Kingston win Alexander Cup for fourth year in a row

Kingston v Guildford, final of the Alexander Cup, played at the Peace Memorial Hall, Ashtead on 29 April 2025

From left: Ameet Ghasi, David Maycock, Vladimir Li, Luca Buanne, John Hawksworth, Peter Large, Michael Healey, Silverio Abasolo, Peter Lalić, Ash Stewart (photograph: John Foley)

The all-conquering Kingston team comfortably retained the Alexander Cup by winning the final at Ashtead against Guildford. The Alexander Cup is the 10-board Surrey teams open knockout championship. In reaching the final, Kingston defeated Streatham in the quarter-final 6.5-3.5 and Epsom in the semi-final 8.5-1.5 and so were odds-on favourites. However, Guildford should never be underestimated as they have a large pool of players to call upon and were the holders prior to the present Kingston run.

The Kingston team had a grandmaster on top board and an international master on bottom board. This team could acquit itself well in any English team event, including the 4NCL where several of these players are active in the first division.

*The titled top boards, Kingston players facing: (from right): GM Ghasi, CM Maycock, IM Large and FM Li*

The match was played at Ashtead as a neutral venue. We are grateful to Bertie Barlow and Ashtead Chess Club for facilitating the event. To add to the drama, Kingston was also playing another final in the same venue – the Lauder Trophy, which is the ratings-limited six-board Surrey team knockout tournament. We had got through to both finals. A report on the Lauder Trophy is published separately. John Foley was captain of the Alexander Cup team and Stephen Moss captain of the Lauder Trophy team. Graham Alcock, the Surrey inter-club tournament director, also attended and made the presentations to the winners.

Considerable effort went into the logistics of the event. Each player’s travel arrangements were checked and double-checked. There is little that can be done about a seven-car pile-up on the A3, so some of us arrived only just in time for the 7.40pm start. Kingston took our own chess equipment (thanks to Stephen Moss) so as not to impose on Ashtead. We were joined by two supporters – David Rowson, captain of Kingston’s Thames Valley first team, who would normally be playing, and Robert Waller, whose playing days are behind him but who enjoys attending matches. It was the hottest day of the year so far and temperatures were in the mid-20Cs. We picked up packs of bottled water from the local Co-op.

Room Tension — *The tension in the room became palpable as the games approached their conclusion*

The room got warmer as the evening progressed and the tension mounted. Kingston never looked in trouble from the moment of the first point – a quick win on board 9 by Luca Buanne, who could then switch to doing his homework.

Kingston obtained seven wins and two draws. In this match report we look at three games. We hope to publish some of the remaining games in our Games section. The most spectacular game which caught the attention of those present was between Silverio Abasolo and James Toon. As one spectator asked Alan Scrimgour, “How can Silverio have nearly all his pieces under attack?” to which the reply was “Well, his opponent can only take one piece at a time!”

Silverio Abasolo v James Toon after White’s 32nd move

Board 7

In Silverio’s game, each side landed blows on the other and we could not guess what was going to happen. The outcome of Peter Lalić’s game was unpredictable because it depended upon whether he had enough compensation for his Smith-Morra gambit. He gave up one pawn, another pawn and then the exchange. However, Peter was thinking at a deeper level than the spectators, and eventually his strategy of tight control proved victorious.