The only end play I have ever understood is the throw in. I know when to use it. I know how to use it. And I can see it quite early in the play. But that’s it. I still don’t know how to spot (never mind execute) a squeeze, despite being told 100 times to
Garry Kasparov retired from competitive chess in 2005, but has proved that at the age of 61 he remains competitive at the highest level. That is an extraordinary achievement in an time when just five of the world’s top 100 active players are older than 50. The former world champion joined a powerful field in
White to play and mate in 2. Composed by Otto Wurzburg, the Pittsburgh Gazette Times, 1917. Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 11 November. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s
In Competition 3374 you were invited to write an ode to autumn. There was bathos amid the beauty. I regret not finding room for Alan Millard’s ‘Season of musts’, Elizabeth Kay’s garden musings, Joseph Houlihan’s paean to the blazing hills, Nicholas Lee on what Keats could do with ‘rotting vapes arranged about the scene’, and
The unclued lights (two of two words) are of a kind. Across 1 Awards for very large Cadillacs, say (6) 11 Dave, Keith and I reviewed viceroy’s territory (10) 14 Basque cap with pillowcase on end of cot (5) 15 During performance, steal a jumper (7) 18 Healthy food on the golf course (6) 22 Scottish
The unclued lights reveal phrases beginning (or, with 8, ending) with the numbers 1 to 10. The red and yellow squares reveal two members of LES SIX, the solution at 45 Across. First prize Jenny Mitchell, Wells, Somerset Runners-up Sean Smith, Southport; Rupert Cousens, Oxford
