‘Greed is good,’ announced Gordon Gekko, in what became a definitive clarion call for the 1980s. But as we all regretfully know, greed often ends in disaster. Have you ever sat over a pint after the game with the hand records in front of you and said: ‘Jolly lucky I didn’t double that four spades.
I felt a flush of optimism as England began our final game at the European Team Championships, held in Batumi earlier in October. The previous evening, my teammate Gawain Maroroa Jones had escaped with a draw in a marathon six-hour game, tying the match against a strong Dutch team. That left us paired against the
A variation from Kourkoulos-Arditis-Maroroa Jones. The Greek grandmaster playing White went wrong and lost the game, but could have aimed for this position, where White has a brilliant winning move. Which one? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 27 October. There is a prize of a £20 John Lewis voucher for the first correct answer
For Competition 3422 you were invited to submit a poem or passage on the theme of ‘daylight saving’. In a very good batch, once again the poetry bubbled to the top. There are too many close runners-up to name names, and it seems best to maximise space for winners. The £25 vouchers go to the
Eight unclued entries include the names of an event and six who took part, and a memorial to one of them. Across 1 Cushions lacking covers in many cases (5) 6 A postscript in court case with three recesses (8) 14 Druggie runs to the back in deceptive manoeuvre (4) 15 Declares bananas changed size
Unclued lights are pairs of words as referred to in the UK and US: 1A/28, 10/26D, 14/40, 24/41 and 36/7. First prize Jeremiah Carter, Cambridge Runners-up Geoffrey Goddard, Hastingwood, Essex; Lucy Robinson, Oxford
