Life
Battle for Britain
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Piratical
I have never met David Smerdon, the Australian grandmaster and author of Smerdon’s Scandinavian (Everyman Chess). Last week I gave…
No. 376
Black to play. This position is a variation from variation from Maslak-Smerdon, Pardubice 2007. Black has powered through on the…
Fan fare
In Competition No. 2912 you were invited to submit a tribute in verse to a once-popular foodstuff that has fallen…
Your problems solved
Q. How do you persuade someone drunk to leave a party when it doesn’t make sense for them to stay?…
A secluded paradise
Do-orzaat. Dorset is part of L’Angleterre profonde. It is possible to find evidence of modernity, but only in limited areas.…
High life
According to Somerset Maugham, in material terms one must live on the razor edge between poverty and minimal subsistence in…
Long life
We learn from a new report that children in England are among the unhappiest in the world — more unhappy,…
Long life
We learn from a new report that children in England are among the unhappiest in the world — more unhappy,…
Low life
I sprinted through Milan station, speed-read the departures monitor without stopping, and arrived gasping on platform 8 with two minutes…
Low life
I sprinted through Milan station, speed-read the departures monitor without stopping, and arrived gasping on platform 8 with two minutes…
Names
We reached peak Charlie in 2012, when 5,571 baby boys were given the name. There were only 4,642 last year.…
Real life
On the basis that I might need a new boiler soon, I thought I had better sell the London flat…
French cowardice knows no bounds
Boy, am I glad I’m not a Frenchman. Last week’s dramatic incident on board a Paris-bound train, in which a…
French cowardice knows no bounds
Boy, am I glad I’m not a Frenchman. Last week’s dramatic incident on board a Paris-bound train, in which a…
Two industries in need of regulation
I had a water meter installed in my flat a few months ago. I looked at it just now and…
Man’s greed and gain
Laikipia An elephant can break through an electric fence by pulling out the posts, pushing younger, more stupid animals into…
Bridge
I hope Zia Mahmood will forgive me. It’s not often I come across a contract that he has failed to…
High life
These are the languid, sensuous days of summer, and I’ve had another birthday, which is the bad news. But it’s…
Low life
‘How many people have you slept with in your life, roughly?’ she asked. We were lying in bed in the…
Real life
If anyone wants to know why the Labour party is about to elect Jeremy Corbyn as its leader then they…
Long life
I was saying the other week that my new hearing aids had come with a warning not to swallow their…
In the know
Master golfer Gary Player had the perfect retort when a 19th-hole pundit on his fourth G&T declared, ‘It’s all down…
Bridge
I have great respect for top French bridge players but I think it’s fair to say they don’t go in…
Viking trail
The Australian grandmaster David Smerdon has written a truly exciting book about some of the byways in the Centre Counter…
