In Hocus-Pocus each bridge puzzle is paired with a chess problem. Here are some examples for you to try.

Bridge puzzle 1

South makes six Hearts against best defence. West leads the 2 of Hearts. Can the contract be made?

Brain teaser 1

Four men are lined up as shown, two with blue hats and two with red. D can see B and C. C can see only B. None can see A who is behind the wall. The distribution of hats is unknown, yet one man, by logical deducation identifies the colour of his hat in five seconds. Which one is it, and what is his reasoning?

The contract is 6NT by South. Opening lead 10 of Hearts. There is only one line giving you the best chance to make the contract. If you don’t know the distributions, which is it?

Brain teaser 2

When Alice first stepped through the looking glass, she saw this strange set of symbols on a sign:

‘What does it mean?’ she wondered. ‘It looks like a secret code or the alphabet of some foreign language.’ Alice studied the sign a little longer, and then had a thought: ‘It’s a sequence with a definite pattern.’

When you recognise the pattern you should have no difficulty in drawing the next figure in the sequence. What is the next symbol?

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