The Metropolitan Cup, played on RealBridge in mid-September, was won by the Sussex A team. The following hand, played by Stephen Kennedy, contained a number of interesting points. Creating an entry to partner’s hand sometimes takes creativity and imagination. It’s usually easy on a piece of paper and when it’s pointed out to us, but
There’s a piece of chess clickbait which occurs with tiresome regularity. The players are deep in the endgame, but have so little time remaining that the game cannot be concluded with dignity. Pieces land in between squares, or get dropped and clatter across the board. In their final seconds, players will attempt to move before
Black to play. Mamedyarov-Maghsoodloo, Global Chess League, October 2024. Maghsoodloo chose wrongly here. Out of 1…Kd3, 1…b2+ and 1…c2, which one is the best? Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 14 October. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and
Competition 3370 invited poems about the predicament of the Nasa astronauts stranded on the ISS – thanks to Paul Freeman for this suggestion. There was a wide range of ideas about how they could use their time, from self–improvement to… other things. Due to a different space issue, many good entries had to be jettisoned,
The unclued lights give various things which two lovers took or used on their journey. These include two of three words (one split over two lights) and one of two. The name of one lover is hidden in the grid and should be highlighted. Ignore two accents. Across 1 In a way, round university stifle speech
The unclued lights are all gems. The title, ‘Seamless schemes’, cryptically suggests ‘stratagems’ without ‘strata’. First prize M. Barret, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, Herts Runners-up Kim Christison, Larbert, Stirlingshire; Mary Caldecott, London W12
