Imagination is often overlooked when discussing what makes a great bridge player. Ofc, being able to count to 13 helps, but imagination is different. It can’t be taught. This hand, from the recent European Open Championships, features one of the most imaginative players around – Sweden’s brilliant but temperamental Peter Fredin – in the East
In the 12th and final game of the women’s world championship, a pivotal role was played by a modest knight retreat from China’s defending champion Ju Wenjun. Her immediate purpose was to restrain a dangerous passed pawn. But that simple measure set in motion a deeper plan, which challenger Lei Tingjie was unable to prevent.
White to play. Navara-Bassem, Biel 2023. This arose from a game of ‘Chess960’ where the pieces are shuffled on the back ranks at the start of the game. Navara’s rook is attacked, but which move allowed him to score a quick win? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 31 July. There is a prize of
In Competition No. 3309, you were invited to compose a poem starting with the last line of any well-known poem and ending with its first, the new poem being on a different subject from the original. Max Ross’s sonnet, reflecting on the demands of the task in hand, earns a commendation: The task for which
Unclued lights give the names (one of two words) of some members of a distinguished group. A further member is the answer to a clued light and should be highlighted. One name does double duty. Across 1 Enclose wife in vaulted chamber (8) 5 Mean times approaching (6) 14 Hard ball of wood found in
The eight unclued lights are the names of flightless birds, past and present. First prize John Honey, Brockworth, Gloucester Runners-up Fran Morrison, Putney, London SW15; David Dickson, Tarrant Monkton, Dorset
