Epsom 4 v Kingston 3, Surrey League division 4 match played at Epsom Christian Fellowship, Epsom on 10 March 2025
This was another great result for Kingston 3, led by Ed Mospan. Epsom were seriously strong for a fourth team – what great strength in depth they have – but Kingston countered everything Epsom threw at them and came away with a deserved 3-3 draw.
I wasn’t at the match, so rely on the summary provided by Epsom’s non-playing captain, Alistair Mackenzie. “This was Epsom 4’s strongest team,” Alistair emailed Ed after the match, “so your team did fantastically well. I was confident of victory, but in reality we were very lucky to get a draw, as we could have been well beaten.”
Alistair said that Oliver Kuzmanoski was fortunate to get a draw on board 6, and that Lev Razhnou had to show good technique to save the game against new Kingston recruit Seth Warren on board 1 – a promising result for Seth with Black against a highly rated player.
“I didn’t understand the game between Maya Keen and David Shalom,” added Alistair. “Maya was behind in material but had pressure, and David slipped up with a simple error. David Bickerstaff, with White on board 4, was comfortable for the whole game. James [Pooler] managed to close the gap somehow, but it was not enough. It was a great win for Adam [Nakar], pulling those moves off at the end – he is always good fun to watch.” Adam, who was ecstatic with his victory, is on a tremendous run, and his live rating is climbing fast.
Aziz Sannie had the better of the early exchanges against Epsom veteran Michael Wickham (see Marcus Gosling’s photograph of their encounter above), but the latter was able to turn the game around and grab the point that ensured the two teams would share the spoils. All four decisive games in the match ended with a win for White. It really does make a difference, you know.
Ed took an additional four players along to Epsom to play rated friendlies – a great innovation this season at Kingston, where we are trying to offer rated chess outside the traditional league structure so more players get games. This has been a terrific innovation by Ed, who has made a huge difference since returning as a team captain and club officer, and we hope it will be a template for the club’s development.
Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain
