The Times - UK - 04.12.2021

the times | Saturday December 4 2021 saturday review 53

trouble in saving the game. Draw

in 58 moves.

Game 3 saw Nepomniachtchi

again avoid the Marshall Gambit,

repeating the opening of Game 1

until deviating with 8.a4. Carlsen

chose a rare response — a clear

and consistent strategy by the

reigning champion of choosing

sidelines against his challenger’s

more direct approach. Although

Nepomniachtchi held a small stra-

tegic plus throughout, Carlsen was

able to neutralise the pressure in a

bishop endgame. Draw in 41

moves.

Game 4 showcased the strength

and depth of Nepomniachtchi’s

opening preparation. He surprised

observers by essaying the Petroff

Defence, a solid yet uncharacteris-

tic choice. Carlsen — playing on

his 31st birthday — replied with a

seldom-seen idea, but this had

been predicted. Nepomniachtchi

later admitted he had studied the

entirety of the game beforehand

with his team of coaches. Draw in

33 moves.

Game 5 continued the players’ de-

bate in the anti-Marshall. Carlsen’s

unfashionable 8...Rb8 was intend-

ed as a surprise, but Nepomniach-

tchi was ready once more. On

move 20 the Russian missed a

golden opportunity to seize the in-

itiative and the game fizzled out

after a series of exchanges. Draw

in 43 moves.

Winning Move

Black to play. Variation from Ne-

pomniachtchi-Carlsen, Dubai

2021. In Game 1 Nepomniachtchi
      avoided a sneaky opening trap.
      Can you spot how Carlsen could
      have obtained a winning position
      if White had been careless?

The first correct entry drawn on

Thursday will receive a copy of

Collins English Dictionary and The-

saurus. The two runners-up will

receive a book prize. Answers on

a postcard to: The Times Winning

Move, PO Box 2164, Colchester,

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...Ke6! closes a mating net

around White’s king. 2...f5 or

2...Re3 will be checkmate next

move.

               

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This week’s column concludes a

recent series covering snapbacks

featuring the power tiles. Today’s

focus is on those including the

letter Z.

A “snapback” is a four-letter

extension to the back or front

of an existing four-letter word.

Owing to the Z being worth ten

points, plays containing this letter

can be particularly lucrative. Can

you find the highest-scoring play

available with the following rack

and board extract?

EILMoTV

Can you think of the four-

letter extensions of each of the

following words?

HAZE HAZELHEN and

one other

ZELS DAMOZELS and

one other

ZENS CHAZZENS and

four others

There are a number of four-

letter words that have potential

to be extended in both directions.

Can you find the front and

back extensions for each of the

following words?

DOZE One front

and two back extensions

(DOZENING and one other)

GAZE One front and

four back extensions

Here is a selection of useful

snapbacks, which involve com-

mon four-letter words containing

the Z, to catch out your opponent:

FAZENDAS pl of FAZENDA,

a large estate or ranch

WHIZBANG a small calibre

shell

ZOOMETRY study of the

relative size of the

different parts of animals

Your final task is to find a

playable eight-letter word on the

board below using each of the

following racks. Each solution is

a four-letter extension of a valid

four-letter word.

CEHoOSZ

bEEIISZ

eefgirz

Definitions

+$=(/+(1 DW\SHRIJURXVH

&+$==(16 SORI&+$==(1D

 OHDGHURIDV\QDJRJXHVHUYLFH

Collins Official Scrabble Words is the word authority used.

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

/ double letter square (dl) /triple letter

square (tl)

:double word square (dw) :triple word square (tw)

Letter

values

SRLQW

aeiou

lnrst

SRLQWV

dg

SRLQWV

bcmp

SRLQWV

fhvwy

k 

jx 

qz 

SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark of J. W. Spear & Sons Ltd ©Mattel 2021

Chess David Howell

Solution to Cryptic

Jumbo 1527

The winner is

Mr EP Ryan of

Bath, Somerset

SERVANT FUCHS I A M I DDLEC

LAGHLAHU I E I A

UNDERGROUND ANT ECHAMBER

DIEOORCORTER

GRAPE BERSERK BROTHERLY

ENM I L I C AO

THEP I EDP I PEROFHAMEL I N

ENLEGGIID

FRU I TFLY SN I PER POSSESS

FN NDOLA DMU

UNCUT ER I TREA PONDEROUS

SORSSAUH I ECP

I ON I ANSEA NESTEGG D I RGE

OSN PC I RE AN

N I COS I A PLEBBY CLEMAT I S

I I NR LRLA E

SPONTANEOUSGENERAT I ON

EU UBK G NUG

MESSAL I NA I RON I NG SONAR

I NCTTLDOOHHA

PREJUD I C I AL OMN I PRESENT

RSTEOEUAAEAE

OYSTERS NATURAL KATYD I D

Solution to times2

Jumbo 1527

The winner is

Mr Neil Hulbert of

Yateley, Hampshire

Cell Blocks 4332

Suko 3351

Mindset

1 The link is awards

(specifically those known

collectively as EGOT).

{CRIME, NAME, ROME,

THEME} — end ME

(EMMY); {MOP, ONE,

PHONE, RAM} — can be

found in GRAMOPHONE

(original name for the

GRAMMY); {BLAST, LIVE,

RANGE, VOID} — can be

preceded by O (OSCAR in

Nato phonetic alphabet);

{BLACKBURN, HAWK,

SOPRANO, STARK} —

TONYs.

2 6125. The proportion who

like question three best is 1 -

2/7 - k/5, where k=1, 2 or 3

(4/5 is too large), ie 18/35,

11/35 or 4/35. Of those, only

4/35 of a whole number can

be 700, as only 4 divides 700.

3 George Orwell.

Word Watch: Toom (c) A

rubbish tip (Chambers).

