I was taken aback by the letter that accompanied my daughter’s school report last week. ‘Traditionally, reports have been written by teachers,’ it stated. But to save teachers time, ‘the school has moved to an AI-supported system where the teachers enter bullet points and the AI crafts suitable prose… We hope that you won’t notice
Almost 400 players, including more than 100 grandmasters, travelled to the European Individual Championships last month in Eforie Nord, a small Romanian town on the coast of the Black Sea. Dozens of players have a realistic shot at winning this fiercely competitive event, which in recent years was won by players seeded 33rd, 11th, 20th
White to play. Eren-Bosiocic, European Individual Championship, 2025. Here, White conjured a mating attack from his tangle of pieces on the kingside. Which move did he play? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 7 April. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address
Competition 3393 went in search of – and found – basic laughs by inviting you to submit a passage of historical fiction sprinkled with anachronistic detail. I was thinking along the lines of the grey squirrel in Sharon Kay Penman’s The Sunne in Splendour (set during the War of the Roses), but it was generally
Nine unclued lights (with one doing double duty) can be arranged into a possible quiz show announcement with the word lengths: 2,4,3,7,6,3,7,7,2,4,2,4,4,2,4,5. The three remaining unclued lights are possible answers. Elsewhere, ignore one accent. Across 4 Democracies do wrong without desserts (3,6) 9 English artist having month involved with 38 (6,4) 11 Evaluate report for
The unclued lights (with the pair at 41/2) include the colours of the RAINBOW, as confirmed by 24 Across. First prize Roslyn Shapland, Ilkeston, Derbyshire Runners-up C.G. Millin, Ramleaze, Wilts; Susan Hay, Wolverhampton
