Monthly Archives: November 2025

Kingston whitewash Wallington in Lauder Trophy

Wallington v Kingston, Lauder Trophy quarter-final match played at Wallington United Reformed Church on 5 November 2025

There was a scary moment before the start of this match when the Kingston players entered the playing room and found our very own Peter Lalić chilling with the Wallington players. Fortunately – for me at least – he was only there to watch the opening stages at his most local club. For Kingston second-team players to face him for  a fourth time in six weeks would have been tough. There would have been room for him within the rating limit of 10,500 for the Wallington team, which had no one over 1700.

Jon Eckert, Rob Taylor and Robin Kerremans on boards 4 to 6 all won fairly quickly. Jon soon went a piece up, and Rob’s classical play with Black squashed his opponent with a big centre which left no room for the white knights to get out of the way of the rest of the army. Robin Kerremans played the English, despite which his opponent had a slight edge for a while. But Black’s advantage was short-lived, and Robin quickly turned the tables to win the black queen in the course of a mating attack.

John Foley (pictured above) had sacrificed an exchange in the style of Tigran Petrosian in Monday’s league game against Ashtead 1, and now sacrificed another one, this time in the style of Paul Morphy in the famous Opera House game against the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard.

I had a much less clear-cut game with Black against Robert Davies on board 1. I had a slight edge almost throughout, but the engine reveals that the advantage was much less than I had thought until my opponent slipped up in the tactics.

Xavier Cowan, who made his Kingston debut only on Monday, was last to finish, with Black against Daniel Luck on board 3. Daniel must be one of the younger club officials in the Surrey League, and is already the Wallington fixture secretary and their match captain for the Lauder and two Surrey league teams, so he has taken on a lot and we wish him well. Xavier has not taken long to figure out that exchange sacrifices are the club trademark.

So the result was what tennis followers would call a bagel (6-0), not surprising given the rating difference, but we have already seen this season, for instance in the recent first-team match against Wimbledon, that in games with a high tactical element almost anyone can go wrong. The Lauder Trophy semi-final will be an away match against the winner of Chessington v Epsom, and must be played by the end of February.

Peter Andrews is Kingston captain in the Lauder Trophy

Maalav Chhaya (Epsom) v Jaden Mistry (Kingston)

The final of the Wernick Cup, played at Surbiton Chess Club on 17 September 2025

The Wernick Cup is tier 4 of the Surrey League individual championship, which takes place each summer. Fourteen-year-old Jaden Mistry, a promising Kingston junior, had swept through his qualifying pool, winning all eight of his games . He then defeated another of the four pool winners, Qutbuddin Syed, to reach the final against Epsom junior Maalav Chhaya. This is the game which secured Jaden his well-deserved title. The photograph above shows him receiving the (slightly battered) Wernick Cup from Ashtead captain and south-west London chess stalwart Bertie Barlow at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 3 November. Many thanks to Bertie for bringing the trophy over to Kingston and making the presentation to Jaden.

Foley the hero as Kingston 2 edge past Ashtead 1

Kingston 2 v Ashtead 1, Surrey League division 2 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 3 November 2025

Ashtead are the “yo-yo team” in division 2 of the Surrey League, having been relegated from division 1 last season and promoted the season before. So on paper this was one of our toughest matches. Ashtead substantially outrated us on boards 1 to 3, thanks to Kingston’s own Peter Lalić making his third appearance of the season against the second-team squad (the other two in the Thames Valley League for our own first team). However, Ashtead were missing some of their middle-order batting, so we had the rating advantage on the lower boards.

First to finish was David Rowson on board 5. David has previously had several draws with White against Bertie Barlow, so he was pleased to outplay him with Black from a level position.

David’s win enabled me to agree a draw with White against Phil Brooks on board 2 in a position where there was still plenty of play but which was unclear and where we were both a little uncomfortable. And soon afterwards Jasper Tambini drew with Black on board 3 against Dan Rosen in a game that had more clearly run its course. He was never worse, and indeed had had a fleeting opportunity to be better – a solid effort.

