When I first started playing bridge, in the late Nineties, the Young Chelsea marathon was a continuous 24-hour tournament and the stories that came out of those events are legendary: Richard Selway, late, great host at TGRs, winning and going straight to work afterwards. A Norwegian pair, who had not slept at all the night
But yet afraid to strike, as Alexander Pope would doubtless have described the first seven games of the World Championship currently in progress in New York. It is not that there has been a dearth of opportunity, just a frustrating lack of realisation. Like Marshall Grouchy at the Battle of Waterloo, no sooner are the
In Competition No. 2975 you were invited to supply your own nine-line twist on Robert Herrick’s ‘Upon Julia’s clothes’: Whenas in silks my Julia goes Then, then, methinks, how sweetly flows That liquefaction of her clothes. Next, when I cast mine eyes and see That brave vibration each way free, O how that
The unclued lights (ignore two apostrophes and an umlaut) are of a kind, as verified in Brewer. Across 1 Seating right up to date (5, two words) 6 Run off book in a moment, not English (7) 11 Learner chews roach sadly (10, hyphened) 15 Shortly irritate returning US politician (4) 16 Bill interprets old fears
The theme word was China, the Mandarin Chinese word for which is Zhongguo (the pinyin transliteration of 中国). Unclued lights were Chinese cities (34A, 3D, 30D), types of china (16A, 30A, 9D) and words meaning ‘friend’ (2D, 37D, 38D). First prize Janet Fletcher, Johnstone, Renfrewshire Runners-up Virginia Porter, Gwaelod-y-Garth, Cardiff; Ernie Morrison, Coleraine, Co.
White to play. This is from Karjakin-Carlsen, World Championship, New York (Game 7) 2016. This position will be dead equal unless White plays a specific move which offers him a slight advantage. What move? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 29 November or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. There is a prize of £20