Niblick (b) A golf club

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;

24, good; 29, very good; 34, excellent.

Answers to Friday’s Polygon are to the

left. Today’s answers are printed in

MindGames on Monday

Cell Blocks 4333

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 Michael Taylor of

Banstead, Surrey.

(Collins). Ouroboros (c) A

symbol of infinity (OED).

Yepe (b) Cunning (OED).

Polygon effort, eyot, ferry,

fetor, footer, fore, forte, foyer,

fret, froe, fryer, offer, offeror,

offertory, orfe, reroof, retro,

retry, roofer, rooter, rote, teff,

terry, toey, tore, torero, trey,

tyre, yore.

Scrabble MAZELTOV (H8a)

— 69 points; HAZELNUT;

PRETZELS; BEDIZENS,

CITIZENS, DENIZENS,

NETIZENS BULLDOZE,

DOZENTHS; STARGAZE,

GAZEBOES, GAZELLES,

GAZETTED, GAZETTES;

SCHMOOZE (E5a) — 146

points, BITESIZE (J2a) — 77

points, FREEZING (B6d) —

99 points.

Literary quiz

a) 11. b) 6. c) 7. d) 5. e) 1. f) 9.

g) 39.

Cryptic Quintagram 1 Add

2 Zealot 3 Upturn 4 Smuggler

5 Zoologist.

$1& , (17 ,03$672 $/0$1$&

3 $ 1 + 1 , & ) 9 2 ( 2

+256'2(895( (,))(/72:(5

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6 $ $ * , ( * 2 &

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2 2 , 6 ( 5 8 , 5 3

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7 ( 5 8 ( 6 = ( , $ 8 5

6,'($50 6863(1' &$/801<

Scrabble® Paul Gallen

AADDE EGG

G I LLLMNO

OOOP R R S S

T T TUUU Z Z

1 A couple of old pennies put togeth-

er (3)

2 Unknown European, very much a

fanatic (6)

3 Invert posh pint vase (6)

4 Runner, increasingly self-satisfied,

crossing lake (8)

5 Scientist flogging igloos to Zulu (9)

Solve all five cryptic clues using

each letter underneath once only

---

---

---

---

---

Cryptic Quintagram® Word Watch

David Parfitt

Toom

a. Fate, chance

b. A weaving comb

c. A rubbish tip

Niblick

a. A swan’s beak

b. A golf club

c. A penknife

Ouroboros

a. The polar bear genus

b. Scandinavian tundra

c. A symbol of infinity

Yepe

a. The fruit of yews

b. Cunning

c. Named, called

Solve Cryptic Quintagram every weekday online

Go to thetimes.co.uk

Answers below Answers below

Early tension

Scores were level after five rounds

of the world championship match.

Five high-quality draws between

Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepom-

niachtchi signalled that both

players were well-prepared and in

good form. Let us recap the high-

lights of the action so far in Dubai.

Game 1 began as an anti-Marshall

variation of the Ruy Lopez. Carl-

sen, wielding the black pieces,

sacrificed a pawn for the bishop

pair and the more active pieces.

Despite computers claiming

White held a small advantage,

Carlsen began to apply pressure

once the queens had left the board.

Resolute defence from Nepomni-

achtchi — a skill he will need if he

is to win the match — eventually

held the balance. Draw after 45

moves.

Game 2 was a nervy battle. Carl-

sen chose the Catalan Opening,

again sacrificed a pawn, before

making a bold decision he later

called a “blunder”. We join the

game’s key moment.

White: Magnus Carlsen

Black: Ian Nepomniachtchi

FIDE World Chess

Championship, Dubai 2021

White is a pawn down and must

evict the dominant d3-knight

from his camp. 17 Ne5? The right

idea at the wrong time. 17 Be3 or 17

Nxf6+ are promising alternatives.

17...Bxe5 18 dxe5 Nac5! The move

Carlsen had underestimated.

White must now invest further

material to maintain his best piece

— the knight. 19 Nd6 19 Nxc5

Nxc5 leaves Black in control once

the knight is re-installed on d3.

19...Nb3 20 Rb1 Nbxc1 21 Rbxc1

Nxc1 22 Rxc1 Carlsen is reliant on

his knight to compensate for a

large material deficit. 22...Rab8 23

Rd1 Ba8 24 Be4 Hinting at a direct

attack. 24 Nxb5 or 24 Nxc4 would

regain a pawn but lose valuable

tempi. 24...c3? Fearing ghosts, Ne-

pomniachtchi mysteriously gives

back a pawn. 24...bxa4 25 Bxh7+!

Kxh7 26 Qh5+ Kg8 27 Rd4 is in-

deed dangerous for Black. 24...g6!

would however quash White’s am-

bitions. 25 Qc2 g6 26 bxc3 bxa4?

Relinquishing all winning chan-

ces. 26...Qg7 27 f4 g5 instead opens

lines for the black rooks. Carlsen

would likely have struggled to sur-

vive this position. 27 Qxa4 Rfd8 28

Ra1 c5 29 Qc4 Bxe4 30 Nxe4 Kh8

31 Nd6 Rb6 32 Qxc5 Rdb8 33 Kg2

a6 34 Kh3 Rc6 35 Qd4 Kg8 36 c4

Qc7 37 Qg4 Objectively fine,

though now Nepomniachtchi can

simplify. 37 Kg2 maintains White’s

upward trend. 37...Rxd6 38 exd6

Qxd6 39 c5 Qxc5 40 Qxe6+ Kg7

41 Rxa6 Rf8 42 f4 Qf5+ 43 Qxf5

Rxf5 This endgame is a well-

known theoretical draw despite

White’s 3-2 pawn majority. Ne-

pomniachtchi experienced no

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