Captaining a bridge team in a knock-out competition can be a thankless task. Sometimes, the hardest thing of all is simply finding a date when everyone can play. Several years ago, for instance, I managed to get my dream teammates for the Hubert Phillips Bowl: David Gold, Andrew Robson and Alexander Allfrey. Trying to arrange
A new book, Opening Repertoire: The Nimzo-Indian and Bogo-Indian by Christof Seilecki (Everyman Chess), focuses on the ever popular Nimzo-Indian and Bogo-Indian Defences. The former arises after 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 while the latter commences 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 Bb4+. The possibilities for transposition are legion.
In Competition No. 2903 you were invited to supply a poem incorporating a dozen cricketing terms. English poets love cricket: Housman, Betjeman, Chesterton and Sassoon all wrote about the game. And then, of course, there is Harold Pinter, who encapsulated it so beautifully in two lines: I saw Len Hutton in his prime, Another time,
Two clues are without definitions; their answers form the name of a person with a leading part in four works whose titles read clockwise round the perimeter. The title of another work involving the person, concealed in one row, must be highlighted. Letters in corner squares and those adjacent to them could make A FAB
The unclued Down lights are books, entered in reverse as indicated by the phrase TURN-UP FOR THE BOOKS (1A 27 28 43). First prize Daniel Angel, Twickenham, Middlesex Runners-up Rhidian Llewellyn, Minchinhampton, Glos; Jacqui Sohn, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
Black to play. This is from Spassky-Fischer, World Championship, Reykjavik (Game 5) 1972. This is probably the most famous ‘dark-square’ Nimzo-Indian game of all-time. How did Fischer finish off? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 23 June or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773. The winner will be
