Wimbledon 2 v Kingston 2, Surrey League division 2 match played at St Winefride’s Church Hall, Wimbledon on 5 March 2026

Wimbledon 2 have been depleted by the requirement for several hitherto regular players to be nominated for their first team, which has been stricken by long-term illness and players moving on. So even though we were able to share some match opportunities around the second team squad, the teamsheets showed that we had a huge rating advantage. Winning the toss loaded the dice further in our favour.

For once I had the shortest game, freeing me to consume more coffee than was optimal for sleep on a chess night and allowing me to keep the wider club informed of later developments by WhatsApp. My opponent, playing White, went downhill in an unusual line, and resigned after just 15 moves in the horrid position shown below.

Next to finish was Jon Eckert on board 6, on home ground in the French Defence. White tied himself in knots trying to hold on to an extra pawn and Jon progressively undermined the fragile structure.

On board 5, Alex Chmelev also got an advantage early on and cashed in.

Homayoon Froogh’s game on board 4, where he had Black against Omar Selim, looked tight for longer. But as the board opened up, Homayoon’s two rooks and two bishops were much stronger than White’s two rooks and two knights, and he won large amounts of material with a combination of pins. At 4-0 we were over the line in the match within two hours of the start.

Board 1 was a tense battle between David Rowson and Gordon Rennie, a familiar opponent. David won a pawn, but in the rook and bishop v rook and knight ending both sides had a queenside passed pawn with some activity.  David sacrificed the exchange for Black’s passed pawn, leaving him with a bishop and two pawns for a rook. Objectively this was enough to win, but under some time pressure David did not quite trust his calculation and agreed a draw.

Board 7 looked like the game with the most mutual jeopardy, but Kingston newcomer Constantin Liesch, who had White against Nathan Hoong, seems to like it that way, and after a middle game in which both sides had chances he finished with a fine sacrificial attack.

Board 3 was, as had always seemed likely, last to finish. In a c3 Sicilian, Alan Scrimgour built up pressure against various weak points in the black position while pre-empting any possible counterplay, so it was difficult for Black to find sensible moves (and the machine has not much better advice in hindsight).

So the final score was 6.5-0.5. Not too surprising given the rating difference between the teams, but convincingly delivered.  With only two matches to go, one of them the return against a weakened Wimbledon 2, we are now odds on to win division 2, which would be a tremendous achievement only four years after the first team did so, and all the more so given that we have been outrated in several close matches.

It poses a dilemma – should we take promotion to division 1, which would be a very tough challenge, not least on the organisational front, with two eight-board teams in Surrey and possibly two six-board teams in Thames Valley division 1, or should we seek to decline it, or should the answer depend on whether the TVL B team stays in that first division? These issues lie ahead, but for now we can enjoy some hard-earned success, and look to drive it home in the last two matches.   

Peter Andrews is captain of Kingston 1 and Kingston 2 in the Surrey League

Kingston C v Surbiton D, Thames Valley League division X match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 2 March 2026

It has been an up-and-down season for Kingston C, and this was one of the downs, losing 3-1 to a well-organised Surbiton D team. Surbiton skipper Phil Goodings got the better of Sean Tay in a tight encounter on board 1; Kim Cross beat Anqi Yang on board 3; and Harry Roberts edged out Robert Chmiest on board 4. That left Nette Robinson, as so often this season, to save Kingston’s blushes with a win with White against the tricky Nikolai Mantaev on board 2. Congrats to Nette on her excellent recent run.

Stephen Moss is Kingston club captain

Guildford 3 v Kingston 4, Surrey League division 5 match played at the Guildford Institute on 2 March 2026

This was a very good win by Kingston 4 against a Guildford 3 team with plenty of experience on the top boards. Thivan Gunawardana, Constantin Liesch and Genc Tasbasi all won with White ; two games with Black were lost (it really was a night for the white pieces); but Tom Mayers got Kingston 4 over the line with a draw with Black against a strong player on board 1. Well done to Tom, new to Kingston but already making an impression, and the team.

Stephen Moss is Kingston club captain

Kingston 3 v Epsom 5, Surrey League division 4 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 23 February 2026

Kingston 3 were badly hampered in this match by a default on board 3 when the Kingston player forgot his engagement at the Richard Mayo Centre. But his team-mates rallied to the cause superbly, and wins for Martyn Jones, Adam Nakar and David Shalom, plus a draw for Jon Eckert (pictured) with Black on board 2 against a dangerous opponent, saw Kingston 3 home and kept them in the promotion hunt in Surrey division 4.

Stephen Moss is Kingston club captain

Ealing A v Kingston B, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at Actonians Sports Club, London W5 on 16 February 2026

On arrival at Ealing’s venue, we were pleasantly surprised to find that their team was not as strong as feared. Andrew Harley, their captain, was absent, and overall we actually slightly outrated them.

