Kingston 2 v Wimbledon 2, Surrey League division 2 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 23 March 2026

As in the away fixture a few weeks earlier, Kingston 2 had a big rating advantage against a Wimbledon 2 team depleted by nominations calls by their first team. So despite losing the toss we were confident of the win which would seal the Surrey League division 2 title barring a remarkable finish by Guildford 2. But expectation brings its own pressure.

Jasper Tambini had the first point on the board in half an hour when Wimbledon’s board 3 failed to appear. Tom Mayers, with White on board 6, followed with a nice finish against Malcolm Lowry.

Either side of Tom, Homayoon Froogh on board 5 and Thivan Gunawardana on board 7 showcased the Caro-Kann defence. Homayoon’s opponent, John Deacon, threw his kingside pawns up the board, gaining space but leaving his king with nowhere to go, and once the queens came off Homayoon was able to exploit the weakness of White’s pawns. Thivan’s game (below) was different – he was the one who gained the space advantage against Omar Selim, and he then won material when White tried to break out.

Martyn Jones, who has won a lot of games lately, added a mysterious one to the list with White against Stephen Carpenter on board 4. When the players stopped recording because they both had fewer than five minutes on the clock, they had reached a position which they both thought was about level – Martyn had just declined a draw. But Stockfish thinks White is losing here – evaluation worse than minus 2 – presumably based of White’s broken pawns, although with the black king so open White must have practical chances.

Martyn has not been able to reconstruct the rest of the game in detail, but he was able to play rook to d4 and b4 check, driving the black king to c8. Black then chased white kingside pawns and allowed the queen on c3 to h8, mating in two. In an open position and a time scramble, errors can easily overturn pre-existing advantages.

No such luck for David Rowson, who ran into tough resistance from Sam Hall on board 2. This was a slow burner for the first 20 moves or so, and then the advantage swung both ways, as usual with time running short.

My own game with Black against Gordon Rennie on board 1 finished around the same time. Gordon has had to carry the management challenge posed by the loss of players and play higher-rated opponents in every match for Wimbledon, and he certainly makes a fight of it. This was the game with the most mutual jeopardy, judging by the spectators around the board towards the end (see photograph above) and the whisky I needed to sleep once I got home. Time trouble was of course a factor, but most of the critical phase of the game was recorded.

The result means that Kingston 2 cannot be overhauled on match points in division 2. Guildford 2 can catch us if we lose at Ashtead on 7 April and they win all their remaining matches, but to catch us on game points as well they would need something like three 6-1 wins, which in such a tight division is unlikely. We should not take the Ashtead match lightly – the day after our win against Wimbledon 2, they turned out a team with 2100+ rated Dan Rosen on board 4 – but it does look as though perhaps the most remarkable of our likely trophy successes this season is almost in the bag.

Peter Andrews is club chair and captain of Kingston 1 and Kingston 2 in the Surrey League