The Times - UK (2021-12-18)

the times | Saturday December 18 2021 saturday review 81

Carlsen has found a creative rook

manoeuvre. Nepomniachtchi’s re-

action indicated he had simply run

out of energy. 23 g3? There is a fine

line between creating a mess and

finding oneself in a mess.

Throughout the match Nepomni-

achtchi regularly struggled to im-

balance positions. Perhaps this

final roll of the dice was a conse-

quence of his frustration. 23 Rxd4

Rxd4 24 cxd4 Nxd5 25 Nxd5 Qxd5

26 Qxc7 was the safe continuation,

with an imminent draw. This

would have prolonged the match

by at least one more game.

23...dxe3! The white king will now

be too exposed. 24 gxf4 Qxg4+ 25

Kf1 Qh3+ 26 Kg1 Nf5 A hint of

nerves. On the brink of match vic-

tory, Carlsen misses the straight-

forward 26...exf2+ 27 Qxf2 (27

Kxf2 Qh2+ is a fatal skewer)

27...Rd6. The white monarch is

doomed. 27 d6 Nh4 28 fxe3 Qg3+

29 Kf1 Nf3 30 Qf2 Qh3+ 31 Qg2

Qxg2+ 32 Kxg2 Nxe1+ 33 Rxe1

Rxd6 Black has a winning end-

game due to the extra pawn and

superior rook. 34 Kf3 Rd2 35 Rb1

g6 36 b4 axb4 37 Rxb4 Ra2 38

Ke4 h5 39 Kd5 Rc2 40 Rb3 h4 41

Kc6 h3 42 Kxc7 h2 43 Rb1 Rxc3+

44 Kxb6 Rb3+! A classic deflection

tactic. 45 Rxb3 h1Q 46 a5 Qe4 47

Ka7 Qe7+ 48 Ka8 Kg7 49 Rb6

Qc5 White resigns The queen will

mop up White’s remaining pawns.

Winning Move

White to play. Jones-McShane,

London 2021. This year’s London

Chess Classic was somewhat over-

shadowed by the world champion-

ship match. Nevertheless, En-

gland’s premier tournament at-

tracted a strong field. Can you see

how White forced resignation in

this grandmaster clash?

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 on January 1.

Solution to last week’s puzzle:

1...Bxh2+! wins the white queen:

2 Kxh2 Qxd5

               

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:

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//:

Congratulations to Alastair Rich-

ards of New Zealand who tri-

umphed in the final of the 2021

World English Scrabble Players

Association (Wespa) Champi-

onship after defeating Australia’s

David Eldar by a 4-3 scoreline.

Alastair is unrelated to fellow

Kiwi Nigel Richards but pro-

duced a performance reminis-

cent of the five-time world cham-

pion in securing victory.

The final was a gripping en-

counter with both players pro-

ducing some excellent displays

of anagramming ability. Can

you find four of Richards’s bonus

plays from the final?

AAEGIMNS

AAEIPRTT

AAGIMNPS

EIPQRSTU

Richards also played a number

of unusual seven-letter words

which helped to resolve bland

racks of letters. Here are two

examples:

COLOBID a type of African

monkey

THIGGIT past tense of THIG,

to beg (Scots)

Eldar produced a spectacular

play in game two on the board

extract opposite using the follow-

ing rack:

FIILQU

First, can you find the playable

seven-letter word that would

have scored 94 points (a variant

spelling of a well-known word)?

Most players would have

been content with this option

but Eldar found an even higher-

scoring move. Can you find it? It

was particularly impressive that

Eldar was certain of the validity

of this tricky word with the safer

94-point move available.

The decider was a tense affair

with both players playing a

number of cagey moves. Richards

developed a 40-point lead after

finding the highest-scoring play

available on the main board

position with the rack below.

CGIPRRT

Can you find Richards’s

24-point move? Eldar was una-

ble to overcome the deficit on a

congested board and Richards

claimed the title with a final move

of ARK for 16 points to win by 13.

