Surbiton D v Kingston C, Thames Valley League division X match played at Fircroft, Surbiton on 15 April 2026
Kingston C completed their Thames Valley division X season in style with a 4-0 victory over Surbiton D. Club newcomer Aytek Koyun won well on board 1 against the very capable Nikolai Mantaev; Sean Tay, with Black on board 2, was too strong for Kim Cross; Mark Sheridan on 3 shaded a tough encounter with Harry Roberts; and Rob Taylor completed the whitewash by defeating Charlie Feigen on board 4.
A very encouraging result for Jon Eckert’s team to end a season in which they have competed well throughout, but suffered several narrow defeats in close matches that kept them in the bottom half of the table (see final standings at foot of report). Div X is primarily about getting game time, and Jon selected teams that prioritised giving as many club players as possible experience under matchplay conditions. Many thanks to Jon and his players. We do it all again in Div X next season.
Kingston 1 v Guildford 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 13 April 2026
Kingston v Guildford is a very friendly but very keen rivalry, and this clash had plenty riding on it. If either team won the match, they would win the division 1 title. A 4-4 draw would favour Kingston without being decisive – it would mean that a 4-4 draw or better against Wimbledon when we travel there on 23 April would suffice for the title.
Two strong teams lined up, with Kingston having the rating advantage on the top two boards while the lower boards looked well matched. We had the further advantage of a non-playing captain to ease the nerves when our board 1 was slightly late. Clive Frostick won the toss for Guildford, worthwhile given the colour preferences of our top two, without being of the same materiality as in division 2 where the matches are of an odd number of boards.
The early returns maintained the suspense. On board 7, Julian Way took a quick draw – he was outrated and had Black, while Clive Frostick was fatigued after taking part in the Guildford Congress over the weekend. Board 4, John Hawksworth v Matthew Dishman, was almost as short – John was suffering from an energy-sapping foot injury. Board 6, Peter Hasson v Timothy Foster, took longer but had the same result – in an accurately played game by both sides, Peter maintained roughly his initial edge as White, but never more. The a-file opened early, creating an avenue for the major pieces to exchange themselves off, and there was no obvious lever for either side to make something of the minor-piece ending.
On board 5, Zain Patel, with Black facing Adrian Wallace, had seemed to me to be in some early danger, with the “Greek Gift” (for new readers, a situation in which say White is able to sacrifice Bxh7+ and after Kxh7 to play Ng5+ and Qh5, mating on h7) in the air because of the shortage of black minor pieces defending the king. However, a subsequent tour of the hall showed that he had stabilised the situation, and I mentally chalked up another valuable half-point.
Relaxing over a coffee in the foyer, I was soon alarmed to see Zain emerge from the playing area with a wry look suggesting that he had done some schoolboy mischief and was hoping to escape unnoticed. I rushed over to relieve him of his scoresheet for this report, ready to offer some consoling words, and was amazed to see the glorious digits 0-1 at the bottom. With his usual endearing modesty, he explained that his win had resulted from a simple blunder. In such a close and critical match, most of us would have enjoyed the win whatever its artistic shortcomings, but he had indeed dodged a bullet in the middle game as well as being the recipient of a gift at the end as we see below.
With that hurdle overcome, I was confident of the match result, with all the remaining boards looking at least safe. On board 8 Jasper Tambini, facing the rising junior Alistair Jennis, had played the sort of gambit he enjoys against solid black systems like the French and Caro-Kann. Initially the compensation looked modest, but he was clearly the more comfortable in the kind of game which had resulted.
On board 3, Peter Large, playing an old adversary and team-mate in Nigel Povah, had a long and tense struggle, but as on boards 4, 6 and 7 there were no big swings in the advantage, though there was an interesting phase in the queenless middle game in which Peter correctly refused an offered pawn.
So we had a 4-2 lead with the top two boards outstanding. And outstanding is the best description of the scores racked up by Messrs Lalić and Maycock this season in their contrasting styles. Peter Lalić played one of his idiosyncratic openings with White against FM Jon Ady to reach the kind of queenless middle game in which he is far more experienced than even strong and titled opponents, and then came up with an interesting idea.
Peter may have been a little disappointed only to draw a game in which he had been well on top for several hours. But it was the half-point that got us over the line in the match and for the title, and so warmly appreciated by his team-mates and other club members gathered round the board.
