The Times Saturday Review - UK (2020-11-14)

the times | Saturday November 14 2020 1GR saturday review 53

White holds a small edge due to

the powerful d6-knight. Rather

than rest on his laurels, Sarin sets

a trap. 30 exf6 A committal deci-

sion. 30 f4 is the more strategic

choice, consolidating the support

of the d6-knight. 30...Rxd6?

Black accepts the challenge, yet

Sarin’s sacrifice was no bluff.

30...gxf6 leaves the position bal-

anced. 31 Qxg5 Rd7 Black fends

off the threat of mate, but the

danger is not over. 32 Qg6! The

key idea. This silent move tight-

ens the box around the black

king. 32...Qc8 33 Rh4 Qf8 34

Qh7+ 34 f7+ Qxf7 35 Qh7+ Kf8 36

Rf4 also wins, but Sarin wants

more. 34...Kf7 35 Rg4 Rd8 36

fxg7 Qg8 37 Qg6+ Ke7 38 Rf4

Nd7 39 Qg5+ Ke8 40 Qg6+ Ke7

41 Qg5+ Ke8 42 Rxa4! Having re-

peated the position to assert his

control, Sarin closes in for the kill.

42...Rc8 43 Rh4 Rc5 44 Qg6+

Ke7 45 Rh8 Ne5 46 Qg5+ Kf7 47

Qf4+ Black resigns The black

queen falls.

Winning Move

White to play. Sarin – Vachier-

Lagrave, chess.com 2020. White

is ahead in material, though his

a8-knight is clumsily placed.

Which move gives a decisive ad-

vantage while ensuring that the

knight will escape?

The first correct entry drawn on

Thursday will receive a copy of

Collins English Dictionary and

Thesaurus. The two runners-up

will receive a book prize. Answers

on a postcard to: The Times Win-

ning Move, PO Box 2164, Col-

chester, Essex CO2 8LJ, or email

to: [email protected].

Open to 18+, UK and ROI resi-

dents only. The answer will be

published next Saturday.

Solution to last week’s puzzle:

1 e6! wins: 1...fxe6 (1...a3 2 exf7 a2 3

f8Q a1Q 4 Qb4+ Ka2 5 Kc2 mates)

2 gxh5! a3 3 h6 a2 4 h7 a1Q 5 h8Q+

Kb1 6 Qxa1+ Kxa1 7 h5 and the

pawn promotes.

               

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Imagine you are in the middle of

a game waiting for the opponent

to play on the board extract

below. As the board stands, can

you find the only bonus word

available from the following rack?

DEEHIRT

This position is taken from one

of my games in an online event

earlier this year. Luckily, my

opponent did not block the bonus

word, which I subsequently

played en route to victory.

The above position demon-

strates that luck in Scrabble goes

beyond the tiles drawn. In my ex-

perience, the loss of momentum

caused by an opponent blocking

the only available bonus word

can have a significant effect on

the outcome of a game.

Unlike poker, in Scrabble it

is considered poor etiquette to

talk at the table or touch the

playing surface in an attempt to

influence the opponent to play

elsewhere. However, it is not

considered unethical to look at

a particular area of the board

in order to potentially affect the

opponent’s choice. Former world

RR

championship finalist Chris Lipe

admitted that he will stare at

another part of the board in these

RR

scenarios rather than look at the

R

area that will block his bonus

word. Aside from such tactics, a

player must simply sit patiently

R

and wait for the opponent to play.

Here is a position from one of

my games against former world

R

champion David Eldar at the 2019

RR

World Scrabble Championship.

I awaited Eldar’s move whilst

holding the following rack.

RR

AGGIORT

Can you find my only bonus

word, scoring 94 points, which

was blocked by my opponent

and therefore represented a key

moment in my eventual defeat?

Definitions

&,3 2 /, 1 ,WDOLDQRPDUEOHRZLWK

DOWHUQDWLQJRZKLWHRDQGR

JUHHQRVWUHDNV

:$1'/( 6 IURPR:$1'/(

WRRZDONRKDOWLQJO\

Collins Official Scrabble Words is the word authority used.

Word positions use the grid reference plus (a)cross or (d)own.

/dsquare ouble l(etter dl) /triple letter

square (tl)

:dsquare ouble wor(dw)d^ :tripsquare le wor(twd)^

Letter

values

SRLQW

AEIOU

LNRST

RSRLQWV

DG

RSRLQWV

BCMP

RSRLQWV

fhvwy

K R

jx R

qz R

SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark of J. W. Spear & Sons Ltd ©Mattel 2020

Chess David Howell

Solution to Cryptic

Jumbo 1466

The winner is

Jon Cowderoy of

Orpington, Kent

M I SS I SS I PP I SCARED CUL T

YERELNHCSTN I

CARD I AC UNCLOAK TEAROSE

ORSRMOWNASBD

SOUTHWESTERLY OPTOMETRY

IL TRP WEARE

STAYS ANEMOPH I LY ENSUED

TUREROEP I S

SP I NNEYS RECORDBREAK I NG

TODO I AKGO VA

PONT I FF REL I EFMAP DWELL

AASR EEOL

UNT I L THEREUPON LOVABLE

LR APRATLEER

S LAUGHTERHOUSE F I NCHLEY

DAEODSHNOL

PL I ERS FACESAV I NG TR I AD

OTDBC CSP GE

WH I TEWASH HEARTLESSNESS

EONNAAGONORP

RUNN I NG BURGLAR CALDERA

EAALLD I I I AN I

DALE CELERY ACCELERATOR

Solution to times2

Jumbo 1466

The winner is

Barry Armstrong

of Worcester

Cell Blocks 4002

Suko 3021

Mindset 1 The four words all

end ATE. {BLIND, CARBON,

DOUBLE, PLAY} — precede

DATE; {BUDDY, ENDING,

OFFICER, SPOUSE} —

synonyms of MATE; {MEAT,

PEANUT, SKEWER, SOY} —

components of SATE;

{BRITAIN, LIVERPOOL,

MODERN, ST IVES} — TATE

galleries.

