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.

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 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.

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.

Stephen Moss is Kingston Chess Club captain

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.

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