Kingston 1 v Epsom 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston, on 11 November 2024
The clash of the 2022/23 and 2023/24 Surrey division 1 champions promised to be a critical match in the 2024/25 season, and there was a real sense of occasion, Epsom having brought additional players to take part in our regular rated friendlies, and with a gaggle of home spectators there to support us (I am grateful to FM Vladimir Li for his impressions as the games were in progress).
The line-ups revealed that Kingston would have a rating advantage on every board, but the differences on boards 1 and 3 were small, and (after the toss had to be repeated because my lightweight 20p coin escaped behind the Willoughby’s heating system; I was more careful with the pound used for the replay) Epsom would have White on the odd boards, so those boards were likely to be critical.
None of the opening phases suggested much advantage for either side in any game. But there was a sudden finish on board 6. Luca Buanne and Chris Wright had reached a tense queenless middle game when Chris miscalculated, and Luca quickly won decisive material.
Next to finish was board 7, where Peter Hasson had Black against Epsom president Marcus Gosling. Peter had hoped to make something out of a flaw in White’s pawn structure, but after the major pieces were exchanged on the open a-file, White was able to straighten the pawns out, leaving a blocked position in which progress could not be made. This was the final position, with White set to recapture Black’s light-squared bishop.
By this stage we seemed to have a clear advantage on board 4, and probable advantages on boards 2 and 8, the other games in which we had White. Even with David Maycock apparently under some pressure against IM Graeme Buckley on board 1 (although analysis subsequently showed that the position was just level but difficult for both sides), Peter Lalić’s draw with Black on board 3 v Zain Patel was therefore a good result. Against strong juniors, small rating advantages do not mean much. Peter steered into the sort of queenless middle game with which he is more familiar than most of us, and did have one momentary opportunity on move 17.
Epsom played the French Defence on three of their four black boards. The Kingston players had three different responses, all of them successful. In David Rowson’s game on board 8, the kings castled on opposite wings, and after his opponent’s 30th move David was ready with a crushing pawn sacrifice.
On board 4, Mike Healey took a different approach against James McCarthy, offering an early gambit. Mike has annotated this characteristically imaginative and dynamic game in the Games section, but we will show the denouement here. We join the action after Black’s 22nd move, Ba4, giving White a decision. Mike’s choice was spectacular. Standing back with the benefit of hindsight, what made it work? The black pawn on f7 is overloaded, defending the pawn on e6 and the hole on g6 which are both under fire. Black’s queen’s bishop, which might have defended those squares, is absent on a queenside raid. White’s king’s bishop might also appear to be absent on the queenside, but even from b1 it can attack the hole. Fasten your seatbelts.
The last three games finished almost simultaneously. Peter Large showed a third contrasting response to the French Defence on board 2 against Susan Lalić. Where David Rowson and his opponent had castled on opposite sides and pushed pawns against their opponent’s king, Peter and Susan castled on opposite sides and pushed pawns in front of the own king; counter-intuitive but equally good for White.
Perhaps as might be expected in a game between two such strong players, there were few significant mistakes, as measured by jumps in the computer evaluation. White won because he was able to develop his initiative on the kingside while Black’s on the other wing was blocked. In this position below, after Black’s 21st move, the player with White following the standard recipe of opening files against the enemy king might have tried b3. But this loses White’s advantage; after 21. b3 cxb3 22. Bxb3 Nb6, Black can get a knight to c4, which matters more than the open file. Instead 21. f5 was the key breakthrough.
So Kingston had won all four games with White. What of the remaining games in which our players had Black? On board 5, IM John Hawksworth had Black against FM and former British champion Peter Lee, a measure of the quality in depth of Surrey League chess these days. The latter played an enterprising pawn sacrifice 11. b4 in the position below, aiming to play against the weak pawn on d6.
That draw made it four wins with White and three draws with Black. The last game to finish, and the hardest to evaluate in play, was the board 1 match-up between IM Graeme Buckley v hungry wannabe David Maycock. The opening was characterised by masterly play on both sides which created an imbalance: Black had an extra pawn, but at the price of a broken kingside structure which would allow White attacking chances. White was faced with a critical choice at move 25.
With two extra passed pawns on the queenside and a time advantage, David converted smoothly, the only winner with the black pieces on the night. It gave Kingston a margin of victory which seems flattering given how tense the games were. Early matches this season suggest that home advantage is considerable, and the race may be close, so it is useful to have put a strong net run rate/goal difference in the bank.
Peter Andrews, Kingston captain in Surrey League division 1
