At high-stake rubber bridge, it’s not uncommon for players – nearly always male, I should add – to react to a penalty double as though a direct challenge has been made to their manlihood: out comes the redouble card, essentially quadrupling the stakes. But they have a point: in bridge lingo, if you make a
My hotel room in Montenegro enjoys a picturesque view of the Adriatic sea. It’s a 15 minute drive to Sveti Stefan, the island where Fischer faced Spassky in their 1992 rematch, 20 years after Fischer won the world title in Reykjavik. I am here playing for England in the biennial European Team Championship, where we have just finished in 6th
Black to play. Muir-Subelj, Euro Team Ch, Budva 2023. White seems to have everything covered on the kingside, but the young Slovenian grandmaster found a weak spot. What did he play? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 27 November. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please
In Competition No. 3326 you were invited to submit a nursery rhyme recast in the style of a well-known poet. One of my favourite twists on a nursery rhyme is Lewis Carroll’s ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat’, the Mad Hatter’s party piece in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!How I wonder what you’re at!Up
Unclued lights (including one hyphened) are of a kind. The theme word must be highlighted in the grid. Across 1 Require clothing true eccentric altered (8) 8 Axes reportedly in bags (4) 11 Anything mischievous gets uncovered (5) 13 Sadly hugging Romeo, starts to offer love and pines (7) 14 Roman scholar in V&A takes
Unclued lights are anagrams of US state capitals: 13A Boise; 18A Dover; 23A Raleigh; 24A Denver; 28A Madison; 38A Salem; 3D Austin; 22D Des Moines; 27D Lansing. 12A/2D is an anagram of Oklahoma City and 40A/29D of Baton Rouge. First prize Heather McLaren, Seaford, East Sussex Runners-up Iain Chadwick, Edinburgh; Raymond Wright, Wem, Shropshire
