If jealousy is measured in twinges my twinge-o-meter has gone viral. On my self-imposed sabbatical, otherwise known as a holiday, I was painfully aware, day after day, that I was missing the Brighton Bridgefest. Ten days of pairs, teams and midnight speedballs while I ‘relax’. Ouch. Twingeing again. The last event is the hugely popular
Britain’s top grandmaster Mickey Adams has won clear first prize in the tournament at Dortmund, ahead of former world champion Vladimir Kramnik. The full final scores (out of 9) were as follows: Adams 7; Kramnik 6½; Leko and Naiditsch 4½; Andreikin, Meier, Wang Hao and Caruana 4; Khenkin 3½; Fridman 3. The last time
In Competition 2811 you were invited to take an existing word and alter it by a) adding a letter; b) changing a letter; and c) deleting a letter; and to supply definitions for all three new words. First of all, apologies for any unintentional ambiguity in the brief. Most of you got it but
Each of twelve clues contains a superfluous word. 9 of these words are unclued lights, which are of a kind. Ignore an accent in one unclued light. Across 7 Crowds around gold bowls (6) 12 Mole shuffled by, skirting soft fruit (9, hyphened) 15 Begin harangue imbued with independent spirit (9) 16 Catch including
Seven unclued lights are STUFFED ANIMALS (13 18) — i.e. deer, horse, anoa, cat, seal, tup and boar, filled with material supplied by TAXIDERMY (20). First prize Peter Done, Turramurra, NSW, Australia Runners-up Dr S.M. Sheerin, Princes Risborough, Bucks; D.P. Shenkin, London WC1
White to play. This position is from Williams-Brown, British Championship, Torquay 2013. What is the most direct route to victory for White? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 27 August or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773. The winner will be the first correct answer out of a
