Aren’t the Irish supposed to be lucky? The Irish open team are having no luck at all at the moment. They’re such a funny and talented bunch, but they seem doomed to fall at the final hurdle. I recently saw them at the Spring Fours in Stratford-on-Avon — they reached the final, only to be
The overall scores of the exceedingly strong combined rapid and blitz tournaments in St Louis were as follows: 1. Aronian 24½; 2= Karjakin and Nakamura 21½; 4. Nepomniachtchi 20; 5= Dominguez, Caruana and Le 16½; 8. Kasparov 16; 9. Anand 14; 10. Navara 13. As an indication of the elite nature of this competition, the
In Competition No. 3014 you were invited to submit a love poem written by one contemporary politician to another. Virginia Price Evans, writing on behalf of Jeremy Corbyn, channelled Betjeman in a bid to woo the PM: ‘Theresa M May, Theresa M May, I sigh and I die for our special day…’. Frank Upton’s
The unclued lights are of a kind. Elsewhere, ignore one apostrophe. Across 2 Means to call poor chaperone about decline in wind backing (13, two words) 11 Department providing gold and beryllium (4) 14 Favouring women in front (4) 15 Standstill at Aussie thicket (10, hyphened) 18 Interprets text, having no time for steps (5) 19 Feel
A Ambition, A Aorist, B Battledore, C Caret, C Cashed, C Coact, C Coalman, C Cuttoes, D Dioxan, D Disaccharides, D Drop, E Eerie, F Ferrer, G Goering, G Guitars, H Heteros, I Ileum, I Impanel, I Impecuniosity, I Interrupts, J Jinn, K Kraits, L Lanolin, M Melanesian, M Minim, M Morphemes, N Neurons, N
Black to play. This is from Kasparov-Navara, St Louis Blitz 2017. White has just given what appears to be a powerful check on c6. How did Black respond? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 12 September or via email to victoria@-spectator.co.uk. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out
