What can be more regrettable than picking up a huge hand and landing in the wrong contract? It happened to me recently in a Hubert Phillips match. I had a 3-3-5-2 twenty-four count, all Aces and Kings, and my left hand opponent opened 3♠ which was raised to game on my right. I gave
The cause célèbre at the Tradewise tournament in Gibraltar, which finished earlier this month, was the extraordinary protest by Hou Yifan, the reigning women’s world champion, against having to play seven female opponents in ten rounds. In the tenth and final round she made her complaint manifest by deliberately throwing the game in just five
In Competition No. 2985 you were invited to provide a poetic preview of the day Article 50 is triggered. There were passionate voices from both sides of the Brexit divide, with many of you recruiting distinguished poets to your cause. D.A. Prince cleverly appropriated ‘Vitaï Lampada’, Sir Henry Newbolt’s tribute to English patriotism: ‘There’s
Each of nine clues contains a misprinted letter in the definition part. Corrections of misprints spell a two-word phrase. Clues in italics are cryptic indications of partial answers; in each case, the indicated part must be placed as suggested by the thematic phrase to create the full answer to be entered in the grid. Resulting
Perimeter words are names of the most recent GEOLOGICAL PERIODS. First prize J.P Green, Uppingham, Rutland Runners-up Paul Jenkinson, Zollikon, Switzerland; Sebastian Robinson, Glasgow.
White to play. This position is a variation from Hou Yifan-Ju, Gibraltar 2017. Hou lost this game to her compatriot. The puzzle shows what might have happened if her opponent had gone wrong. How can she conclude her attack? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 21 February or email victoria@spectator.co.uk. There is a
