DO NOT DOUBLE PARTSCORES WHEN PLAYING TEAMS. Here is Geir Helgemo somehow fooling his expert opponents into defending like total muppets… The bidding was only the beginning of Geir’s wizardry. He managed to bid not one but both of his three-card suits, North giving desperate preference to 2♥. The opps were then led a very
As I write, the London world championship is tied at 3½-3½, after seven games. In striving to move ahead, the challenger, Fabiano Caruana, has been the victim of the awesome mathematics of chess. According to the statisticians there are more possible moves in chess games than there are atoms in the observable universe. Ten to
In Competition No. 3075 you were invited to submit poems by Donald Trump. The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump, which is the brainchild of Rob Sears, represents the fruits of Mr Sears’s efforts to find evidence of the President’s sensitive, poetic side in his tweets and transcripts. The verses in the book are stitched
Three unclued lights featured the remaining ones, two of two words, the others paired. Two of them do double duty. Elsewhere, ignore one circumflex. Across 7/7D Part of microscope under old coach (8) 11 Country house’s grand spread (6) 15 This is very slow, taking only a second to catch (5) 16 Pretentious fellow
The unclued lights are presenters of BLUE PETER: individually at 39; pairs are 3/2, 7/22, 15A/15D, 15A/17, 25/14, and 32/31, with PETER at 15A doing double duty. First prize C.E. Christison, Edinburgh Runners-up Alison Burban, Turkdean, Gloucestershire; Greg Watson, Great Chesterford, Essex
White to play. This is a variation from Caruana-Carlsen, World Championship, London 2018. White has sacrificed a piece in order to obtain a powerful central phalanx. What is the most effective way for him to continue? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 27 November or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. There is a prize
