There’s a bit of a ruckus going on in the bridge world at the moment; a lot of people are getting very hot under the collar. The issue is this: should the laws of the game always be enforced, or should players sometimes waive them in favour of creating a friendlier, more enjoyable atmosphere? Many
The London Classic is over with the final scores being as follows: Wesley So 6/9; Fabiano Caruana 5½; Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik and Hikaru Nakamura 5; Anish Giri 4½; Lev Aronian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Michael Adams 4; Veselin Topalov 2. This result means that Wesley So not only wins the London leg of the
In Competition No. 2980 you were invited to submit an extract from a politician’s speech ghostwritten by a well-known comedian. At the 1990 Tory party conference in Bournemouth, Margaret Thatcher famously appropriated Monty Python’s Dead Parrot sketch to mock the Liberal Democrats’ new flying bird logo. But although Mrs T. gamely went along with
Two pairs of unclued lights are theme names. Remaining unclued lights aren’t in themselves thematic, but their unchecked letters complete a book title, and part of its sub-title, in two symmetrically placed, curving lines reading down. Both phrases are (14, three words) and need highlighting. The ODE confirms 19, 28, and 43. Across 6
THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER (99) and IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (20) – whose DIRECTORS (37) were ERNST LUBITSCH (61) and FRANK CAPRA (35D) – are FILMS (53) in which the ACTOR (78) playing the CHARACTERS (68D) of ALFRED KRALIK (79) and GEORGE BAILEY (45) is JAMES STEWART (1A 5A). One film’s title suggests the
Black to play. This position is from Topalov-Anand, London Classic 2016. How did Black conclude? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 17 January or via email to victoria@-spectator.co.uk. 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
