The Times - UK (2022-06-11)

the times | Saturday June 11 2022 saturday review 53

Anand had seen that 23 Bb1 allows

23...Nxf2! whereupon 24 Rxf2 e3 is

a nasty fork. Carlsen still manages

to extricate the piece in style.

23...Nf2! The same trick men-

tioned above. The knight is poi-

soned: 24 Rxf2 e3. 24 fxe4 N2xe4

25 Qd3 Qd6 26 Rf3 g6 27 Raf1

Computers love this type of posi-

tion for Black, mainly due to the

kingside pawn majority providing

extra defensive cover. In practice,

White’s position is far easier to

play. Every piece is actively placed.

27...Nh5 28 g4 Nhf6 29 Nf4 Ng5?

This only helps White to improve

the f3-rook. 30 R3f2 Nge4 31 Rg2

h6 32 h4 g5 33 hxg5 hxg5 34 Nh3

Kg7 35 Rf5 35 Qe3 is the correct

way to attack g5. 35...Rh8 36

Nxg5 Rh4? 36...Nxg5 37 Rxg5+

Kf8 leaves White in trouble along

the e- and h-files. 37 Bxd5! Anand

is peerless when it comes to small

tactics. 37...Nxg5 37...Nxd5 38

Nxe4 leaves White two pawns up.

38 Rxg5+ Kf8 39 Bf3? A small

blemish. 39 Qg3 consolidates the

extra material. 39...Qf4 40 Re5

Rxe5 41 dxe5 Qxe5 42 Kf2 Rh3

42...Rh1! gives Black counterat-

tacking chances. 43 g5 Nh5 44 g6!

Anand was visibly enjoying him-

self, while Carlsen was struggling

on both the board and clock.

44...fxg6 45 Qd8+ Qe8 46 Qxe8+

Kxe8 47 Rxg6 Nf4 48 Rxa6 The

endgame is clearly winning for

White, mainly thanks to the

a-pawn. 48...Nd3+ 49 Ke3 49 Ke2

is a better square, but Anand pro-

vokes a final blunder. 49...Ne5?

49...Nxb2 maintains a glimmer of

hope. 50 Re6+ Black resigns

Winning Move

White to play. Ohanyan-Zhigalko,

lichess.org 2022. Can you find the

crushing blow that gives a decisive

advantage? White’s winning motif

is reminiscent of the famous game

Fischer-Benko, New York 1963.

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 Rg8+! wins: 1...Rxg8 2 Nf7 mate

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O

b

r

n o

q u o p n

n b c

m a l t ÿ d s

t n

v a v i

o k t

w i

p e

u r

t

3W 2L 3W 2L 3W

2W 3L 3L 2W

2W 2L 2L 2W

2L 2W 2L 2W 2L

2W

3L 3L

2L 2L 2L 2L

3W 2L 3W

2L 2L 2L 2L

3L 3L 3L

2W

2L 2W 2L

2W 2L 2W

2W 3L 3L 2W

3W 2L 3W 2L 3W

E

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

C D E F G H I J K L M N O

t w a y

t o r s a d e s

e

c l a d

k b i g

f i b

2W 2L 2L 2W

2L 2W

2W

3L 3L 3L

2L 2L 2L

2L 2L

2L 2L 2L

3L 3L 3L

2W 2W

2W 2L 2W

2W 2L 2L 2W

3L 3L 2W

2L 3W 2L

R

Peter Kougi of Melbourne won

the Australian National Scrab-

ble Championship for the sec-

ond time after a tense finish at

this year’s event in Queensland.

Kougi defeated another former

champion, Chris May, by 130

spread points (cumulative mar-

gin of victory) after both play-

ers finished on 18 wins out of 24

games.

Kougi’s win in the penultimate

game against John Spaan

was a pivotal moment: Kougi

won by a single point despite

a misruling by tournament

officials. During the game in

question, Kougi’s opponent

had accidentally overdrawn

from the bag, resulting in eight

tiles on the rack instead of the

standard seven tiles. Spaan

subsequently deployed all eight

tiles to play the bonus word

SATIATED.

The play was correctly

deemed to be an overdraw and

Kougi was able to remove one

of the tiles from his opponent’s

rack and return it to the bag.

Kougi crucially elected to

remove Spaan’s precious blank

tile from the rack. However,

according to tournament rules,

Spaan should also have lost his

turn, as the eight-tile play was

an invalid move. Instead, Spaan

was permitted another attempt

and played DATA to register

points on the same turn.

