This summer was the longest I have gone without playing bridge since I began about 20 years ago. Not one single game, unless you count Bridge Baron, the computer programme that generates billions of deals to hone one’s skills and fend off withdrawal symptoms. Since my return I’ve hardly had time to unpack: both TGR’s
Genna Sosonko is a writer and grandmaster who straddles two great chess cultures, Holland and the USSR, his chosen and native lands. His latest book, The Rise and Fall of David Bronstein (Elk and Ruby Publishing House), does not contain any actual chess analysis but instead focuses on Bronstein’s decade-long obsession with his narrow failure to
In Competition No. 3015 you were invited to submit a poem about Big Ben’s bongs. The decision to remove the 13-tonne bell during the four-year restoration works on Elizabeth Tower has caused a right old ding-dong, with senior ministers, including the PM, joining the fray. There were lots of poems about health and
Five unclued lights are titles of works by a person whose name is formed by two unclued lights. Three clues are definitions only; their answers exhibit all the unchecked letters of the titles. One unclued light consists of three words, and one consists of two words. Across 1 Action in public at an
11, 42 and perimeter entries are titles of COMPUTER-ANIMATED FILMS. First prize B. Midgley, Ettington, Stratford-upon-Avon Runners-up Arabella Grandage, Bradenham, Bucks; D.G. Tallis, Oxford
Black to play. This position is from Carlsen-Bu, Fidé World Cup, Tbilisi 2017. Can you spot Black’s winning coup? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 19 September or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and
