Chess & Bridge
Bridge - The Scotsman 28/05/12
The Scottish Cup was won by Brian Short (Dave Walker, Les Steel John Matheson). Charles Outred (Vi Outred, Clive Owen, Jon Atthey) made a bright start, but the last hand of the first segment wiped out their early lead.
Bridge - The Scotsman 26/05/2012
Sometimes a guess can be eliminated by careful investigation of the distribution.
Chess - The Scotsman 26/05/2012
Even if you have only a casual interest in chess, and are not actually acquainted at all of its virtually unlimited nuances, I’m hoping that you enjoy a mental challenge, and that the words seven, fourteen, fifteen, twenty, twenty-two, forty-seven, seventy-four and seventy-five will give you adequate information and incentive to examine this sentence again and discover which two recurring letters are the initials of a player whose most instructive games are an invaluable, perpetual fountain for all who wish to improve.
Bridge - The Scotsman 25/05/12
THE Spring Foursomes is a very high standard event, and it was pleasing to see seven Scottish teams (plus John Matheson and Willie Coyle) taking part.
Bridge - The Scotsman 24/05/12
John Matheson has been enjoying a purple patch lately. His great strength is that he makes very few errors.
Bridge - The Scotsman 23/05/12
Successful slam bidding requires vision. It helps to have some useful agreements and trust in partner to use them wisely, as on this hand from a league match.
Chess - The Scotsman 22/05/2012
JUST days before the start of the Anand-Gelfand title match in Moscow, chess legend Garry Kasparov said that this World Championship would not be a match to decide the best chess player in the world, as previous championships have been.
Bridge - The Scotsman 22/05/2012
The best Scottish performance at the Spring Foursomes was that of Willie Coyle and John Matheson, who reached the semi-finals in the team captained by Bernard Teltscher. This deal from their quarter-final was an essential gain in a match won by just 6 imps.
Chess - The Scotsman 21/05/2012
IT’S been a little like watching paint dry at the World Championship in Moscow, as the main event of the year, between Viswanathan Anand, the defending champion, and his challenger, Boris Gelfand, reaches halfway with nothing more to show than a series of tedious draws and the match tied at 3-3.
Bridge - The Scotsman 21/05/2012
THE English Spring Foursomes is a very high standard event, a double elimination teams.
Bridge - The Scotsman 19/05/2012
It is easy to overlook a pitfall that may sink your contract. Can you see the problem here?
Chess - The Scotsman 19/05/2012
The World Chess Championship is currently under way in Moscow between Viswanathan Anand, the champion, and his challenger Boris Gelfand.
Bridge - The Scotsman 16/05/12
HERE is another deal where a trump suit cannot be agreed below the four-level. South’s 3D rebid promises a good 6+card suit, and denies any other four-card suits.
Bridge - The Scotsman 15/05/2012
When you have a two-way guess it pays to assemble as much information as you can before committing yourself. South opened a strong no-trump, and reached game after a transfer sequence. West hit declarer’s weak spot with a club lead – there was now no time to establish a spade trick. Still, four diamonds, two clubs and three heart tricks would see him home, provided he could guess which opponent held the queen of hearts.
Chess - The Scotsman 15/05/2012
THE opening two games of the first World Chess Championship to be played in Moscow since the Cold War ended in easy draws as the two players probed for weaknesses ahead of their best-of-12-game match at the State Tretyakov Gallery in the Russian capital.
Chess - The Scotsman 11/05/2012
SOME top chess players have a prolific game output, virtually living out of a suitcase, commuting from event to evemt. In the old times it was Savielly Tartakower; 40 and 30 years ago Bent Larsen and Britain’s first grandmaster Tony Miles; and more recently, there’s been Ukraine’s Vassily Ivanchuk.
Bridge - The Scotsman 11/05/2012
This freak deal comes from a Swiss Teams event. South became quite excited when partner opened the bidding, but it was not her side that could make slam.
Bridge - The Scotsman 08/05/2012
The National Men’s Pairs were won by Tim Wickens and Kim Fryer of Highland district, with David Liggat and Roy Bennett heading the bunch for second place; the Women’s Pairs were won by Edinburgh’s Julia Palmer and Claire Hargan, from Sam Punch and Liz McGowan.
Chess - The Scotsman 08/05/2012
THE German and Russian leagues are easily the strongest in Europe, their top teams crammed with highly ranked grandmasters, and we reported in previous columns on Baden-Baden and Tomsk winning their respective titles. But for many club players in Scotland, local league chess is probably more of an interest.
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Bridge - The Scotsman 04/05/2012
Another recent death is that of Lessel Reid, a farmer from Kennethmont, near Huntly, in his 85th year. Lessel, a staunch supporter of Scottish Bridge, must have travelled further than any other player to achieve his rank of Grand Master. A quietly-spoken, likeable, gentleman, Lessel would have relished this deal.
Chess - The Scotsman 04/05/2012
IS there any despot safe from the FIDE president, Kirsan Ilyumzhanov? The eccentric head of the world chess federation was one of the last official visitors Saddam Hussain received in Baghdad days before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and he was also the last official guest of Colonel Gaddaffi in Tripoli shortly before his downfall last year. And he now has the hat tricks of despot photo calls alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Bridge - The Scotsman 03/05/2012
A THIRD significant loss to Scottish bridge this year was Hamish Pringle. Hamish built a very successful knitwear business, but still found time to act as chairman of the Highland District for over 14 years. He attended every council meeting, where he argued for clubs in the more remote areas. The hugely successful Highland District Congress in Aviemore is his legacy. It is some time since he retired and moved to Fife with his wife Nita, but the memory of their warmth and hospitality lingers on.
Chess - The Scotsman 03/05/2012
THE Top 10 on the new Fide rating list can be read much the same as the March edition, with the exception of the big gainer, with 13 points, Sergey Karjakin of Russia, who leapfrogs Hikaru Nakamura of the US to be No 6 in the world after his outstanding performance last month at the Russian Team Championship.
Chess - The Scotsman 01/05/2012
AS we await the first Scottish Cup Final between Hearts and Hibs since 1896, there was another all-Edinburgh clash recently in a competition that stretches back to the same era: Edinburgh West won the Richardson Cup, defeating Wandering Dragons 4.5-3.5 at Edinburgh Chess Club in Alva Street.
Bridge - The Scotsman 01/05/2012
Another loss to Scottish Bridge this year was the death of Iris Bukowska. Iris was one of our first lady Tournament Directors and a past president of the SBU. She was a strong personality, a tireless worker for bridge and a fine player who represented Scotland in the Lady Milne Trophy in 1976.
Chess - The Scotsman 30/04/2012
Vladimir Nabokov is known for the bestseller Lolita, but in 1932 the Russian-American novelist also penned The Defence, a tragic story about a man so obsessed by chess that he becomes socially awkward and physically frail.
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Monday 28 May 2012
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