Xavier Cowan was making his debut for Kingston, although he is a familiar opponent for several of us in the Thames Valley League, where he captains the Ealing second team. With Black against Platon Razis on board 7, Xavier had a strange-looking pawn structure more reminiscent of a rugby scrum than a free-flowing set of threequarters, but as so often it was piece activity which was decisive.

Alan Scrimgour agreed a draw with White against Chris Perks on board 6, standing better but short of time, which ensured that we could not lose the match. And John Foley (pictured above, left) brought home the bacon with a win with White against Tom Barton on board 4 which reminded us of former world champion Tigran Petrosian.

Meanwhile, on board 1 Julian Way with Black had fended off Peter Lalić’s initiative to reach an equal late middle game in which one slip under mutual time pressure cost the game.

Disappointing for Julian, but a good effort against a player who is currently in excellent form and moving through the 2300s in the ECF rating list.

So after two matches Kingston 2 are top of the division 2 table. We are unlikely to be able to turn out teams regularly as strong as we have for these early matches, but it is very encouraging that already the usual struggle against relegation seems unlikely to materialise. And longer-standing members will remember that it is only a few years since we were pleased when Kingston 1 seemed secure in Surrey division 2. 

Peter Andrews captains Kingston’s first and second teams in the Surrey League

Marcus Gosling’s career highlight – wins All Saints Blitz

Marcus Gosling won the 15th All Saints Blitz on 29 October 2025, continuing a strong run of form. Above: receiving the prize from John Foley

The event was restricted to 12 registrants because the playing area is now shared with the seasonal Christmas card display. We added four walk-ins to the starting line-up, as befits a friendly event. We lacked some regulars, including Robin Haldane, Chris Briscoe and John Hawksworth, while Peter Large was battling in the FIDE World Senior Championships in Gallipoli, Italy. Hence, there was a golden opportunity for a new recipient of the first prize – the coveted box of Lindor chocolates.

When the monthly blitz takes place at half term, we get a wider range of participants. Hence, we were graced by the presence of Marcus Gosling, the president of Epsom Chess Club. Marcus’s rating has been on an upward trajectory since the beginning of last year and he recently joined the 2000 club. We suspect he is studying chess seriously at last or maybe Epsom salts have some special ingredient. It is rumoured he is working on a book provisionally titled “From Suburban Obscurity to International Fame.”

Marcus deserves praise for rising to the occasion and winning his first five games, defeating the highest-rated entrant Graham Keane (2119). In the final round, he lost to Surbiton’s Joshua Pirgon, so both players ended up with 5/6. Marcus received the prize on tie-break.1

Foreground: Joshua Pirgon v Marcus Gosling. Background: Graham Keane v Peter Roche

Marcus was modest in victory, declaring that “Joshua is a more deserving winner, as he got the better of me in our individual encounter – there is no perfect tie-break solution.” However, after the number of entrants was expanded, we extended the tournament from five rounds to six rounds. If we had remained with five rounds, Marcus would have been the clear winner.

Discontented at his last-round loss, Marcus immediately burned the midnight oil and has found a more astute defence in the Sämisch Variation of the Nimzo-Indian courtesy of Svetozar Gligorić. His quest for self-improvement is never-ending.

The other player who made a mark was junior Ethan Kim, a graduate of the Kingston Chess Academy, who scored 4/6, defeating Joshua in the first round and losing to Graham and Marcus.

Jon Eckert (left) v Ethan Kim, with Tony Hughes looking on

Final standings

5/6 Marcus Gosling, Joshua Pirgon
4/6 Ethan Kim, Anthony Hughes, Graham Keane
3/6 Jon Eckert, Alan Hayward, David Shalom, Peter Roche, Kevin Bowyer, Stephen Moss

Complete standings

List of previous winners

Note

  1. We pre-declared the Bucholz tie-break method, which calculates the sum of the opponents’ scores. The decisive factor was that Marcus had defeated Graham Keane (4/6), whereas Joshua did not defeat any players on 4/6. Whilst a direct encounter tie-break would have given the prize to Joshua, it would complicate matters if there were several people on the same final score. Fide has committees to deal with the thorny issue of tie-breaks. The summary opinion of Stephen Moss, who organises the Kingston Invitational, is that “all tie-break systems are flawed”. Whatever method we select, the match results will contrive to prove it wrong.
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