I have always been drawn to a bit of a rogue and I must admit I found the coughing German Doctors, banned by the WBF for cheating, highly amusing. At the 2008 inaugural World Mind Sports in Beijing, they played England in the semi-final, and in the last set went for five huge penalties almost
The erratic Ukrainian grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk has scored an overwhelming victory in a rapidplay tournament sponsored by the Latvian railway. Leading scores were as follows: Ivanchuk 13 (out of 14); Malakhov 10; Fridman 9½; Bologan 9; Shirov (and many others) 8½. There is something symptomatic about the colossal scale of Ivanchuk’s victory in this event.
In Competition No. 2843 you were given a list of poets’ surnames — motion, bridges, wilde, gray, cope, hood, burns and browning — and asked to incorporate them into a poem or piece of prose. I gave you scope for showing off by inviting you to cram in extra names should you choose to. The
The unclued lights (33 with I) are of a kind, all verifiable in Chambers under the appropriate headword. Across 1 Chief director takes one look at the league (13, two words) 8 Very best note on new piano (7) 10 1 and 10 down. Confused? I’m off! (7) 15
The unclued lights are SIBYLS (the title was an anagram of BILLY’S with L omitted). First prize Judith Bevis, Newport, South Wales Runners-up Dr Stephen Clarkson, Ipswich, Suffolk; Geoffrey Telfer, Baildon, West Yorkshire
Black to play. This is from Kantans-Malakhov, Latvian Railway Open, Riga 2014. Black has achieved a tremendous build-up on the kingside with pressure on the g-file and along the h1-a8 diagonal. How did he make the most of these? Answers by Tuesday 22 April via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773.
