Kingston 4 v Surbiton 3, Surrey League division 5 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 23 March 2026

This was a well-contested local derby – Kingston and Surbiton are about three miles apart – between two very solid teams. Surbiton proved too strong on the bottom boards, with the canny Paul McCauley beating Rob Taylor (pictured, above left) with White on board 5 and Nikolai Mantaev getting the better of Nette Robinson with Black on 6. But it was a different story on the top boards.

Seth Warren had a fine victory over Surbiton veteran Malcolm Groom with Black on board 1, Ye Kyaw won against Oleksiy Podolyan on 3, and Genc Tasbasi ground out a crucial success against Surbiton captain Phil Goodings on 5. The vital half-point in a 3.5-2.5 win was supplied by Adam Nakar, who drew against the dangerous and tactically inclined Alexey Markov on board 2. This was a very good result for Adam, who hasn’t had a chance to play many games this season, and was enough for Kingston 4 to claim local bragging rights.

Stephen Moss is Kingston club captain