The longer I play this game, the more convinced I am that the single most important quality required to be a great player is mental discipline — the ability to push your concentration to the limit. My own concentration, I should add, is decidedly erratic: when trying to work out probabilities and contingency plans, I
The 99th British Championship in North Shields is reaching its midway point. The favourites are grandmasters Gawain Jones (my personal tip for the top), David Howell, Keith Arkell, Stuart Conquest and Stephen Gordon. This week a game by three-times British champion Harry Golombek in his favourite English Opening. Golombek-Wood: British Championship 1947; English Opening 1
In Competition No. 2756 you were invited to submit your contribution to the booming genre of Scandinavian crime fiction. Guidance is at hand courtesy of Barry Forshaw, author of Death in a Cold Climate: A Guide to Scandinavian Crime Fiction, who has compiled a list of ten tips on how to write a masterpiece of
The unclued lights (one of two words), individually or as a pair, are of a kind. Solvers are called upon to highlight another unclued light which forms three quarters of a clued solution. Across 11 Scribbled notes recalling fine state (7) 12 Continue with drama with small jackets (6) 14 Starkey’s pair of spectacles? (5)
Each unclued light (or the pair at 3/19D) is a heraldic ORDINARY, as shown in Brewer 17th edition, page 662. First prize Mrs D. Crichton, Golant, Fowey, Cornwall Runners-up R.B. Briercliffe, Isle of Man; Hugh Schofield, Paris
White to play. This position is from Arkell-Wall, Hastings 1995. What is the most effective way for White to use the discovered check that is at his disposal? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 31 July or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773. The winner will be the