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 1529

The winner is

Mr Andrew Kerr

of Wantage,

Oxfordshire

CL I NG JUP I TER POSTHASTE

ONR I ERUA T AEX

MOTHEATEN ENTERTA I NMENT

PRAT I AHKMGDE

APOSTLE TESSERA PREM I ER

CGREURERNN

THEPR I SONEROF ZENDA MESA

DPA CEOMERSL

I NSENSATE HERBAL HASSLE

S I DT UDNNR A

CALAM I TY JANE PACESET TER

OOAA T U T T E U

GENET I C I ST UNRESTRA I NED

IHHMXTLREI

LIEDER LIGETI PLENTIFUL

DARONNM I HUA

TOGO G I VESOMEONETHESL I P

HEPL PLSOL I

EARMUFF ATHE I ST PRESSED

LNR I SONRSMCA

I NEXPRESS I BLE I T I NERANT

LSLLA I SPDNRE

YESTERDAY AUSTERE TREND

Solution to times2

Jumbo 1529

The winner is

Ms Clara Thordiss

of Crawcrook,

Tyne and Wear

Cell Blocks 4344

Suko 3363

Mindset 1 a is {IMST}, b is

{DEN}, c is {ACHR}. Words

are (a) MIST, (b) NEEDED,

(c) CHAR, (a+b) MINDSET,

(a+c) CHRISTMAS, (b+c)

ADHERENCE, (a+b+c)

ARCHIMANDRITES.

2 4/9.

3 a P. The letters are the nth

letters of the gifts my true

love gave to me each day of

Christmas.

Word Watch: Gebur (a) A

tenant farmer (Collins).

Rebato (b) A support for a

ruff (Chambers). Fale (c) A

Samoan house (OED).

Masseter (a) A jaw muscle

(Chambers).

Polygon blanc, carb, card,

carl, caul, clad, clan, club,

crab, cran, crud, crus, curb,

curd, curl, ducal, narc, scab,

scad, scald, scan, scar, scaur,

scran, scrub, scrubland,

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: 15 words average;

21, good; 28, very good; 36, excellent.

Answers to Friday’s Polygon are to the

left. Today’s answers are printed in

MindGames on Monday

Cell Blocks 4345

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 Ben Woolf of

Warborough, Oxfordshire.

scuba, scud, unclad.

Scrabble MAGNESIA,

PATRIATE, PAGANISM,

QUIPSTER; LIQUIFY (H13d)

— 94 points, LIQUIFIER

(E4a) — 130 points; CREPT

(M9a) — 24 points.

Literary quiz 1 Monique

Roffey (Costa Novel Award

and Costa Book of the Year).

2 Damon Galgut (Booker

Prize). 3 AK Blakemore

(Desmond Elliott Prize).

4 Patrick Radden Keeffe

(Baillie Gifford Prize).

