Wimbledon 1 v Kingston 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at St Winifride’s Church Hall, Wimbledon on 15 February 2024

Confidence in advance of this match was not high, given the depleted team we were able to field: Thursday is an inconvenient evening for several regulars, and illness took out Vladimir Li and Julian Way in the 24 hours before the match.  Some team-mates thought our situation resembled that of Henry V before Agincourt: 

O that we had now here But one ten thousand of those men in England that do no work today.  What’s he that wishes so?  …. The fewer men the greater share of honour.  

That was perhaps an exaggeration: Kingston Chess Club does not yet have 10,000 members; Nick Grey and Charlie Cooke, stepping in at short notice, ensured we had as many players as Wimbledon; and the ratings of the two sides were almost equal. But if the thought helped stiffen our sinews it was a good one.

Charlie Cooke faced an uphill battle on board 8 with Black against the higher-rated John Polanyk. Having neutralised a dangerous-looking attack, a small slip allowed an exchange sacrifice which eventually won at least a piece. Jon Eckert and Nick Grey on boards 6 and 7 drew relatively early. Nick was frustrated that his edge from a better pawn structure did not crystallise into a win, but his was one of the boards where we were outrated, so this was nevertheless an important contribution.  

Alan Scrimgour had found himself in a line of the French Defence known better by his opponent.  Kings castled on opposite sides, and Alan sacrificed the exchange to try to drum up an attack; he accepted a draw offer when he realised that there was not much there. John Foley equalised the score with a convincing win with black against Wimbledon secretary Gordon Rennie.  He has analysed this in more depth in the Games section.  From my observation point on the next board, he built up the pressure impressively to reach this position after 22 Re3.

My own game finished shortly after John’s.  At the time, I thought it had been an anodyne draw, with my opponent successfully neutralising the slight disadvantage of an isolated pawn. Imagine my frustration when Stockfish showed me three distinct winning opportunities I had missed, each of them instructive.  

That left the scores level at 3-3, with Kingston apparently slightly worse on both remaining boards.  Luca Buanne, on his league debut, faced Dan Rosen’s Grand Prix attack.  This game, which was a tense but fairly balanced struggle from the outset, is provided in full in the Games section, with annotations by Luca and John Foley. The rest of the team started to focus on his game around this critical moment, after 37. Rc1 by White.

So it all came down to board 1. Peter Lalić, against the IM Alberto Suarez Real, played a trademark queenless middle game.  Around the point the other games were over, he was a pawn down but solid and with reasonable activity, and his chances to hold were improved because his opponent was down to a minute on the clock while Peter still had more than five.

Thus we won the match, securing our position in division 1 and (such is the closeness of the race) keeping us in with an outside shot at the title. To beat a 2400+ IM in that ending starting from a pawn down was an epic performance. Peter will remember with advantages what feats he did that day^[1].  

Peter Andrews, Kingston captain in Surrey division 1

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^[1] Shakespeare was of course expert in the pressures and rewards of Surrey League chess.

Richmond B v Kingston B, Thames Valley division 2 match played at the Adelaide pub, Teddington on 13 February 2024

We arrived at the Adelaide pub in Teddington to be met by a very strong Richmond B side. Richmond’s A team are struggling in the top division of the Thames Valley League, and apparently their cunning plan is to put out strong teams in division 2 to compete for promotion in order to give them a safety net in case the unthinkable happens. This meant that their bottom board was higher rated than our third. 

With this probably playing on my mind, given the 200-point rating disparity I faced against my opponent Bertie Barlow on board 3, I offered a draw after 25 moves when I felt Bertie had equalised as Black in the Scandinavian Defence and had thwarted my main plan to attack down the queenside. He accepted.

Alan Scrimgour drew shortly after on board 2 against John Burke. He felt he had equalised, but could see a flurry of exchanges that he felt left him without much of a plan to make progress and offered a draw which was duly accepted. 

Jameel Jameel, a newcomer to the club this season, produced the fireworks of the night, wrapping up an impressive 19-move victory on board 6. He played the Accelerated Dragon, and, with his opponent castling queenside, Jameel went for the kill after the c3 pawn was ominously pushed. With White cramped in the corner, Jameel was able to sac his queen on a2 and mate on the flank with his lifted rook, with all flight squares covered by his bishop and his opponent’s pieces. A lovely sequence and a great victory for Jameel, who is coming on leaps and bounds. This is Jameel’s first published game.

Nick Grey looked to be doomed as Sampson Low got the better of the opening, stopping Nick from castling and winning a pawn. But these dynamic positions are the ones Nick likes and he managed to get some tricky counterplay that, if played incorrectly, could have been disastrous for Sampson. Sampson negotiated the situation well, but Nick had regained equality and a draw was agreed, with neither side fancying the unclear endgame. 

David Shalom played accurately against Alastair Armstrong on board 5, building up a nice edge after he managed to blunt his opponent’s early g5, which led to a big hole in his kingside. However, David felt he didn’t manage the position well, and the game flipped suddenly, with the Richmond player capitalising on some unsound tactics. This levelled the match at 2.5-2.5.

