Congratulations to Janet de B and her team, who had an excellent week last week — as I know to my cost. First, we met in an early round of the Hubert Phillips Bowl, which my team actually won two years ago. This time, Janet’s team trounced us so badly that we conceded with ten
When Daniil Dubov advanced his queen’s pawn in Batumi last month, he might as well have chewed the head off a bat and set fire to the board. For diehard chess fans, it was a true rock’n’roll moment, still more transgressive for being done in a team event on behalf of Mother Russia. The 23-year-old had
In Competition No. 3124 you were invited to compose clerihews about any date in the calendar. I was very grateful recently to eagle-eyed John O’Byrne, who drew my attention to the fact that the closing date for Competition No. 3125 was not 20 November, as printed in the magazine, but 13 November. Even better, he
The unclued lights (two of two words), individually or as one pair, are of a kind. Across 9 City call that reverberates (4) 11 A bouncer from evil European, reportedly (9, two words) 12 The Times with leaders only advocating German economic safeguards (4) 17 Explosive sounds of large swallows (5) 20 Petty quarrel
Each of the pairs of unclued lights is a CITY (formed from the letters in the yellow squares) and its nickname: 6D/11, 9/34, 13/29 and 28/18. First prize Mike Whiteoak, Ilford, Essex Runners-up Virginia Porter, Gwaelod-y-Garth, Cardiff; Trevor Evans, Drulingen, France
Dubov-Svane, White to play. Later in the event, Dubov played another masterpiece, sacrificing a rook to reach this extraordinary position. It takes one more delicate sacrifice to conclude the attack. Which one? Answers to ‘Chess’ at The Spectator by Tuesday 19 November or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. There is a prize of £20 for the