2 50 per cent. The same as if it

were just the first and last

arrivers sitting in a two-seat

theatre. The others either sit in

their own seat or swap roles

with the initial potential

displacer.

3 SHRINKING. This can

precede VIOLET. The other

words follow the other colours

of the rainbow.

Word Watching: Vaunt-

courier (b) A herald or

forerunner. Flagitate (a) To

implore with passion and

Polygon Roger Phillips

Using the given letters no more than

once, make as many words as possible of

four or more letters, always including

the central letter. Capitalised words,

plurals, conjugated verbs (past tense

etc), adverbs ending in LY, comparatives

and superlatives are disallowed.

How you rate: 18 words average;

25, good; 31, very good; 38, excellent.

Answers to Friday’s Polygon are to the

left. Today’s answers are printed in

MindGames on Monday

Cell Blocks 4003

Divide the grid into square

or rectangular blocks, each

containing one digit only. Every

block must contain the number

of cells indicated by the digit

inside it.

Yesterday’s solution, left

© PUZZLER MEDIA

The winner is Dr J Barrie

Whittaker of Kennington, Oxford

earnestness. Chalaza (c) A spiral

thread holding an egg’s yolk in

position. Deperm

(a) To demagnetise (a vessel) to

conceal it from magnetic

detection.

Polygon erhu, euro, hour,

house, opus, ours, poorhouse,

porous, poseur, pour, pure,

purse, push, pusher, roué, roup,

rouse, ruse, rush, soup, sour,

sprue, spue, spur, suer, super,

sure, user, usher.

Scrabble DITHERED (L1a) —

80 points; OUTRAGING (C5d).

Literary quiz 1 Gollum in

The Return of the King by JRR

Tolkien. 2 Bunny Corcoran in

The Secret History by Donna

Tartt. 3 Lord Tangent in Decline

and Fall by Evelyn Waugh.

4 Krook in Bleak House by

Charles Dickens.

Cryptic Quintagram 1 Sass

2 Assess 3 Sissies 4 Possess

5 Scissors.

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Scrabble® Paul Gallen

A A C E EEI I

I O O P R S S S

S S S S S S S S

S S S S S S S S

1 Crack regiment’s boldness ( 4 )

2 Judge female donkey? (6)

3 Weaklings in MI6 teams losing
heart ( 7 )

4 Have sheriff’s men accompanying
old police ( 7 )

5 Son is cross after throwing sort of
kick ( 8 )

Solve all five cryptic clues using
each letter underneath once only

---

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3 W kli i MI6

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Cryptic Quintagram® Word Watching

David Parfitt

Vaunt-courier

a. A typeface

b. A herald

c. A medieval dance

Flagitate

a. To implore earnestly

b. To move with a

whipping motion

c. To start a fire

Chalaza

a. A Middle Eastern bread

b. A Spanish castle

c. Part of an egg

Deperm

a. To conceal from

detection

b. To use hair straighteners

c. To thaw

Solve Cryptic Quintagram every weekday online

Go to thetimes.co.uk

Answers below Answers below

A bright future

These are exciting times for fans

of the online speed-chess format.

The latest ground-breaking an-

nouncement has been that of the

$1.15 million Champions Chess

Tour. The Tour will consist of ten

tournaments between November

2020 and September 2021, and will

feature many of the world’s top

players. It has also been revealed

that Eurosport will air the games

with live commentary, meaning

that chess will be brought to a

wider audience than ever before.

While the Champions Chess

Tour falls under the umbrella of

Chess24.com and its parent com-

pany Play Magnus, rival website

Chess.com can boast their own

flagship event, the Speed Chess

Championship (SCC).

The highlight of the SCC first

round was the clash between

world number four Maxime Va-

chier-Lagrave and Indian super-

talent Nihal Sarin. The 16-year-

old Sarin hinted at his promise by

scoring a number of spectacular

wins, although he eventually ran

out of steam and lost 16.5-11.5.

White: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Black: Nihal Sarin

Speed Chess Championship,

chess.com 2020

The game stands on the brink of a

tactical explosion. Sarin’s queen is

attacked, and drastic measures

must be taken. 27...Bxc5! Ener-

getic play. Moving the queen is too

compliant, for example: 27...Qe5

28 Ra8+ Nb8 29 Rxb8+ Qxb8

(29...Kxb8 30 Nd7+) 30 Qc4 and

the black king is doomed. 28 Bxd4

A natural mistake when low on

time. 28 Ra8+ Kd7 29 Rd1 was

stronger, when any outcome is

possible. 28...Nxd4 Giving White

a chance to escape. The simple

28...Bxd4+ was sufficient: 29 Rf2

Bxa1 with a material advantage. 29

Ra8+ Kd7 30 Qd3? The final error,

which Sarin punishes ruthlessly.

30 Rd1 was essential. 30...Rxa8 31

c3 Ra3! “Pin and win” is the phrase

that comes to mind here. White is

tied up and barely able to move. 32

g4 Ke7 32...Rxc3 was also possible:

33 Qxc3 Ne2+. 33 gxh5 Ne2+ 34

Kh2 Rxh5+ 35 Bh3 Rxh3+! White

resigns 36 Kxh3 is met by a deadly

fork: 36...Nf4+.

White: Nihal Sarin

Black: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Speed Chess Championship,

chess.com 2020

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