This is the fourth year of the Kingston Invitational. Both the 2022 and 2023 editions were all-play-alls: a 10-player all-play-all in 2022 and two 10-player all-play-all groups in 2023, the higher-rated of which offered IM norms. The third Kingston Invitational was held in August 2024 and took the form of a highly competitive Swiss.
The plan for 2025 is to combine the two formats, so we will have a strong 10-player all-play-all event (again with norms on offer) and a 50-player Swiss aimed at players with an ECF rating of 1800-plus. There are no entry fees for either event. It is by invitation only, though we warmly invite expressions of interest from those who would like to take part. We strive for a competitive but friendly tournament, a true festival of chess, and even supply free cream doughnuts.
This year we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of Kingston Chess Club, and the Invitational will form a central part of those celebrations. The event will run from Tuesday 12 to Saturday 16 August, and will take place at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church in central Kingston. Full details are given on the Chess Results server: the IM norm event can be found here and the Swiss here. Fields will be updated as they are assembled.
Both tournaments will be Fide-rated and over nine rounds. The organiser and chief arbiter of the event – both norm tournament and Swiss – is Paul McKeown, who will be supported by deputy chief arbiter John Gordon Bowley and by Edward Mospan from Kingston Chess Club. The event is being run in association with Kingston Chess Club as part of its 150th anniversary celebrations, which will run throughout the summer.
IM norm tournament
There are eight entrants so far. They are (in order of current Fide rating, with that rating given in brackets):
IM Vladyslav Larkin (2437)
IM Peter Large (2342)
FM Roland Bezuidenhout (2311)
David Maycock (2288)
Adam Taylor (2270)
IM Graeme Buckley (2268)
Supratit Banerjee (2250)
Peter Lalić (2137)
We seek two players to complete the field 10, but to comply with norm requirements those two must be affiliated to a federation other than England; they must be titled; and they must be rated above 2400. Any players who fit these criteria and are interested in playing in the tournament are invited to email me at [email protected]
Swiss
Alongside the norm tournament, we will run a Swiss for around 50 players. Ideally they should have an ECF rating of 1800 or above, though we may make some exceptions. The Swiss will have the same time control as the norm tournament – 90 minutes + 30-second increment. There will be two rounds on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and a single round on Saturday morning, with a blitz play-off for the trophy in the event of a tie. The play-off will only determine who receives the winner’s trophy; the prize money will be split according to final placing in the event of a tie.
Anyone interested in playing in the Swiss is invited to email me at [email protected], but we would ask that if you are accepted for the event you make every effort to play. It is frequently pointed out that the flaw with an Invitational is that players have not made an upfront payment to play, so have nothing to lose by not showing up. If you are accepted, please play, because your acceptance of a place may have denied someone else a chance to play.
Stephen Moss, tournament director