Bridge players love going on about system. Some want every bid to have a conventional meaning and some want to play ‘naturally’. Personally I like a few conventions but not so many that judgement becomes redundant. Norway held its weeklong Bridge Festival in Fredrikstad this year which kicked off with Mixed Pairs. It was won
Grandmaster Michael Adams turned in a superlative performance earlier this month to win the British Championship for the fifth time. The first occasion was 27 years ago in Plymouth. Adams’s performance on this occasion included victories with the black pieces against the two former British champions David Howell and Gawain Jones. Adams’s score of 10/11
In Competition No. 2961 you were invited to submit limericks that might have been written by Boris Johnson in an attempt to smooth ruffled feathers on the international stage. Boris has said that ‘it would really take me too long to engage in a fully global itinerary of apology’ to all those who have taken
The perimeter squares yield six theme-words in order, though any one of them can come first. The remaining unclued lights (two individually and a pair) reveal three more theme words. Solvers are asked to highlight in the appropriate colour a final two-word theme-word hidden in two rows in the completed grid. Across 6
All but one of the unclued lights can be preceded by DOCTOR (or in one case DOC). The title also explains why DOC’s name (as the compiler) was omitted from the heading of the puzzle. Solvers were required to highlight CAPE at 38 Down which yields ‘Cape Doctor’ where Doctor follows rather than precedes the
White to play. This is a position from Adams-R. Pert, British Championship, Bournemouth 2016. What is White’s most direct route to victory? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 23 August 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
