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Thanks Geeker,

I know who RD was and do remember seeing him in Caddyshack, or clips of him at least. It was his reference to DL that had me puzzled, but I get it now and you're right - Ding does seem to have faded away somewhat since becoming World Champion.

It's sad to hear that he is suffering from real mental health issues and this is the main reason I get so infuriated when it's constantly trotted out to excuse poor behaviour by todays 'influencers', celebs and wannabees - invariably accompanied by their shills opining about how "brave" they are for coming forward!

Sadly, genuine sufferers often tend to get lost and overlooked in the wake, as seems to be the case here.

FT 18,117 (Mudd)
22down Man topping eggs (4)

From today's IQ by Vismut:-

There may be a misprint in the definition

5a - Game with skull on board leaderless pine ship (5)

The 'man topping eggs' clue took me a age to work out!

Very good, like both of those.

A striking Zugzwang game today: Firouzja-Arjun Erigaisi (m/5) (1-0) from semifinals of Esports World Cup 2025.

Evoked memories of Saemisch-Nimzovich (0-1), Copenhagen 1923 ("the immortal Zugzwang game") but with colo(u)rs reversed.

Arjun resigned with equal material, in a ghastly position where all candidate moves were losing.

I was curious to see if Zugzwang had ever been clued, and sure enough it was, here in the FT…

https://www.fifteensquared.net/2020/04/14/financial-times-16450-by-hamilton/

Thanks, jono. I once briefly considered Zugzwang as a PR/Clueless candidate, but thought it'd be too obscure and never googled ("zugzwang site:fifteensquared.net").
Arjun's play in this (rapid, must-win) game was not strong enough to rank the encounter as a "classic".

I found this from Dr Google:

Korchnoi zugzwang traps retreating piece (3)

Not sure about the FT's definition of ZUGZWANG as 'game blockade'. In chess it's when a player may have several moves at his disposal but all of them lose, whereas if he were allowed not to move there is no way for his opponent to win.
That is devilishly difficult to define pithily. The direct translation is 'compulsion to move' but that does not convey the full sense, especially in chess.

Good to meet jigjag spectating at the British Chess Championships in Liverpool where a loss in the last round of the Over-65s left me a disappointing =44th out of 81 players when my starting rank was 35th. WDLDDDL. At least I got to play IM Craig Pritchett. I was also pleased to discover jigjag's identity and have thus been able to confirm his suspicion (see Pedants United thread) that we had previously played each other. He is also right about the venue: Hastings. It was 3rd January 1978 and the game was eventually drawn. Computer evaluation ruthlessly reveals how inaccurately we play. I had a winning advantage in this position, me to move as white:
1rb1qrk1
1p2pp1p
p2p1bp1
n1pN4
P1PP4
3Q2P1
1P1NPPBP
3R1RK1
Play went 15 Qc3? a move too soon, thinking I could win the black knight. Better is 15 Nxf6+! exf6 16 Qc3 Nc6 17 Ne4 ...
After 15 Qc3? Bxd4! 16 Qxa5 b6 17 Nxb6 Qd8 18 Nb3 Qxb6 jigjag had the advantage for the rest of the game but eventually gave up trying to win a rook ending with an extra pawn. Final position after 51 Rb8:
1R6
16
3r1kpp
4p3
6PK
5P2
8

The Liverpool tournament was really well organised in the magnificent St George's Hall. The technology is fantastic nowadays with all games, right down to the Under-8s streamed and still available on the ECF website here: https://www.britishchesschampionships.co.uk/bcc-2025-where-to-follow-the-games/
A marvellous resource for chess coaches.