My friend Nick Sandqvist says that coaching the England juniors is a joy; so great when someone enthusiastic and creative is found to train the next generation. Shame the same can’t be said about the choice of Convention Card monitor, a gentleman who seems to think that a meticulously filled out CC is the most
Hikaru Nakamura justified his wildcard invitation by taking first place at the Fide Grand Prix in Berlin this month. The American grandmaster has become the world’s most popular chess streamer, and had not played a slow game in more than two years. But he looked fresh and relaxed, and evidently the steady practice of elite
Black to play. Maric-Gligoric, Belgrade 1962. White has offered to exchange the rooks on f5 and c3. But Gligoric found a much stronger shot, prompting instant resignation. What did he play? Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 28 February. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a
In Competition No. 3237, you were invited to submit a short story using words of only one syllable. This challenge produced a delightfully diverse entry with echoes of Dr Seuss, Hemingway, Kafka, Shakespeare and Beckett. The winning slots were keenly contested and I regretted not having space for Frank McDonald’s meditation on St Paul and
Clues lead to 5-letter solutions. Each set of ten clues is presented in alphabetical order of the solutions. Correct positioning in the grid of each set and the insertion of the appropriate letter in the central square will reveal six 11-letter words not otherwise clued. The 5-letter solutions to the four numbered clues are to
The unclued lights form a quartet of three-word terms, each of which has the letter count of (6,6,6) which is the ‘number of the Beast’: 21/45/35, 22/1A/23, 39/16/33 and 46/7/17. First prize Bridget Workman, Purley Runners-up Sebastian Robinson, Glasgow; Michael Fletcher, London E3
