Stefan Skorchev, young Bulgarian international, has given us another top tier annual pairs tournament to put in our diaries — the Acol Invitational Pairs. Superbly organised and offering big prize money, this year it was won by Thor Erik Hoftaniska and Gunnar Hallberg, a Norwegian/Swedish partnership that was invented at the rubber bridge table the
An unusual tournament has taken place at the Lindores Abbey Whisky Distillery in Scotland, namely a double-round competition between four of the world’s elite, including world champion Magnus Carlsen. The final scores out of six were as follows: Magnus Carlsen 3½, Ding Liren and Sergey Karjakin 3, Viswanathan Anand 2½, and this week I focus
In Competition No. 3101 you were invited to compose a contemporary take on ‘The New Colossus’, the 1883 sonnet by Emma Lazarus that is inscribed on a bronze plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. Written as part of an effort to raise money for the construction of the 89ft pedestal, the
Clues for ten thematically linked entries (all single words) have been left out. Across 9 Hot-rod awry? — fancy not being this (10) 14 Jackass regularly rejected 60s music (3) 18 Behind in award, finally going ahead (5) 20 Get better poet to enter competition (7, two words) 22 Venture around the City, not
Unclued lights are TSAR (12) NICHOLAS (5A), his son ALEXEI (33), and his predecessors PETER (3) and CATHERINE (20) THE GREAT (23), BORIS (35) GODUNOV (21) and IVAN THE (6) TERRIBLE (43). First prize Miriam Moran, Pangbourne, Reading Runners-up Jack Shonfield, Child Okeford, Dorset; Vincent Clark, Frant, East Sussex
White to play. This position is from Ding Liren-Anand, Lindores Abbey Stars 2019. Here White played 1 Rb8 which lost a piece to 1 … Rdb3. In fact White has only one move to avoid ruinous material loss. What is it? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 11 June or via email to
