When I started playing bridge in earnest, the first tournament I entered was the EBU’s Autumn Congress, which back then was held in Bournemouth. Two days of pairs and one of teams. I had never had so much fun. Ofc I came nowhere in either event but the joy of playing all day and then
Books on the world championship matches used to appear regularly, with some having multiple written accounts. In recent years, though, these have declined, not least because of the decision by Fidé, the World Chess Federation, to keep reducing the length of the matches. When Labourdonnais and Macdonnell clashed in London in a series of contests
In Competition No. 3021 you were invited to compose terrifying lullabies. Lorca wondered why ‘Spain reserved the most potent songs of blood to lull its children to sleep, those least suited to their delicate sensibilities’, but the Scandinavians set the bar pretty high too: the unsoothing–sounding ‘Krakevisa’, from Norway, tells of gruesome uses for the
One unclued light is a three-word phrase indicating the way in which each of the answers to clues in italics must be entered in the grid. Definitions of resulting entries are supplied by unclued lights. Across 1 Fissure filled with new toxic substance 12 See a signal, admitting hesitation, only returning for
The poem ‘The Red Wheelbarrow’ (originally ‘XXII’) by William Carlos Williams is considered perhaps the foremost example of IMAGISM. First prize M. & M. Taylor, Waterthorpe, Sheffield Runners-up Bill Stewart, Leicester; Rupert Miles, Bisley, Gloucestershire
Black to play. This position is from Arda-Melia, Antalya 2017. How can Black win? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 31 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 include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize
