If I had to name my favourite bridge player… actually, I can’t, there are too many. But the young Danish superstar Dennis Bilde is certainly a contender. I’ve always been struck by his charm, his lack of arrogance, and his limitless energy — especially for fun. Even during major tournaments he’s been known to stay
The Berlin qualifying tournament to determine the challenger to world champion Magnus Carlsen has ended in victory for the American grandmaster and Olympiad gold medallist Fabiano Caruana. Caruana will be the first homegrown American contender since the days of Bobby Fischer in 1972. The world championship match will take place in November in London. This
In Competition No. 3044 you were invited to provide a lesson in the facts of life courtesy of a well-known character in fiction. There is space only for me to commend Jayne Osborn, who recruited Dr Seuss: ‘Doing sex is good fun, and it’s easy to do./ Let me demonstrate, using Thing One and
13 1A 23 22 is an eight-word quotation by 34 in ODQ. Other unclued lights, including one of three words, are unrelated, but each has 13 1A 23. The two lights which make up the title each have 13 1A 23 which needs highlighting (9 cells in total). Elsewhere, ignore two accents. Across 10
‘THE WRITING ON THE WALL’ (Daniel 5.5) at 12/22/41 was ‘MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN’ at 23/16/26, according to Brewer, which also gives ‘IF YOU HATE GRAFFITI, SIGN A PARTITION’, at 19/1D/7, as an example of GRAFFITI. First prize C.V. Clark, London WC1 Runners-up Francesca Charlton, Sleaford, Lincs; A.R. Wightman, Harpenden, Herts
White to play. This position is from Karjakin-Caruana, Berlin 2018. This game was Caruana’s only reverse in Berlin. Karjakin now simplified down to a winning endgame. What was the key move? Answers via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk by Tuesday 24 April. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat.
