When do you concede a match? I was considering it when, after 56 boards, we were a vast 48 IMPs down in our Gold Cup semi-final with eight boards to go. Fortunately my team wouldn’t hear of it and in they went with my battle cry of ‘Believe you can do it’ echoing around the
Magnus Carlsen was, as he said, ‘completely crushed’ in the second round of the Qatar Masters earlier this month. His opponent, 23-year-old Alisher Suleymenov from Kazakhstan, is a grandmaster, but on paper nowhere near to the level of the world elite. He played the game of his life, but his achievement was undermined by Carlsen’s
Black to play. Dubov-Anand, Levitov Chess 2023. Dubov has just grabbed a pawn on b7. Which response gave Anand a decisive advantage? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 23 October. 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
In Competition No. 3321 you were invited to provide a love scene from a novel set in a location that might not be considered conducive to romance. There was a distinctly scatological flavour to this week’s postbag. Rubbing shoulders with the abattoirs and morgues were sewage treatment plants and waste-contaminated waters. Adrian Fry’s description of
Eight unclued lights are of a kind. Their unchecked and mutually checked letters can be rearranged to spell TOY OF A PARISH DEACON. Across 1 Tramp with extremely dirty pet (5) 10 Believe cad misguided and open to being misled (10) 12 UK dramatist wreathing US city in bunting (7) 14 Flagged cab at last
The unclued Across lights are fictional captains and (Down) their ships. 10/24 (20,000 Leagues under the Seas), 11/30 (C.S. Forester series), 13/33 (Moby-Dick), 21/20 (BBC children’s TV) and 22/17 (Treasure Island). First prize Linda Manson, Stoke Holy Cross, Norfolk Runners-up K.G. Osgood, London Colney, Herts; Caroline Sutton, Rhiwbina, Cardiff
