Steve Rix (Essex) v John Foley (Surrey)
My favourite form of chess is the county match. It starts at a leisurely time on a Saturday afternoon. We play a classical time control which allows some real thought. I find evening league chess too busy and error-prone and 4NCL rather pressurised due to not wanting to let down one’s team-mates. Also, to be honest, I love to drop by at the La Petite Boulangerie opposite the Parochial Rooms for a delightful taste of France before every game.
Kingston B scrap hard but succumb to A-team power
After the two intra-club battles in the Surrey League in September, two intranecine battles in the Thames Valley League were top of the agenda for October. The cast list was a little different, with teams of only six rather than eight, but the drama was higher, with the final result in doubt for some time.
Fogg and O’Brien tie in inaugural evening rapidplay
Monday 12 October saw an important step forward in offering members more than the usual diet of club matches and casual chess: the inaugural evening rapidplay, played over three rounds as an experiment to see if it could be run alongside two league matches and eight classical rated friendlies.
Outrated Kingston 4 hold Ashtead 2 to spirited draw
On paper, Ashtead 2 had a significant advantage over Kingston 4, on the higher boards at least, but you would not have guessed it from the initial balance of the play. Kingston quickly went 1-0 with a rapid win by David Shalom, and Adam Nakar accepted an early draw offer from old campaigner Bertie Barlow to maintain the advantage. So far, so good.
Dorking 1 outgun battling Kingston 3
The Ellam Trophy, division 3 of the Surrey League, is not to be trifled with. It is a tough division, which includes three first teams and a couple of strong second teams. Kingston have a team in the Ellam for the first time in several years, and, since this is our third team, survival will be the name of the game.
New-look Kingston stun Guildford in Alexander Cup
This was a very different Kingston team from the one which beat Guildford and secured a fifth successive Alexander Cup title back in May. We were missing six top-class players from that great match, which makes our achievement in beating a very strong Guildford team by the same score, 6.5-3.5, all the more impressive.