The Times - UK (2022-05-28)

the times | Saturday May 28 2022 saturday review 53

The winner is Steve Dean of

Seaton, Devon.

struggles to break the pin along

the d1-h5 diagonal. 13...Bg6 14

dxe5 Nxe5 15 Nxe5 Rxe5 16 Nc4?

A miscalculation is swiftly pun-

ished by Anand. On the previous

turn White needed to try 16 Kg2

d5 17 f4 with a complicated fight.

16...Nxe4! Greed is good. Black

ignores the threat to his e5-rook

but counters against the f2-pawn.

17 Nxb6 17 Nxe5 Nxf2 attacks the

white queen and sets up a deadly

discovered check: 18 Qf3 Nd3+ 19

Kf1 Nxe1 20 Kxe1 dxe5. Black

emerges with two extra pawns.

17...Nxf2! Anand blows open the

kingside. The mundane 17...axb6

also gives Black the advantage,

but White is still alive. 18 Qd2 18

Kxf2 Qh4+ is Black’s idea. Now 19

Kf1 (protecting e1) 19...Bxc2 is

fatal: 20 Qd2 Rxe1+ 21 Qxe1 Bd3+

wins the White queen. 18...Qxb6

Every move is precise and ener-

getic. 19 Rxe5 Nxg4+ Black re-

gains the sacrificed material with

interest. 20 Kg2 Nxe5 21 Bxg6

hxg6 22 Qxd6 Qb5 23 Qd1 Nd3

24 b3 Qd5+ White resigns. Two

pawns down and with his king

under fire, White’s position is

hopeless.

Winning Move

White to play. Rapport-Anand,

Warsaw 2022. This game was An-

and’s sole rapidplay defeat in

Poland. In a rather chaotic posi-

tion, White has the option of ex-

changing queens. Should White

allow this simplification, or is

there something even better?

The first correct entry drawn on

Monday June 6 will receive a

copy of Collins English Dictionary

and Thesaurus. The two runners-

up will receive a book prize. An-

swers on a postcard to: The Times

Winning Move, PO Box 2164,

Colchester, Essex CO2 8LJ, or

email to: winningmove@the-

times.co.uk. Open to 18+, UK and

ROI residents only. The answer

will be published next Saturday.

Solution to last week’s puzzle:

1...Re8! wins. The pin leads to

checkmate, for example 2 Qxd4

Rxe1+ 3 Bf1 Rfxf1+ 4 Nxf1 Rxf1

mate

               

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Historically, there has been

an announcement made on

National Scrabble Day (April 13)

regarding a new development of

the game. Typically, these have

related to additions or deletions

of entries from the tournament

word list. Following last year’s

news regarding the removal of a

number of offensive words, this

year’s announcement was more

light-hearted in the form of the

release of a new platform to play

Scrabble online.

Playscrabble.com offers a free

browser version to play Scrabble

via PC or laptop and seeks to

align itself with equivalent web-

sites from other board games

such as chess.com, which have

proven very popular. On play-

scrabble.com, one can play class-

ic Scrabble live against friends

or other opponents worldwide.

There is also the option to test

one’s skills against a computer

opponent in a single-player or

multi-player mode alongside oth-

er Scrabble aficionados. There

are also a number of useful fea-

tures designed to improve one’s

game including access to the

official Scrabble dictionary, blog

posts from tournament players

and a forum to connect with the

competitive Scrabble community.

One of the main promoters

of the new platform is former

US national Scrabble champi-

on Will Anderson, who regu-

larly streams his games on the

platform via the official Scrab-

ble channel on Twitch. Today’s

puzzles are based on two of An-

derson’s recent games on play-

scrabble.com. They will test your

ability to find the highest-scoring

moves available.

Can you find the 76-point play

using the board extract and rack

below?

BIILNOV

Can you also find the 36-point

play on the main board position

below using the following rack?

EEIIORY

Definitions

6$7((16SORI6$7((1

 DJORVV\OLQHQRU

 FRWWRQIDEULF

=$1-$6 SORI=$1-$DQ

 LUULJDWLRQFDQDO

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 2022

Chess David Howell

Solution to Cryptic

Jumbo 1556

The winner is

Mr Andrew Tiplady

of Markfield,

Leicestershire

R I SH I GR I NNED PARAS I T I C

H I NRCAEOECAO

OLDSCHOOL PREVAR I CAT I ON

DEOUALPCNRWC

ENDEM I C UNEARTH DECLARE

I PHDSO EENN

SUPER I OR I TYCOMPLEX BEET

LEE UETERMSR

ALLTHUMBS LIEDER RIVERA

NAEE LDV LS T

DEGENERAT I ON D I M I NUT I VE

I SVAWCSNND

REC T I F Y I NG NOTH I NGDO I NG

EBNKTMEEOO

I C I CLE MAKEUP SATURATED

NNE FRL LO S I L

T EAK HANDLEBARMOUS TACHE

EUBN S I NNA S

REDWOOD P I CASSO CANOPUS

P I OAOOA LOD LN

R I BSTONP I PP I N ELUC I DATE

ELEGS I CNTNZS

THEREFORE CHEETAH GLASS

Solution to times2

Jumbo 1556

The winner is

Mr Graham R Day

of Urchfont, Wilts

Cell Blocks 4482

Suko 3501

Mindset 1. {FONDA,

PARTON, TOMLIN,

COLEMAN, HAYDEN} —

cast of 9 to 5; {TOP OF THE

HEAD} — bookies term for

9:4; {THIRTEEN TIMES

SEVENTY-ONE} —

factorisation of 923; {ONE

FIFTY-ONE} — the time

nine to two; {CMXXI} — 921

in Roman numerals.

