14th All Saints Blitz, played at All Saints Church, Kingston, on Wednesday 24 September

The series of All Saints Blitzes resumed on the last Wednesday in September, having had a break to enjoy the hot summer. We had a select bunch of participants who were gearing up for the new season.

The favourite Peter Large suffered a setback in round 3 when he came a cropper against Surbiton’s Joshua Pirgon. Peter fell for a queen fork against his king and a loose rook. Peter, however, kept his resolve and won in the last two rounds. The final standings saw three players on 4/5: Peter Large, Chris Briscoe and Robin Haldane. Peter won on tie-break by the thinnest of margins (using the Buchholz Cut 1 method) reflecting the fact that Peter played all the strongest players : Hayward, Haldane, Pirgon, Keane and Briscoe.

Joshua Pirgon came in fourth, along with Stephen Moss – the highest placings they have achieved in the All Saints Blitz so far.

The event was held at the same time as a school group was enacting the coronation of King Athelstan in the other side of the church. Although there were cries of acclamation for the new King of England, the players did not flinch or complain.

Final standings

After a hectic summer of challenging norm events, Peter Large is back in the old routine – winning the Kingston autumn Blitz with a perfect score of 6/6

September dawns and with the change in the weather comes the first stirrings of the new chess season. This opening blitz tournament, ably organised by Ed Mospan and Julian Way, got the juices flowing in good style. It was competitive but friendly, involving not just Kingston members but a smattering of welcome guests from other local clubs.

It was won, as these events usually are, by resident Kingston IM Peter Large, who had just arrived back from playing in the Sussex University Invitational – his third tough norm tournament in successive weeks. Peter had had a challenging summer, but his love of chess is unquenchable and he said this was a chance to get back into the winning groove.

So it proved, though he had plenty of testing games and said afterwards that he had had inferior positions in quite a number of them. His round 4 game against Richmond’s Maks Gajowniczek and round 6 clash with Jasper Tambini were especially nerve-racking, but Peter came through them both. What a competitor he is.

Maks took second place with 4.5/6, beating your correspondent with some ease in round 5, while Jasper was among a group of four players in joint third on 4/6. That group included strong juniors Zain Patel and Ethan Bogerd and new Kingston member Martyn Jones, who was a strong junior a few decades back and has now returned to chess after a long break. All in all, an excellent evening to get the 2025/26 season under way.

Standings

Stephen Moss