Peter Lalić (left) and David Maycock: Two players with very different styles who have been vital to Kingston’s recent success
David Maycock produced a classy effort with Black to grind down the formidable Gwilym Price on board 1. A characteristically principled opening gave him an advantage in activity which, although small, is the kind of edge which can be turned into a win at this level. The conversion process was more Lalićian, with long periods in which White was left to chafe against his fetters, than Maycockian, with fireworks, but none the less instructive for that, so with David’s kind agreement the whole game is given here.
Peter Andrews is Kingston 1 captain in the Surrey League
Peter Lalić (left), David Maycock (centre) and victorious captain Peter Andrews celebrate the title victory after the crucial win
John Foley explores a couple of sweet stalemates by Kingston players
Stalemates should be listed on the 100 things for a chessplayer to do before they die. They are very rare – around 0.1% of all games – so they need to be savoured. They come in two flavours – sweet and bitter. They are sweet when conjured up by the player who is in a lost position and seeking a last resort. They are bitter when they arise as an unexpected shock to the player who has a dominant position and cruising towards victory.
We take a look at two types of stalemate – when the king is in the corner a knight’s distance away from the opposing queen; and when the queen is sacrificed in order to deflect the opponent’s queen. We show a couple of games with these themes from Kingston players together with a high-level game illustrating the same theme. Even strong players are not immune to stalemate trickery.
Friedrich Baumbach (Germany) v Alan Scrimgour (Scotland) World Senior Team Championships, Crete, 2017
This result was commendable for Alan as his opponent was a Fide master who had been world correspondence chess champion 1983–89 and East German champion in 1970.
The stalemate theme of the queen being a knight’s move away from the king was also seen in the game played between two Hungarian grandmasters.
Lajos Portisch v Levente Lengyel 4th Costa del Sol, Malaga, February 1964
One of our younger stars is Zain Patel (pictured above), who delayed resigning against a strong international master in the recent Reykjavik Open. Zain was biding his time giving a few desultory checks.
Zain Patel (England) 2062 v Irakli Akhvlediani (Georgia) 2429 Round 5, Reykjavik Open, 28 March 2026
The stalemate theme of forking the king and queen was executed by Neil McDonald in a simultaneous display game against world champion Garry Kasparov in 1986. Neil became an international master in the same year and a grandmaster 10 years later.
Garry Kasparov v Neil McDonald Uppingham, 27 May 1986
If there is any moral to this story, it is don’t resign if you suspect you might be able to snatch stalemate.
Ashtead 1 v Kingston 2, Surrey League division 2 match played at the Peace Memorial Hall, Ashtead on 7 April 2026
The Surrey League Division 2 (Beaumont Cup) table showed in advance of this match that if Kingston 2 were defeated, Guildford 2, with two outstanding matches, could still catch us on match points. We had 12.5 more game points, so a defeat by no worse than 2-5 would ensure that even two 7-0 wins for Guildford would be insufficient to overhaul us.
I was confident that was within our scope, but with several regulars away for holiday or work reasons, David Rowson falling ill the day before the match, and Ashtead having several strong players who occasionally turn out for them, it was by no means a done deal. Those concerns were reinforced before the start. The familiar figure of Peter Lalić was hovering in the background, and he certainly wasn’t eligible to play for us. And of course, this being Division 2, I lost the toss, giving us four Blacks out of seven.
Quick draws for Jasper Tambini on board 2 against Phil Brooks and John Foley on board 3 against Dan Rosen, in both cases outrated by over 100 points, soon settled the nerves. Tom Mayers on board 6 took only slightly longer to draw with Bertie Barlow. Tom had had an edge from the opening, but the position soon became blocked and roughly equal, and he wisely took no risks.
Kingston supremo Peter Andrews (left) takes on Kingston superstar Peter Lalić, on this occasion playing for Ashtead
My game with Peter Lalić was also fairly short but rather more exciting, in a bad way. In a similar line to our clash in the Thames Valley match between Kingston A and B early in the season, Peter had thrown his kingside pawns up the board, sacrificing one of them. The sacrifice was not strictly sound, but tempted me to try to hold the material rather than get castled, and in a difficult but in principle equal position I missed a game-ending shot.
At about the same time, Alan Scrimgour won on board 4 against Ian McLeod. This was one of those rare games where one player is able to build a winning advantage by positional means without an obvious major error on the other side. Such a smooth performance deserves coverage in the games department, so only the denouement is featured here.