Despite this ruling, Kougi

was able to eke out a vital win

en route to becoming Australian

National Scrabble champion.

Here are two separate

positions from Kougi’s games.

Can you find Kougi’s 85-point

play using the board extract

and rack below?

EILRSVY

Can you also find Kougi’s

72-point move using the main

board and rack below?

AADIMRS

Definitions

BENITIER a basin for holy water

NUNATAK an isolated mountain

peak projecting

through glacial ice

Collins Official Scrabble Words is the word authority used.

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

2L double letter square (dl) 3L triple letter

square (tl)

2Wdouble word square (dw) 3Wtriple word square (tw)

Letter

values

1 point:

aeiou

lnrst

2 points:

dg

3 points:

bcmp

4 points:

fhvwy

k = 5

jx = 8

qz = 10

SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark of J. W. Spear & Sons Ltd ©Mattel 2022

Chess David Howell

Solution to Cryptic

Jumbo 1558

The winner is

Andrew Tiplady of

Markfield, Leics

Cryptic Jumbo 1557

The winner is

Jim Fyles of

Mundford, Norfolk

times2 Jumbo 1557

The winner is

Jillian Lee of Spital,

Merseyside

P R I N C I P A L S Q U E A M I S H N E S S

R N A A A U N N N U A U

O C E A N C O N C L U D E D F I N E S S E

P Q O I C T I A R T T Z

H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S

E I I T I C T S N R W

T I T M O U S E I N D O L E N T G A B L E

I A B T F E V R U R

C U B I S M H A S S L E A B U N D A N C E

L T Q L S R P C O N W

P R E V I O U S L Y H E M P T A L L Y H O

L N I I I D R U C L

A B S T A I N B A N D P O O R R E L I E F

Y P T T L C B V E V N

B E L V E D E R E A V A T A R M I N G U S

I U S P K L B T O A

L I T H E S O C R A T I C U L L A P O O L

L T X E A C N B A D A

K E E P O N E S F I N G E R S C R O S S E D

S R L T S T S O K C H D

T R I P O L I A N A L O G O U S T I A R A

U N I A V T D C E E P Y

D I G I T A L C A M E R A H E A R T L E S S

Solution to times2

Jumbo 1558

The winner is Mark

Pierzchalo of Alloa,

Clackmannanshire

Cell Blocks 4494

Suko 3513

Mindset 1. All are linked to
cricket: {ADIOS, CIAO,
FAREWELL} — synonyms
for BYE; {ANGLE, AWAKE,
BOY} — follow WIDE;
{BABY, RABBIT,
RUDOLPH} — fit between
RUN and RUN in song titles;
{CONTINUING, UNDER,
UNFINISHED} — opposite
of OVER; {TWIXT, CUP,
(and) LIP} — many a SLIP;
{FRUIT, HORSESHOE,
VAMPIRE} — species of
BAT.

2. They’re both the same:
   26 visits are needed in both
   cases.


3. DODO. Sequence is Do Re
   Mi Fa So La Ti Do reversed,
   rotated, concatenated and
   divided into fours.
   Word Watch: Socle (c) A
   plinth (Collins). Eatanswill
   (c) A corrupt election
   (Chambers). Benison (b) A

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; 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 4495

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 Patrick Cooper of

Clearbrook, Devon.

The May 28 winner is Dennis Orton

of Hayling Island, Hampshire.

blessing (OED). Fosse (c) A

ditch or trench (OED).

Polygon cafe, chafe, chef,

chief, chieftain, face, facet,

fact, fain, faint, faith, fane,

fate, feat, feint, feta, fetch,

fiancé, fiat, fiche, finca, finch,

fine, finite, fitch, fitna, fitnah,

haft, heft, infect, naïf, thief.

Scrabble

SILVERY (I11d);

DIORAMAS (E8a).