The early result on board 3, where Peter Andrews (pictured above) had White against Alejandro Lopez-Martinez, increased my hopes that we would get something from the match. From an English Opening, a close positional contest was looking likely when Peter’s opponent made a serious oversight.

The next result, a win for Martyn Jones on board 5, put us two up. Jack Sheard played the Lion variation of the Philidor Defence, but took a risk in opening up the centre early and was efficiently punished by Martyn. In the following position Black has just played 8…d5.

The board 2 game, in which Kingston’s Will Taylor had Black against Duncan Grassie, begun with an unusual opening – the Levitsky Attack). It is worth looking at the game from the beginning:

The board 4 game, with Kingston’s John Foley playing Black against Xavier Cowan, began with a deceptively quiet line of the Queen’s Gambit Declined, only to explode into tactics in the position below.

The most significant rating difference was on board 1, where I faced FM Rick McMichael. I have played him twice before, some years ago. This game was similar to the others in that I had White and chose the King’s Indian Attack against his French Defence. However, it was different in terms of the line played and, eventually, the result (I hadn’t previously lost to Rick).

Rick played imaginatively, assessing that having a backward pawn on e6 was not important in comparison to the attacking chances he obtained against my kingside. We reached this position after my 30th move:

On board 6 Seth Warren succeeded in equalising out of the opening, an Italian Game. His opponent’s attempts to attack on the kingside led to his pieces getting rather tangled up, and Seth managed to capitalise on this to win a pawn. Unfortunately, he made just one error in the ensuing ending and lost the exchange; a pity, after he had done well to reach a good position.

Thus the match ended 4-2 to Ealing. This was another disappointing result for Kingston B, given that for some time it appeared a close-fought match from which we could have anticipated at least a draw. We still have six matches left this season, so we just have to do our best to get points from them.

David Rowson is Kingston B captain in Thames Valley League division 1

Richmond C v Kingston C, Thames Valley League division X match played at the Adelaide pub Teddington on 10 February 2026

This is not a match on which we wish to dwell. What on paper was a well-balanced encounter produced a very one-sided result, Richmond C trouncing Kingston C by 3.5-0.5. Well done to Nette Robinson (pictured above in singing mode), who secured a draw to avoid a whitewash. And congratulations to Karl Stand’s Richmond C team on playing so well to secure an emphatic victory.

Stephen Moss is Kingston club captain

Kingston 2 v Guildford 2, Surrey League division 2 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 9 February 2026

Kingston 2 had a somewhat reshaped team for this match. My main concern was that Guildford 2 would turn up with the strength of which they are capable and our new and newish players might then have a discouraging experience.

My worries were half mitigated before and at the start. Guildford’s captain Clive Frostick, himself a Kingston player in the 4NCL, was unable to make the journey. And although we would be heavily outgunned on the top 3 boards, the match-ups looked close on the other four, and given that our new players tend to be improvers, I thought they might sneak a few results. The toss didn’t help – we lost for the sixth time in 7 matches, which in seven- board matches counts for a bit.

On board 2, Alan Scrimgour made a quick draw with Guildford’s stand-in captain Adrian Wallace in a Spanish. The computer evaluation of the final position, a queenless middle game, was indeed level. There was plenty of material and play left for both sides, but Alan was happy to take a draw on one of the “uphill” boards, especially as the situation was starting to look encouraging elsewhere.

Jon Eckert drew first blood with White on board 6 against Alvin Petersen. The game hung on a mistake in the position below.

Next, with White on board 4, Martyn Jones (pictured above in a previous match) terminated Alistair Jennis’s threatening attack by spotting mate the other way.

Guildford hit back in a fluctuating and spectacular battle on board 3 between our Stephen Lovell, who had Black, and Tim Foster.

Around the same time, I succumbed with Black on board 1 to Matthew Dishman, in a game that showed the danger of allowing emotion to override calculation. Early over-optimism was succeeded by premature pessimism.

That meant scores were level with two games still in progress, in both of which the Kingston player was making his second-team debut. So they were both getting a full evening’s entertainment. Could they also get the points to get us over the line in the match?

Constantin Liesch, with Black on board 7 against Anthony Garrood, certainly had a memorable introduction to second-team chess, with a crowd around the board in the later stages of this exciting battle.

That left another second-team debutant, Alex Chmelev, needing to win with Black on board 5 against Guildford veteran Trevor Jones to save the match. Fortunately he had won a pawn around move 20, and by the time spectator attention turned to his board he had reached what looked to be a winning rook and pawn ending, with his king able to get in front of his passed pawn and to the queening square, the textbook condition to win.

It was a long slog – the game went some 80 moves – and there may have been a few detours off the textbook path, but all was well that ended well. So we added a matchpoint to our tally and deprived Guildford of one. Despite being outrated in at least half our matches to date, we stand top of division 2. As the old hands at the club remind us, it is not so long since Kingston 1 were pleased to reach such heights.

Peter Andrews is captain of the Kingston first and second teams in the Surrey League