Cryptic Quintagram 1 Moan

2 Horny 3 Ghetto 4 Small ad

5 Fluttering.

3$1,& 6&$/'(' %2206/$1*

2 , 2 8 1 , ( 8 % & ' 8

/(1,1*5$' =(5272/(5$1&(

/ - 6 5 5 = , 7 , $ $ 6

(;$03/( 2'<66(< 9$32856

1 , $ 0 + , , ( 6 7

&(175$/5(6(59$7 ,21 6(0,

2 2 $ ' , ( 2 1 & $ 0

857 , &$5, $ *$//21 &5,0($

1 9 < ( + < 7 5 2 7

7:(17<7:(17< $66(66$%/(

5 + ( $ 6 & , 3 6 ,

'5<0($685( '2'(&$+('521

( 2 7 1 & / , ; ' 2

0$175$ 0(7+2' '256$/) , 1

2 2 < + 6 , 6 8 0 / 6

586( 3$572)7+()851, 785(

$ ( 5 6 ) 2 ) , 1 4

/()7287 5(&/86( 3/$7($8

, / 1 , ( + / / ( 7 / ,

6281', 1*%2$5' %219 , 9$17

( 7 ( * 8 ) ( $ ( 2 1 8

'8(//,676 )25$*(' 1$', 5

Scrabble® Paul Gallen

AAADE E FG

GHH I L L LM

MNNNOOOR

RSTTTTUY

1 Chap eating nothing that’s beef (4)

2 Rutting rhino could be so de-
scribed? (5)

3 Got the supply for deprived area
(6)

4 Notice US shopping centre, blue
on the outside (5,2)

5 As eyelashes may be, say, in ro-
mantic dalliance (10)

Solve all five cryptic clues using
each letter underneath once only

---

---

---

---

---

Cryptic Quintagram® Word Watch

David Parfitt

Gebur

a. A tenant farmer

b. A long-armed ape

c. To talk nonsense

Rebato

a. An echo

b. A support for a ruff

c. A lute-shaped violin

Fale

a. A leafy vegetable

b. A very hot curry

c. A Samoan house

Masseter

a. A jaw muscle

b. A large powerful dog

c. A church attendant

Solve Cryptic Quintagram every weekday online

Go to thetimes.co.uk

Answers below Answers below

Five-time champion

Magnus Carlsen maintained his

eight-year grip on the world

championship title with an over-

whelming match victory against

Ian Nepomniachtchi. The final

score of 7.5-3.5 reflected Carlsen’s

dominance, as his challenger self-

destructed after a tense start.

Days after his triumph, Carlsen

shocked the chess community

with a revealing interview. He

claimed he is unlikely to defend his

crown in future, citing a lack of

motivation. There were two ex-

ceptions included in his statement.

Carlsen is keen for the format of

the world championship to be

modernised, and he is desperate to

test himself against an opponent

he deems worthy. 18-year-old Ali-

reza Firouzja was mentioned as a

potential contender.

Despite Carlsen’s protestations,

his hunger and focus never

seemed in question during the

match against Nepomniachtchi.

His marathon 136-move win in

Game 6 proved to be the turning

point, and he ruthlessly exploited

his opportunities to collect three

further wins. He smoothly

wrapped up proceedings in Game

11 by pouncing on a one-move

blunder.

White: Ian Nepomniachtchi

Black: Magnus Carlsen

FIDE World Chess

Championship, Dubai 2021

Italian Game

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Tired of

being neutralised in the Ruy Lo-

pez, Nepomniachtchi switches

opening. The flexible Italian

Game is a logical choice in a must-

win situation, since many pieces

remain on the board deep into the

middlegame. 3...Nf6 4 d3 Bc5 5 c3

d6 6 0-0 a5 7 Re1 Ba7 A small sur-

prise. 7...0-0 or 7...h6 are more

common, but Carlsen is renowned

for his expertise in move order nu-

ances. 8 Na3 h6 9 Nc2 Rather than

test Carlsen’s idea with the princi-

pled 9 Nb5, Nepomniachtchi

chooses an unambitious retreat.

9...0-0 10 Be3 Bxe3 11 Nxe3 Re8

12 a4 Be6 13 Bxe6 Rxe6 14 Qb3 b6

15 Rad1 Ne7 16 h3 Qd7 This type of

scenario occurred several times

throughout the match. There is

minimal dynamism in the posi-

tion, meaning that Nepomniach-

tchi is unable to display the tactical

flair that elevated him into the

world’s elite. 17 Nh2 Rd8 18 Nhg4

Nxg4 19 hxg4 d5 20 d4 An unex-

pected pawn break. Carlsen is not

thrown off balance, however.

20...exd4 The alternative capture

also suffices: 21...dxe4 22 dxe5 Qe8

23 Nc4 Rxd1 24 Qxd1 Nc6 25 Rxe4

Nxe5 with dry equality. 21 exd5

WRe4 22 Qc2 Rf4________W

áWDW4WDkD]

àDW0qhp0W]

ßW0WDWDW0]

Þ0WDPDWDW]

ÝPDW0W4PD]

ÜDW)WHWDW]

ÛW)QDW)PD]

ÚDWDR$WIW]

ÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈ

________W

áWDW4WDkD]

àDpDWDpDp]

ßp!W1WDpD]

ÞDWDW$bDW]

ÝWDBDWDWD]

ÜDWDPDWDP]

ÛP)WDW)PD]

ÚDWDWDWIW]

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