How is it possible to be assigned four ‘away’ matches on the trot? Strange, but that’s how it was for my Young Chelsea team, competing in the National Inter-Club Knockout: lots of driving down country lanes in Essex or Buckinghamshire in the gloaming, seeking out our opponents’ houses. At last, when it came to Round
The powerful tournament in Stavanger, Norway, draws to a close at the end of this week. World champion Magnus Carlsen dominated the blitz event which preceded the main competition. Sadly for the home crowd, Carlsen got off to a very bad start in the classical time limits competition that followed, with the energetic American grandmaster
In Competition No. 3002 you were invited to provide lyrics to the European anthem. The anthem has as its melody the final movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 but dispenses with Schiller’s words. I wondered if anyone might go back to his 1785 ‘Ode to Joy’ and repurpose the following lines: ‘Yea, if any hold
The unclued four-letter words can be paired in a particular way to form the remaining unclued lights, one of two words. Elsewhere, ignore two accents. Across 1 Border force on bank guarding river (8) 5 View of a hill removed from a magazine (6) 10 Take steps against token performance (10) 12 As a
The unclued lights, as well as KEITH, are Scottish place names. TARBERT was required at 28A, rather than LARBERT. First prize Una Lynch, Haywards Heath, West Sussex Runners-up R.R. Alford, Oundle, Peterborough; Anson, London SE5
White to play. This is a variation from Karjakin-Giri, Stavanger 2017. Can you spot White’s fine winning coup? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 20 June 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
