You’ve probably read about the English Bridge Union’s attempt to get bridge reclassified as a sport rather than a game — meaning that its members would no longer have to pay VAT on entry fees for competitions. Last month, a tax tribunal rejected the move on the grounds that ‘a sport normally connotes a game
As the World Championship qualifier (aka Candidates tournament) approaches its final rounds in Khanty-Mansisk, it is worth emphasising the Everest which the eventual challenger will have to climb when facing the new world champion, Magnus Carlsen. A new book by the international master Colin Crouch (Magnus Force, Everyman Chess) enters in great detail into Carlsen’s most prominent
In Competition 2840 you were invited to provide an extract from the autobiography of a modern-day celebrity, ghostwritten by a literary great. Where would Jordan’s literary ambitions have been without the creative input of Rebecca Farnworth? And how many chapters would Wayne Rooney have managed without the guiding genius of Hunter Davies? Behind many a
The unclued lights (two must be paired) are of a kind, verifiable in Brewer. Across 10 Details from Britain forged (4) 12 Colour of monster coming to grips with awfully vile demise, almost (10, two words) 14 Mother isn’t me or her, we’re told (3) 15 Offering a sleep before dance (8) 17 Trousers covering
Each letter of each solution and each unclued light has to be represented in the grid by its numerical position in the alphabet — the title, T = 20, indicated this transposition. ACROSS: 1 SEVEN 6 Peal 12 Certain 13 SIX 14 Dagger 15 Begorra 16 Vola 20 Bob 22 Betel 23 Kae 24 Dusk 26 Waifs 30 Ria
White to play. This is a possible variation from Mamedyarov-Topalov, Khanty-Mansisk Candidates 2014. The black king is rather exposed in the centre of the board. How can White exploit this? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 1 April or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773. The winner will