Literary quiz

1 Anthony Hope.

2 Daphne du Maurier.

3 Thomas Harris.

4 Ken Kesey.

Cryptic Quintagram

1 Ride 2 Cola 3 Resit

4 Extrovert 5 Sunderland.

M I S S W O R L D M A D C O W D I S E A S E

E E H U E I U B O T N A

N A C R E S I C K N O T E S U S E D C A R

A O E H A D Y E B R I L

G E N T L E M E N P R E F E R B L O N D E S

E D O T E R V E U N L

R O S E M A R Y S A F E S E A T M O T T O

I I E E P D E A R A

E I G H T H B O R E A S S A N G F R O I D

H O L O R H E D O M S

N O T I F I A B L E L O O T H A R V E S T

O F D S B P P O M A

T I P S I L Y I B E X N O N S T A R T E R

A I C C D N C I E T R

H O R S E S H O E D A R I N G A T R I U M

O O A S A T D E A A

P L U M P T E N S I O N S R E A D O N L Y

E E R T I N E G M G A

I T N E V E R R A I N S B U T I T P O U R S

U T V R V S B N U I L W

T R I V I A L A T T A I N D E R L E A V E

A N E E N E L O G O T L

H I G H W A Y P A T R O L G R E A T S E A L

Scrabble® Paul Gallen

A A C D D D E E

E E E I I L L N

N O O R R R R R

S S T T T U V X

1 Travel using free energy (4)

2 Piece of chocolate for pop (4)

3 One among others repeated test (5)

4 Outgoing person, rambler, entering
races no more? (9)

5 Last of Mohicans below ground in
city (10)

Solve all five cryptic clues using
each letter underneath once only

---

---

---

---

---

Cryptic Quintagram ® Word Watch

David Parfitt

Socle

a. A salmon species

b. Land ownership

c. A plinth

Eatanswill

a. A feeding trough

b. A legal document

c. A corrupt election

Benison

a. A small hill

b. A blessing

c. A meat substitute

Fosse

a. A Madagascan mammal

b. To turn to stone

c. A ditch or trench

Solve Cryptic Quintagram every weekday online

Go to thetimes.co.uk

Answers below Answers below

A summer of politics

Campaigning has started ahead of

the world chess federation (Fide)

elections in August. The president

of Fide, Arkady Dvorkovich, has

announced his plans to stand for a

second term in office. Dvorkovich

has earned plaudits for his work

since 2018, guiding Fide through a

difficult period while successfully

organising a broad range of events.

Dvorkovich’s regime is support-

ed by a number of prominent

grandmasters, including Emil Sut-

ovsky and Nigel Short. Despite the

star power, his candidacy presents

a moral dilemma for the chess

world. Dvorkovich was deputy

prime minister of Russia from 2012

to 2018. During this time Russia

annexed Crimea.

Dvorkovich’s opponents face an

uphill battle. The voting system of

one vote per federation greatly fa-

vours the incumbent. Controver-

sially, smaller federations with a

handful of members have the

same sway as countries such as

Germany, which represents al-

most 100,000 members.

If Dvorkovich is re-elected at

the Chess Olympiad in India, Vis-

wanathan Anand will be part of his

team. The 52-year-old former

world champion continues to en-

joy a fine run of form. Last week

Anand defeated Magnus Carlsen

in a dramatic armageddon tie-

breaker.

White: Viswanathan Anand

Black: Magnus Carlsen

Norway Chess, Stavanger 2022

Italian Game

As a quirk of armageddon chess,

White gets more time on the clock

but must win. A draw counts as a

win for Black. Anand had 10 min-

utes to Carlsen’s 7 minutes. 1 e4 e5

2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 d3 Bc5 5

Bg5 Be7 6 Nc3 d6 7 a4 0-0 8 a5 A

typical space-gaining operation.

Note the importance of this pawn

in the endgame. 8...Bg4 9 h3 Bxf3

10 Qxf3 Nd4 11 Qd1 c6 12 0-0 b5 13

Ba2 Capturing en passant with 13

axb6 gives a long-term advantage

due to White’s bishop pair:

13...axb6 14 Rxa8 Qxa8 15 Ne2.

Perhaps Anand wanted more ten-

sion in a must-win situation.

13...Ne6 14 Be3 a6 15 Qf3 Qd7 16

Ne2 d5 17 c3 Bc5 18 exd5 When

first emerging on the scene, Anand

was known as a quick and instinc-

tive player. His recent resurgence

has also been marked by swift and

forceful decision-making. 18 Bxc5

Nxc5 19 Qe3 is another testing op-

tion. 18...cxd5 19 Bxc5 Nxc5 20 d4

e4 21 Qe3 Nd3 Black’s knight

lands on a potentially strong

square — if it can survive there. 22

Qd2 Rae8 Carlsen sets a cunning

trap. 23 f3

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ÝWDWDWDWD]

ÜDW)WDW)W]

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ÜDW)nDPDP]

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