The World Championships, held in Wuhan, China, came to the end of a gruelling eight days of qualification (eight teams out of 24 go through to the knockout stage) and England made it in all four events: Open, Seniors, Women and Mixed. The Open team was not clear until the very last match when a
In my pantheon of heroes a particular place of honour is occupied by the hypermodern grandmaster Richard Réti, the first to adopt the double fianchetto since the days of Howard Staunton. Réti-Yates: New York 1924; Réti Opening (See diagram 1) 12 Rc2 This manoeuvre connected with this rook move must have struck onlookers as nothing
In Competition No. 3117 you were invited to recast a famous political speech as a sonnet. Lots of you went for Elizabeth I’s address to the troops at Tilbury, but James Aske got there first in 1588, with a verse reworking that appeared in Elizabetha Triumphans, his celebration of the Armada victory. Well
The unclued lights are of a kind, all confirmed in Chambers or Oxford. A portmanteau word (7) defining this phenomenon (verified in Oxford) must be highlighted in the completed grid. Ignore two accents. Across 1 Fazed soldier losing face before VE Day (8) 8 Book musical with delayed start (4) 12 Playing records with
The poem is La Belle Dame sans Merci by John Keats. ATONY (2), CORYZA (3), LOCKJAW (6), ENTERITIS (8) and NEUROMA (13) are examples of WHAT CAN AIL THEE (1A), while AND NO BIRDS SING might be a comment on GOOSE (26), MARABOU (28), CRANE (38) and RAVEN (39). JK, upwards in the tenth column,
White to play. This position is from Van Foreest-Bortnyk, St Louis 2019. How did White break through on the kingside with a fine blow? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 1 October or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please
