So, face-to-face bridge is slowly returning, with EBU’s Summer Meeting in Eastbourne being one of the first to take place. The numbers were small of course, but at least it’s a step in the right direction. The Swiss Pairs on the first weekend for the Harold Poster Cup was won by England International Claire Robinson
There be dragons! What we now call the Sveshnikov variation of the Sicilian defence was, in the 1970s, largely uncharted territory, and viewed with deep suspicion. Its modern name immortalises the Russian grandmaster whose pioneering analytical efforts, and practical success, put the variation on the map. Evgeny Ellinovich Sveshnikov died on 18 August at the
Black to play. Geller–Sveshnikov, USSR Ch 1978. Geller’s last move, 34 Rb1-e1 looked clever, since Black cannot safely capture the queen. But Sveshnikov’s next move exposed a critical flaw in Geller’s idea. What did he play? Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 30 July. There is a prize of £20 for the first
In Competition No. 3213 you were invited to submit a villanelle whose first line is: ‘The art of [insert gerund of choice here] isn’t hard to master…’ Floating in the slipstream of Elizabeth Bishop were some fine entries, including those by Bob Trewin and Philip Roe, who earn honourable mentions. The winners take £30. The
Unclued lights can be arranged so that, preceded by ‘What is’, they form a question whose answer solvers must shade. Ignore a hyphen. Across 1 Matlows flying from atelier on fire in hacienda (11, three words) 11 Fish swimming again around noon (6) 13 First son wrestles with eighth (7) 15 A punch followed by
As suggested by 11A, other unclued lights were all anagrams of ducks: 12A drake; 16A teal; 28A redhead; 31A smew; 39A widgeon; 40A poker; 10D scoter; 20D shoveller. First prize Tom Shaw, Clevedon, Somerset Runners-up Sebastian Robinson, Glasgow, John Pugh, Ely, Cardiff
