I never stop being amazed by the freakishly good memories of top bridge players. Last week, at the European Transnational Championships in Strasbourg, I got into a lift with the Italian international Fabrizio Hugony. Looking at my name tag, he remarked: ‘I’ve played against you before. It was at the Mixed Championships in Belgium about
David Hodge is the 2023 British Chess Solving champion, after winning the Winton British Chess Solving Championship in Nottingham last month. Hodge is now a two-time champion, having first won the event in 2019. Above left is a position which caught my eye, taken from the Category B event, which is aimed at less experienced
White to play and mate in 4 moves, composed by Theodore Herlin, 1845, Le Palamède, 1845. The solution has just a single line of play. Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 26 June. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address
In Competition No. 3304, you were invited to submit Shakespeare’s reflections on a pressing issue of your choice. In BBC Radio Four’s Taking Issue With Shakespeare, which prompted this task, Michael Gove discusses levelling up with reference to King Lear, Will Self reflects on toxic masculinity in Hamlet, and Gordon Brown draws parallels between a
This is Doc’s 700th crossword in the weekly series. The unrelated unclued lights (including one pair and two proper nouns) display this number. Across 4 Old nonsense played on the violin by earl by river (6-2-3) 11 White spirit which Travis Head initially put on part of dartboard (7) 12 A French girl returns
The unclued lights are characters in Coronation STREET. The three forenames are (27, 34, 46), along with one surname (1A), four full names (18, 19, 42, 44) and two pairs (1B/7 and 3/5). First prize B.J. Widger, Altrincham Runners-up Brian Taylor, Horwich, Bolton; Stephen Saunders, Midford, Bath
