’ 3. ‘Money is no object in this relief effort.’ 4.
So they say 1. President François Hollande of France 2. Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, of Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister 3. David Cameron, the Prime Minister, during the winter floods 4. President Barack Obama of the United States 5. Sir Elton John, on gay marriage for clergy 6. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as