Stephen Moss, who had kindly stepped up to play board 7 when David Rowson fell ill, had a much longer and more dramatic game with Adrian Waldock. An aggressive line against the English had given him a space advantage. White had countered on the kingside which had opened up, potentially embarrassing both kings, but by the time we join the action (and this was about the time spectators were moving over from the other games) it was clear that it was White’s king which was in trouble.
Foreground: Ashtead captain Bertie Barlow (left) v Tom Mayers; and Tom Barlow (back, left) v Kingston’s Martyn Jones
That left us 3.5-2.5 ahead, and, with at least one match point in the bag, fine calculations around game points became academic. As it turned out, Martyn Jones on board 5 was able to seal the win in an entertaining though unrecorded finish against Tom Barton.
Martyn, playing Black, had won a pawn and also had the better bishop by the early stages of the endgame, and seemed at one point to have a winning chance in hand-to-hand fighting between the central pawns. But the position became blocked, and White penetrated with a rook. Towards the end there seemed to be a risk that Martyn’s king would get mated mid-board, hemmed in by pawns. With both players down to a minute or less, Martyn played Be8, defending all the threats but leaving the bishop en prise to a rook on e6. As he did so, he offered a draw. His opponent was equally unaware that he had just been presented with a game that he had been fighting to save for most of the evening, and accepted the draw, giving us a 4-3 win.
So we won the match and with it the Surrey League division 2 championship, only four seasons after Kingston 1 had won the same division. Whereas that was a logical stepping stone en route to contesting the summit of Surrey chess, this has been much more of a surprise (until this season we have regarded staying in the division as our objective) and therefore arguably a greater achievement by the players involved.
We were outrated in five of our 10 matches, according to the one-month-lagged ratings used by Surrey, and we lost the toss in eight of those 10 matches – significant when that means 4 Blacks and 3 Whites. In all the close finishes, of which there were many (two drawn matches, a 4-3 win, three 4.5-2.5 wins), someone seemed to pull out a result when it was needed.
Eighteen different people played during the season. Of the regulars, Alan Scrimgour (6/8) and David Rowson (5/7) had the best results. But the strength of this team was in depth, with for example Homayoon Froogh (4.5/5) and Martyn Jones (3.5/5) scoring heavily on the lower boards, increasing their ratings and moving up the order as the season went on, and Stephen Moss scoring 3 out of 4 in addition to his tireless driving.
Over the next few weeks I intend to consult the player pool as to whether we wish to have a crack at division 1 or whether, if we have the choice, we might be able to remain in what is already a highly challenging division. But for the moment Kingston 2 should enjoy their unexpected success in winning one of the few trophies which eluded the club in 2024-25.
Peter Andrews is Kingston 2 captain in Surrey League division 2
Hammersmith A v Kingston B, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at the London Mindsports Centre, 21 Dalling Rd, London W6on 2 April 2026
Unexpectedly, for our players at least, the Candidates broadcasts had a rival last Thursday, as Hammersmith transmitted live on chess.com the games between their A team and our B team. While that may have exposed in real time our many inaccuracies to a global audience, it also allowed our fellow Kingstonians to follow every twist and turn of what proved to be some entertaining and possibly nerve-shredding games.
Several Kingston players had dropped out of the team originally selected due to illness or Easter holiday engagements, so as captain I was very grateful to Constantin Liesch and Genç Taşbaşı for making themselves available at short notice. Hammersmith were also without some of their usual A team players, but they still significantly outrated us.
It was the board 5 game which might have finished first, as Tom Townsend offered Constantin a draw, which the Kingston player had the spirit to refuse, even though at that point he only had a slight advantage. In fact, the first result came on board 3, where Jasper Tambini (pictured above) had played the Advance Variation against Maria-Alexandra Ciocan’s French Defence. In the following position the two players had equal chances:
This win was a fillip for the team and for those watching on Chess.com, and as the other games were still too close to call there was a flicker of hope that we could yet achieve a result against expectations.
