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Paul@188, yes, FATAL was the answer, though it was enumerated as (6) for reasons too complicated to explain unless you do the puzzle! It did, however, cause me to read up on the Alekhine defence (though that has nothing to do with solving the clue of course!).

Thought you might enjoy this blitz game between two very young children.

The way Alice finishes him off reminded me of those wildlife clips of whales toying with seals by tossing them up in the air:-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX1WS9TfiZU

Thanks Brendan - I loved the expression on Alice's face when she won!

Thanks, Brendan. I didn't have time to watch the whole thing, but saw the first few minutes and skipped to the end.

Kids these days are precocious! Stunned to see young Alice opening with the Queen's Gambit. For a moment, I was even more shocked because I thought her opponent replied with the Chigorin Defense (which I once wasted many pre-engine era hours studying). But thank goodness the game only went 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nc6...(2...Nc6 is the Chigorin).

But I was then relieved to see a number of blunders. Alice's mating with 2 B vs K was most impressive, though.

Speaking of young prodigies, https://www.chess.com/news/view/exceptional-8-year-old-impresses-carlsen-beats-two-grandmasters

It seems Kramnik is now reporting every opponent he loses to! What is going on with him?

Guardian 29,293 (Paul)

9 Lightning power in Blitz (5)

Not necessarily chessic, but applicable.

I like that - don't you think chess related clues are really on the increase?

My younger brother has decided to take up the game and so joined chess.com. Here is his most recent match (his username is "snakewalk")

Here is is most recent game:-

https://www.chess.com/live/game/100193010831

Nice game. I always liked the Bird defense to the Spanish, though I was a Marshall (or sometimes Archangel, the sharp system with early ...Bb7 rather than the more popular and solid Moller-Archangel hybrid) player in my day.

Brendan, I do believe chess-related clues are on the increase.
There's been a massive chess boom the past few years, seemingly driven by some combination of Covid and "The Queen's Gambit" TV series.
I don't really understand the boom, as I've found chess less appealing in the heavy-duty computer age and had given the game less emphasis in recent years. Weirdly, I discovered the "Queen's Gambit" novel over 20 years ago but have still never seen any of the series (I don't watch TV).

Having worked in the financial industry and adopted somewhat of a contrarian outlook, I'm tempted to say that chess is a short these days. 😏

Re the proliferation of chess clues, The Times recently had

Moulding, very old, mostly seen in castles (5)

OVOLO remarkably expects the many non-chessplaying solvers to know the 0-0 chess notation for 'castles'.

Paul

It could have been worse, something like:

Moulding, very large, split, seen in castles (5)