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A neat example:

Entire opening from chess champion's letter (5)

Guardian 29,430 (Qaos), 9ac

Thanks Geeker,

I only got it by first solving the 3 down and one across clues that intersect it, and even though the definition was clear it still took me an age to understand the wordplay!

Now I do, though, I really like it - plus it's always nice when a master such as Mikhail gets a mention:-)

Excellent one in tonight's (US time) Guardian Prize 29,434 (Picaroon). No clue number to avoid spoiler...😉

This week’s Listener should be of interest to participants in this thread.

One of this month's Crossword Centre puzzles goes even further by getting us to actually play the game (with an ingenious device for identifying the pieces).

I thought today’s Guardian “chess expert” (5d) was rather specialised knowledge. Perhaps it’s just me.

I see he’s best known for his ranking system. One to remember.

I thought it was a bit arcane, but not unprecedented, as I've previously seen it in cryptics. An Indy puzzle just last year and an Azed came up quickly.


For instance https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Arpad+Elo%22+site%3A+fifteensquared.net

Given the brevity of the clue, the only well-known candidate was the reliable TAL, which had no chance of fitting. The only possible "prominent" player who came to mind was Iivo NEI, which I considered too specialised and didn't fit either.

So the solution arrived by process of elimination.

Interesting item on Chessbase site today:

https://en.chessbase.com/post/grandmaster-clash-stephen-fry-berichtet-ueber-die-schacholympiade-1988

Today, Tuesday 10 September, at 18:00, the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest will begin with the Opening Ceremony. To get in the mood for this Olympiad, it might be worth looking back at another Olympiad - the one held in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1988. The English comedian, writer, actor and chess enthusiast Stephen Fry made a documentary about it - witty, entertaining, full of irony and humour. As Fry said: "An event I wouldn't have missed for the world."

The referenced Chessbase story has a youtube link to the (entire?) 48 minute documentary.

Thank you Geeker,

I like Stephen Fry and this looks great, really interested to hear his thoughts and musings on it all:-)

I watched it. Worthwhile, but a bit slow. Heavily focused on the English team, which is OK, but perhaps Bill Hartston had too much screen time. I was annoyed because, although the Youtube lead said Ivanchuk was "featured", all I noticed was a brief image of the youthful mustachioed Chuky standing on the podium with the rest of Team USSR.