On board 2, where I had Black against Luke Lau, I felt that I had equalised in the opening (an Italian Game), but both players were continually faced with difficult choices which had impacts on both sides of the board. After Luke’s 32. h4 this was the position:
On board 1 Peter Andrews had opened with his usual English. Stereotypes of this opening as one which generally steers clear of tactics were exposed as totally wide of the mark by the way the game went. Peter gained an extra pawn (on c5), but also exchanged his g2 bishop for Black’s c6 knight, commenting afterwards that “giving up the two bishops is a high price to pay”. Unusually, Ali Hill positioned his bishops on h4 and h5, and his control of the e-file gave him the advantage:
John Foley succinctly summed up both his journey to the venue and the way his game started as follows: “I was stuck in traffic, so bailed out and Limed it to Hammersmith 20 minutes late. I rattled off the trusty Caro-Kann and times were level after 19 moves.” There were many twists and turns in this game too, until the position simplified, if that is the appropriate word, into a queen and bishop ending where John had an extra pawn:
With five of the six games concluded, Kingston B had now lost the match, trailing 3.5-1.5, but on board 5 Constantin Liesch was still fighting to try to win a rook ending against his much higher-rated opponent. This nearly backfired when, in time trouble, he allowed his opponent the chance to advance his passed pawn to e2 at a moment when Constantin’s rook was not in a position to stop it queening. Fortunately for him, Tom Townsend overlooked this and the game was drawn, a very good result for Constantin. This gave a final match score of 4-2 to Hammersmith.
Not a bad result given the rating discrepancy, and I imagine we gave plenty of entertainment to the chess.com viewers. However, it’s been quite frustrating this season that we have put up good fights against Hammersmith, Ealing and Maidenhead (away – we beat them at home), but have fallen short in the end. We still have three matches in which to gain the points to stay in division 1.
David Rowson is Kingston B captain in Thames Valley division 1
Ashtead 2 v Kingston 3, Surrey League division 4 match played at the Peace Memorial Hall, Ashtead on 31 March 2026
As the season marches inexorably towards its conclusion, so too did six of Kingston’s finest march a step further towards the Centenary Trophy. Although the 4.5-1.5 scoreline left little room for doubt, the match at Ashtead was a nail-biter, with four games still unclear at 10.15pm. Many thanks to Ashtead for hosting us and congratulations to all the players on a robust and competitive performance.
Kingston third-and fourth-team captain Ed Mospan had one eye on the league standings when selecting the team; with just one further match against co-leaders Epsom 4 remaining, there was no room for error. We had a moderate rating advantage on the top 4 boards, widening out into a significant edge on boards 5 and 6, which is where our analysis begins – Ashtead’s Hugh Wylie v Kingston’s Seth Warren on board 5.
Fairly soon afterwards, Kingston’s Ye Kwaw also won with White on board 6 against Christopher Perks, leaving us 2-0 up. Surveying the remaining four boards, however, gave a very uncertain picture. As late as 10.15pm all four were still in play, with most players having less than 10 minutes on the clock, and three games still very double-edged.
Xavier Cowan (pictured above, right) had arrived late after an unexpectedly adventurous cycle journey. He had conceded a lot of time to his opponent, Patrick O’Mara, and had the black pieces, but his play proved to be as free-wheeling as his cycling, and he built up a kingside attack which eventually proved to be irresistible. Dormie 3, as golfers say. The match could not now be lost.
Indeed, it was there to be won. Thivan Gunawardana was in trouble against Ashley Wilson on board 4, but Alex Chmelev looked to have a nailed-on draw against Ashtead stalwart Bertie Barlow on board 2 and Tom Mayers, with Black on board 3, was starting to make progress against the experienced Adrian Waldock.
Foreground: Thivan Gunawardana (right) battles hard to hang on in a tricky position against Ashley Wilson
The three games finished in rapid succession, with time playing its part in two of them. Alex duly secured the match-winning draw on board 2; Thivan, in desperate time trouble and also under severe pressure on the board, succumbed to give Ashtead a consolation win; and Tom won on time – an excellent scalp for the young man – to make the final score 4.5-1.5. Kingston 3 now face a tough away match against Epsom 4 which will decide who wins the Surrey League division 4 (Centenary Trophy) title.
Seth Warren is Kingston fixtures secretary and was acting captain in the match at Ashtead
IM Peter Large won the 19th blitz held at All Saints church in Kingston on 31 March 2026, with Chris Briscoe and Arne Eilers in joint second scooping the other prizes
It is becoming a familiar tale: Peter Large (pictured above, receiving his prize from arbiter Edward Mospan) once again won the monthly All Saints Blitz – his tenth win in 19 editions of the event. Peter sets the standards and it’s up to the rest of us to try to emulate him.
