I’m writing this from Stuart Wheeler’s beautiful villa in Tangier, in the hills just above the bay, where for a week every September he hosts a high-stake rubber bridge game. There are sometimes one or two new faces, but usually it’s the lucky old regulars who return, like Patrick Lawrence, Alexander Allfrey, and none other
Last week I focused on the games and somewhat tragic career of the ingenious David Bronstein. Before his time the King’s Indian Defence was viewed with a certain degree of suspicion, not least because of the early and gigantic concessions it makes to White in terms of occupation of central terrain. It was Bronstein who
In Competition No. 3016 you were invited to submit an extract from the diary of the spouse of a high-profile political figure, living or dead. It was a neat idea on the part of David Silverman to imagine Calpurnia’s journal in the style of Bridget Jones’s Diary, but hard to match the genius of
6A and 42 (whose unchecked letters give IDEA) combine to suggest the title of a novel. Remaining unclued lights give the forenames (in one case a nickname) of six of its characters, whose surname (5) will appear diagonally in the completed grid and must be shaded. Elsewhere, ignore two accents. Across 1 Interceder tried
The theme was PIGS. First prize J. E. Green, St Albans, Hertfordshire Runners-up Michael Moran, Penrith, Cumbria; John M. Brown, Rolleston on Dove, Staffordshire
White to play. This position is from Jobava-Nepomniachtchi, FIDE World Cup, Tbilisi 2017. Can you spot White’s winning coup? Answers to me or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk by Tuesday 26 September 2017. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six