The last game to finish was on top board between John Foley and Maxim Dunn. John was pressing down the kingside with a chain of pawns dominating the white squares and doubled rooks on the h-file. However, Maxim defended the position well, managing to mitigate John’s attack and, as John fell into time trouble, picking up a pawn on the queenside. Running out of good moves, John flagged, Maxim was victorious and Richmond had prevailed.

Gregor Smith, Kingston captain in Thames Valley division 2

Kingston v Richmond, Thames Valley Knockout semi-final played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 12 February 2024

Kingston were keen to retain the trophy we won last year when we beat Harrow in the final. However, we knew this would be a tough match, as only recently our first team were held to a 3-3 draw by Richmond A in Thames Valley division 1– a match which at one point they had looked nailed on to win.

We had strengthened our team with the inclusion of David Maycock and Peter Andrews, and we anticipated that Richmond would do the same. Their surprise inclusion was Casper Bates, who plays for the Richmond London League team but is not a Thames Valley regular, on board 3. Peter Lalić’s unorthodox opening, giving up a pawn, created the sort of unbalanced position in which Peter thrives. However, his opponent advanced his h-pawn, and Peter eventually ran out of time trying to stop the pawn promotion.

A couple of decisive games, one for each side, are discussed below.

This was a hard-fought match deservedly won by Richmond, who seemed to have an edge for most of the playing session.

Alan Scrimgour, Kingston captain in the Thames Valley Knockout

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On the same evening, packed into the upstairs room at the Willoughby, Kingston 3 were hosting Epsom 3 in a Centenary Trophy (Surrey division 4) match. The match was drawn 3-3. Nick Grey and Ed Mospan (game) were the winners for Kingston, with Charlie Cooke and Greg Heath obtaining draws.

Our first team continued their impressive run in the second division of the 4NCL with two victories this weekend whilst our second team are feeling the heat

The Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) third weekend took place on 10/11 February 2024 over two locations. Our first team, CSC/Kingston 1, played at the Mercure in Telford, whereas the second and third teams played at the Delta Marriott Hotel in Warwick. Our top team won both their matches and now sit atop the second division. There are only two weekends to go and bookies have stopped taking bets on whether we will get promoted to the first division. Team manager Kate Cooke played down the prospect, wisely taking one weekend at a time, especially as we have yet to play our main competitors.

For those unfamiliar with 4NCL, it is for national chess teams conducted over four divisions. It is played to the highest international standards, with strict rules about mobile phones. Players are randomly scanned for electronic devices as they enter the playing hall. Players are not permitted to visit the bookstall nor their car, for which the penalty is a default. The time control is 40 moves in 100 minutes followed by 50 minutes for the rest of the game. For each move there is an increment of 30 seconds, which means that players must always write down their moves, even if there is less than 5 minutes left.

Saturday 10 February

The first team line-up was strengthened by the addition of IM Graeme Buckley on board 1. In Saturday’s key game against rivals The Sharks 2, Graeme had a convincing victory over IM Peter Roberson. The match was won 5.5-2.5.

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Although CSC/Kingston 1 are riding high, a print of which should be framed, it should be noted that we have yet to play the teams in second, third and fourth places. Hence, the rigorous training sessions for the team conducted at our secret base in Surrey will be even more intensive.

Meanwhile, on Saturday over at Warwick, another recent recruit to the team, 15-year-old Luca Buanne, was top board for CSC/Kingston 2. The opponents were the hardy Hull and East Riding team, strengthened by some Ukrainian players. Luca made short work of his opponent in a sharp Pirc. The match was drawn 3-3.

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Our third team played She Plays to Win, a training team for girls run by IM Lorin d’Costa. Although the girls were heavily outrated, they fought hard and drew the match. Nick Grey rued that he had lost to a 13-year-old, a common lament from the older generation.

Sunday 11 February

Our first team continued their winning ways beating the dangerous Anglian Avengers in the sixth round. The match was in the balance until going home time when Tom Farrand obtained a draw to secure victory. Plaudits to two first-team players who led the way with two wins each for the weekend: Peter Lalić and Clive Frostick. David Maycock launched a powerful attack against the Classical Caro-Kann.

Over at Warwick, our second team were facing the Wessex A team. The teams were evenly matched and the match score was level until the last game in which Wessex’s Allan Pleasants beat Julian Way with a tactical flourish.

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CSC/Kingston 2 are now struggling not to be relegated from division 3. We have lost three matches by the smallest of margins 3.5-2.5. There are still five rounds to go conducted over a weekend in March and a long weekend in May. Unfortunately in March both the first team and the second team are playing in Telford and we have found it difficult to get our best teams together for the cross-country trip. We face the dissonant prospect of having one team in the first division and two teams in the fourth division next season.

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Meanwhile, our third team battled The Full Ponty, which included in-form Tony Hughes on board 5, winner of the recent All Saints Blitz. We were outrated by an average of 200 elo points per player. However the team played out of their socks with wins for Petr Vachtfeidl on board 1, the newcomer Fabio Buanne (father of Luca) on board 6 and, at well past going home time, Nick Grey on board 4. Nick’s position did not look convincing, but he played the endgame well and pulled a victory out of the hat against a player he first faced in 1979. The drawn match means that CSC/Kingston 3 remains mid-table with little prospect of promotion unless we do exceptionally well in the next two weekends.

Tal’s rook lift