It was one of Peter’s more comfortable victories. Once he had disposed of me in the first round, he beat Marcus Gosling – his former team-mate at Epsom – in a second-round crunch match, and then saw off a trio of strong players, Jasper Tambini, Chris Briscoe and Robin Haldane, in the next three rounds. Peter is a consummate pro and closed out the tournament with a draw against Arne Eilers in the final round.
Peter Large (left) prepares to do battle with Epsom president Marcus Gosling in the second round at All Saints
Peter finished on 5.5/6, a full point ahead of Arne and Chris, who came joint second. There was plenty of strength in depth in the tournament, as the four players who came next on 4/6 – Robin Haldane, Joshua Pirgon, Anthony Hughes and Jasper Tambini – demonstrated. Peter Roche came eighth with 3.5/6, and Kingston junior William Lin scored a commendable 3/6, alongside Alan Hayward and David Rowson.
Peter Large shows off his egg-cellent trophy, flanked by runners-up Chris Briscoe (left) and Arne Eilers
Special thanks to Constantin Liesch, who contrived to lose on time to me when he was completely winning, thus giving my score more respectability than I deserved. We will do it again in the 20th All Saints Blitz on 29 April.
Stephen Moss is Kingston Chess Club captain
Final standings
1: Peter Large (Kingston) 5.5/6 2-3: Chris Briscoe (Surbiton) 4.5/6, Arne Eilers (Streatham) 4.5/6 4-7: Robin Haldane (Streatham) 4/6, Joshua Pirgon (Surbiton) 4/6, Anthony Hughes (Wimbledon) 4/6, Jasper Tambini (Kingston) 4/6 8: Peter Roche (Kingston) 3.5/6 9/11: William Lin (Kingston) 3/6, Alan Hayward (Pimlico) 3/6, David Rowson (Kingston) 3/6
Epsom 1 v Kingston 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at Epsom Christian Fellowship, 22 West Hill, Epsom on 30 March 2026
Matches against Epsom always have an extra edge – in a good way – and this had more than most. If we had lost here, Guildford 1 would have maintained a 1.5 point lead in Surrey League division 1. We could still have caught them, but it would have been much tougher. As it was, a 6-2 victory over Epsom allowed us to close to within half a point and the decider will now be Kingston 1’s home match with Guildford on 13 April. Those two clubs will also contest the final of the Alexander Cup at Ashtead on 26 May, confirming that they have been the dominant teams in Surrey this season.
We had a strong team out at Epsom and slightly shaded it on ratings. But Peter Lalić was in trouble from an early stage with White on board 1 against IM Graeme Buckley, so nothing could be taken for granted. Epsom’s Chris Russell was playing aggressively against David Maycock on board 2; Peter Andrews and Robin Haldane were having a (metaphorical) punch-up on board 6; Jasper Tambini was facing former British champion Peter Lee (pictured above) on board 7; and on board 8 Kingston president John Foley was up against Sachin Kumar, the junior who had beaten him in a Kingston 2 match in January. Anything could happen.
David Maycock (pictured above, left) opened the scoring for Kingston with a win with Black over Christopher Russell, though David was mad at himself for one error which could have cost him the game. Russell played an aggressive opening and when I looked at the position below, I thought he had given himself a good chance of breaking through with the early g4. Full marks for ambition anyway.
On board 4 John Hawksworth secured an important draw with Black against James Allison, who has been a thorn in Kingston’s side this season. The game, which started as a Nimzo-Indian, was nip and tuck throughout. “I spent much too long on the opening and, although I got an acceptable position, I was behind on the clock throughout the game,” John said afterwards. He thought his opponent had a sniff of a chance in the position below.
Peter Hasson, as so often this season, calmed nerves further with an assured win with White over Arnav Kumar, elder brother of Sachin, on board 5. “Arnav was confused by my speculative pawn sac.” Peter said after the game. “The final position has some pretty mates if he plays on.” We join the game on White’s 12th move, when Peter decides to try to exploit Black’s cramped set-up.
Peter Lalić played a very optimistic gambit on board 1, but IM Graeme Buckley had little difficulty refuting it
Kingston were 2.5-0.5 up, but Epsom quickly hit back, IM Graeme Buckley beating Peter Lalić with Black on board 1 – a very good result for Graeme which ended Peter’s sequence of 41 undefeated classical games. Peter played a bold version of the Smith-Morra, but only succeeded in giving up two pawns for not very much. Graeme had no difficulty defusing any hopes of counterplay, and Peter resigned in the position below.
