Being caught with your hand in the cookie jar must be embarrassing enough, but almost worse is being suspected/accused of cheating when you’re not! These days everyone (particularly online) is on their guard, and if you make a good play you can suddenly become the focus of attention for the wrong reason. My good friend
After a pause during the pandemic, the Hastings Chess Congress returned for its 96th edition in the days after Christmas, with renewed support from software company Caplin. A newly published book, The Chess Battles of Hastings by Jürgen Brustkern and Norbert Wallet (New in Chess, 2022), offers an enjoyable chronicle of the event’s rich history.
White to play. Tartakower–Winter, Hastings, 1935. White’s next move required careful calculation, but William Winter resigned once he had seen it. What did Tartakower play? Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 16 January. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address
In Competition No. 3281, you were invited to provide 16 lines of cheerful welcome to 2023 in the metre of Tennyson’s ‘In Memoriam’. ‘Ring out the old, ring in the new,’ wrote the poet in ‘Ring out, wild bells’, part of ‘In Memoriam’. Hats off to all: it was a terrific entry – cheery but
Five of a kind (including two of two words) can be derived from the letters of 26/27, 40/41, 46/47, 3/34 and 10/39 (all real words). 32/12D suggests mispronounced praise of the theme. Elsewhere, ignore an accent. Across 1 Soldiers drill in circle (5) 5 Knave less than chaste (3) 8 Rude
Puzzle 2585 appeared on 10 December 2022, an anniversary of HUMAN RIGHTS DAY (at 1 Across) whose letters can be used to make the ten symmetrically placed unclued entries. The UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10-12-48. First prize Kathleen Durber, Stoke-on-Trent Runners-up Dr Aidan Dunn, Newton Abbot, Devon; Ian