2. The queen threw 1,2,5,5 and
   6, forming the age of the
   tortoise, 125, with three dice,
   and its square, 15,625, with
   all five.


3. (M)ANGER, (I)DEE,
   (N)EIGER, (D)ROLE,
   (S)AVON, (E)COLE, (T)OUT.
   L’ordre Mindset,
   naturellement!
   Word Watch:
   Antoninianus
   (b) A Roman coin (Collins).
   Scissel (b) Metal clippings
   (Chambers).

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: 12 words average;

17, good; 26, very good; 36, excellent.

Answers to Friday’s Polygon are to the

left. Today’s answers are printed in

MindGames on Monday

Cell Blocks 4483

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

Pediluvium (a) A footbath

(OED).

Plim (b) To swell (OED).

Polygon albeit, albite, bail,

bailee, bait, balti, belie, bile,

bite, built, elite, equitable,

etui, ital, lieu, liquate, lite,

quail, qubit, quiet, quilt,

quit, quite, tabi, tail, tequila,

tile, utile.

Scrabble OBLIVION (H5d)

— 76 points; JOYRIDE (C12d)

— 36 points.

Literary quiz 1 John Keats.

2 Charles Dickens. 3 HG

Wells. 4 Joe Orton.

Cryptic Quintagram 1 Relax

2 Futile 3 Jaunty 4 Newest

5 Whitewash.

',5$& &23<&$7 3,&72*5$0

2 ( $ $ 5 5 8 , 5 9 ( $

9,*,/$17( $*5((72' , ))(5

( $ / ' 0 & 7 5 6 6 2 6

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2 1 8 7 7 ( % & 0 2

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7 , 2 5 ( ( 7 5 + 6 0

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* < 8 % +. $ , 6 2

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$ 6 8 ( 3 % 7 2 $ ,

$8' , 775$, / %$&+(/25)/$7

/ , ' * % < '. : $

$1'+2: $1*25$ '5($07($0

6 2 1 7 ( 5 7 ( $ / 2

781$ '($'0(17(//127$/(6

$ 7 & $ ' + 7 ( ( +

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5 $ 8 , + 7 0 :. , , 1

6$1%(51$5',12 ,175$16,7

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Scrabble® Paul Gallen

AAAE E E E E

FHH I I J L L

NNR S S T T T

T U U WWW X Y

1 King keeping the French calm (5)

2 Vain female with posh hat (6)

3 Sprightly bird adopting Cockney
pursuit (6)

4 Most recent books about sheep (6)

5 Heroin is what we sneakily cover
up (9)

Solve all five cryptic clues using

each letter underneath once only

---

---

---

---

---

Cryptic Quintagram® Word Watch

David Parfitt

Antoninianus

a. An extreme opposite

b. A Roman coin

c. A tulip-like flower

Scissel

a. A fibre for ropes

b. Metal clippings

c. A cured sausage

Pediluvium

a. A footbath

b. A deposit of river silt

c. A chemical element

Plim

a. A light sports shoe

b. To swell

c. To float

Solve Cryptic Quintagram every weekday online

Go to thetimes.co.uk

Answers below Answers below

The adventures of Anand

The Indian chess legend Viswa-

nathan Anand made his return to

the board in Poland last week.

The former world champion has

mainly focused on non-playing

projects since 2019, including

coaching his country’s new gen-

eration of talent.

Anand’s performance in the

Superbet Rapid & Blitz was re-

markable. In the rapid segment

he brushed off all suggestions of

rustiness, winning seven of his

first eight games. That fine form

continued in the blitz portion.

Only the winning streak of local

juggernaut Jan-Krzysztof Duda

prevented Anand from taking

first prize.

Many of Anand’s victories in

Poland were quick, brilliant, and

brutal.

White: David Gavrilescu

Black: Viswanathan Anand

Superbet Rapid & Blitz,

Warsaw 2022

Anand’s most instructive win ar-

rived against an opponent one

third his age. The position above

initially appears relatively level.

Black’s bishop pair is balanced

out by the weakness of his queen-

side pawns. Anand, however, tac-

tically alert and proactive, spots a

time-sensitive tactic to turn the

game in Black’s favour. 18...c4!

This type of thrust is sometimes

referred to as an invisible move.

White covers c4 three times, yet a

pawn sacrifice on this square

ruins the coordination in the

white camp. 19 Rfd1 Unfortu-

nately 19 Qxc4 runs into a skewer

with 19...Ba6. Meanwhile 19 bxc4

allows 19...Rb4 20 Bc6 (20 Nc3

Rxc4) 20...Be6. The a4-knight is

stranded and White will soon

lose material. 19...Be6 20 Rb1 20

bxc4 is again refuted by 20...Rb4.

20...Rfc8 21 b4 Rxb4 22 Rxb4

Qxb4 23 g3 c3 24 Bd5 Bxd5 25

Rxd5 Rc4 White resigns.

White’s knight is trapped. This

game is proof that knights on the

rim are often dim!

White: Levon Aronian

Black: Viswanathan Anand

Superbet Rapid & Blitz,

Warsaw 2022

Bishop’s Opening

Anand won a crushing miniature

against longtime rival Aronian. 1

e4 e5 2 Bc4 Nf6 3 d3 Bc5 4 Nf3 d6

5 0-0 0-0 6 c3 Bb6 7 Nbd2 c6 8

Bb3 Re8 9 Re1 Be6 10 Bc2 Nbd7

11 d4 Bg4 White occupies the

centre with pawns, so Black must

put pressure on the pieces sup-

porting those pawns. 12 h3 Bh5 13

g4 Bold, but what else? White’s

d4-pawn will otherwise become a

target. If 13 dxe5 Nxe5 White

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