John Foley’s game against Sachin Kumar was very similar to their earlier encounter. John built up a hefty time advantage and they entered an endgame – with rooks on this occasion rather than bishops as previously. John was pressing, but Sachin defended well on the increment and peace was eventually declared. That made it 3-2 to KIngston.
IMs Peter Large and Susan Lalić both sought to attack, but Peter eventually prevailed after a testing battle
IMs Peter Large and Susan Lalić played a vigorous game on board 3, with both sides looking to grab the initiative and attack. Peter had White, but was well into the middlegame before he could establish any sort of advantage. In the position below, Stockfish gives White a small plus, but Black’s command of the c-file looks promising.
Former British champion Peter Lee concentrates as Jasper Tambini bears down on his uncastled king
Jasper Tambini’s win over Peter Lee was a thriller, with tactics galore. A French Advance led to this position in which White is already much better thanks to Black’s kingside weaknesses.
The wins by Peter Large and Jasper Tambini gave Kingston an unassailable 5-2 lead. Now could the Kingston captain, Peter Andrews, put the icing on the cake? We join the game with Peter about to play his tenth move. The commentary is by Peter, who sums up the game by saying: “We both attacked, mainly out of desperation when we felt we were getting into trouble.”
“Robin was kind enough to say that he had enjoyed the game very much despite the result, hence playing on to mate, said Peter afterwards. “And of course unlike Gordon Rennie the previous week, Robin was safe from any flying pieces because my mating attack comprised backwards moves.”
Thus Kingston enjoyed a very satisfying – and perhaps slightly flattering – 6-2 victory. Now the deciding match against league leaders on 13 April Guildford awaits. It promises to be an epic encounter.
Surbiton A v Kingston A, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at Fircroft, Surbiton on 25 March 2026
After our close, tense and controversial match against Hammersmith, I was hoping and expecting a simple and stress-free evening out on our trip away to Surbiton, especially as they put out a team missing Mark Josse, their best player. But things did not turn out quite as I planned.
The first game to finish was the board 1 clash between David Maycock and Altaf Chaudhry. This was another crushing win by David, essentially decided by an opening error by Black:
Another crisp game by Maycock. His handling of the white pieces in the Sicilian Defence is both an object lesson and a standing reproach to all those club players who wheel out their tired Alapins, their pusillanimous Bb5s and their lame Morras “to avoid the theory”. Play the main lines for God’s sake.
The next game to finish was on board 4, where John Hawksworth had the black pieces against David Scott. Readers who have been following John’s progress as he returns to the fray will not be surprised to learn that the game ended in a draw – he is difficult to beat. He played (my favourite) Hedgehog Defence, and it seemed to me he went wrong at one point in the opening. But he recovered to reach equality, and the game ended in an almost-forced threefold repetition on move 28.
On board 6 Peter Andrews had very kindly stepped in at late notice to replace an unwell Julian Way. His reward was to get Black against Nick Faulks, a frequent opponent. On Peter’s own account he was surprised in the opening, when Faulks played:
That made it 1.5-1.5 – not the score I had been hoping for. And it got worse. On board 2, Peter Lalić was Black against Joseph Morrison. Peter’s latest opening nonsense involves advancing all the pawns in front of his own king, so as to create weaknesses. The flaw in this strategy is that the weaknesses are in his own position. Morrison reacted to the provocation quite sensibly, and in fact missed a chance to obtain an advantage in the early middlegame. The game was agreed a draw on move 32 in a blocked position in which neither side could make much progress. 2-2.
On board 3 I was playing the up-and-coming Joshua Pirgon. I obtained no advantage with White against his unusual line in the French, and after 19 moves we reached the following equal position:
That made the score 3-2, but with one game remaining we still hadn’t won the match. Fortunately the one game remaining was Peter Hasson v Liam Bayly on board 5. Peter is extremely strong with White, and this was a beautiful positional game.
Peter Hasson (left) played a beautiful positional game to beat Liam Bayly on board 5 and seal victory for Kingston
So we scraped a 4-2 win. It means we have put some clear blue water between ourselves and our rivals in Thames Valley division 1, but the narrow margin of victory against the team currently sitting at the bottom of the league table shows that there is still no room for smug complacency.
Peter Large is Kingston captain in Thames Valley division 1
