First and second teams at Dudley; third and fourth teams at Bedford, 10/11 October 2026

The first weekend of the 2026/27 season saw a revamped squad. Kate Cooke stepped down after a decade carefully stewarding our 4NCL efforts to achieve one team in Division 1, one in Division 2 and one in Division 4. Our first team were runners-up in Division 1 last season, setting the bar extremely high.

We brought together a new management team for the squad. The squad manager is Chris Fegan from CSC, first-team captain is John Foley, second-team captain is Clive Frostick, third- and fourth-team captain is Julie Denning. We added another team in Division 4 in line with our strategy to end up with one team in each of the four divisions, enabling us to offer slots to players at all levels.

The composition of the first team changed in accordance with a reduced budget. We had to say “Do zobaczenia” (until we see you again) to our friends from Poland, GM Jakub Kosakowski and WIM Liwia Jarocka, and the German WFM Luisa Bashylina. All three were totally integrated into the team and we enjoyed many dinners, game analyses and casual blitz with them. We hope to reconnect as resources allow.

They have been replaced with some talented young English-registered players to give them a chance to develop their chess at the highest level. The biggest announcement of the weekend was that 12-year-old first-team player Supratit Banerjee (pictured above) was officially declared an international master. He has been joined in the team by 23-year-old IM Alex Golding and 13-year-old FM Qixiang Han. GM Harry Grieve, IM Vladyslav Larkin, FMs Ulysse Bottazzi, David Maycock and Roland Bezuidenhout, and WFM Eunice Hng are also all in their early or mid-20s, meaning the first-team squad is packed with talented young players, guided by GM Ameet Ghasi as “senior pro”.

The second team has also added an array of talented young players to its pool, notably James Golding, Shivam Sahoo, Raman Vashisht-Pigem and Sebastian Mokhber-Garcia, joining the ever present Zain Patel. Several of these players will be representing the squad at the European Club Cup in Montenegro next week under the name “Kingston Kings”. We wish them well in a tournament packed with world-class players.

The new name of the squad – CSC ChessPlus Kingston – reflects the economic compromise which makes the team possible. Chess in Schools and Communities (CSC) has long been a partner with Kingston. The original idea had been to provide a pipeline for juniors who had taken up chess through one of the CSC schools programmes. ChessPlus is the name of the chess education activity of John Foley. John was awarded the honour of FIDE Chess Educator of the Year during the Olympiad in Samarkand. Kingston Chess Club provides several players and the active involvement of chess impresario Stephen Moss, who was playing for the fourth team this weekend in Bedford. Chris Fegan and John Foley acted as team captains and reserves for the first and second teams.

Each of the four teams ended up with two points out of a possible four, which was a fair outcome given the strength of our opponents.

First team

The first team preparing to start against Division 1 surprise package Schach Attack

The first team’s opponents in the first round were SchachAttack 1, whom we comfortably outrated by an average of well over 100 points per board if we use FIde ratings. However, as everybody knows, ratings are an unreliable guide to match outcomes, and we lost the match 3-5. GM Harry Grieve lost on time on board 1 which was unfortunate as he did not seem to be in time trouble and was not losing on the board – he went into some sort of suspended animation. Qixiang Han won on his debut, a feat he repeated in the next round – the only first-teamer to score 2/2.

Matters improved on Sunday against Barnet Knights A. Our opponents almost reversed their team order from the previous round. Manmay Chopra went from board 8 to board 2 while Stefan Macak went in the other direction from board 2 to board 6. We had also jiggled our boards, so there was probably only limited preparation that counted.

GM Ameet Ghasi played Black for the second time in the weekend and achieved a solid position on top board. His opponent, GM Alexander Cherniaev, decided to open up the position, but this proved to the advantage of Black and the game ended with some sharp tactics in favour of Ameet. Qixiang Han was delighted to achieve two wins for the weekend. It was a game of mutual errors, but the usual motto applies – the loser is the last one to make a mistake.

The last game to finish – one of the last of the day in a virtually empty playing hall – was FM David Maycock v IM Stefan Macak. David had sacrificed the exchange to get a couple of pawns, including some dangerous advanced pawns in the ending. His opponent offered a draw in the following position. David accepted so that the team secured a victory.

Second team

ChessPlus meets ChessPick: Second-team handshaking as we prepare to take on the very strong Oxford team

The second team opened against Oxford ChessPick 1. We had an almost completely new team and were outrated, so we did not place many expectations on the mainly young players. We lost by the painfully narrow margin 4½ – 3½.

It could have been different if young Zach Norris (Black, ECF 2363) had not calculated the rook endgame so accurately against our John Hawksworth. Credit to Zach for finding the winning idea of Rf5 and Rd5 with only two minutes left on his clock after four and a half hours’ play. Another rook endgame of fine margins.

On Sunday, the second team faced Poole Patzers and, like the first team, made amends for the disappointment on Saturday and beat them 6-2. Tom Farrand and Sebastian Mokhber-Garcia both scored 2/2 during the weekend, joining Qixiang Han among the 100 percenters.

Third team

Meanwhile, in Bedford the third team enjoyed a tremendous Saturday, bagelling (as tennis- watchers like to say) Ashfield 3 by 6-0. The result was not entirely unexpected as we had an average rating advantage of 230 points a board, but the victory was very professionally delivered.

Sunday was a lot tougher – inevitable of course in a Swiss (DIvision 4 is a 36-team Swiss, whereas the other divisions are all-play-alls with team match-ups predetermined). We had a narrow rating advantage over Fianchetto Fellowship, but credit to them for beating us 4-2 on the day. Congratulations to Philip Stimpson on his 2/2 across the weekend. Perhaps we need to institute a player-of-the-weekend prize.

Fourth team

The fourth team were involved in a triangular match against two other clubs (Watford and the English Deaf), with three boards played against each on Saturday and Sunday, so nobody had much idea what was actually happening in terms of overall score. When the fog lifted it transpired that both matches had been drawn 3-3, which was deemed a satisfactory beginning.

Captain Julie Denning had a distinguished weekend, scoring 2/2 – the first time she has recorded 100 per cent across a weekend. When you consider she was making her debut as captain at 4NCL, this was a considerable achievement. Having two teams at each venue was also considered a success, despite the logistical complications, as the two halves of the squad now feel properly balanced. We really are all in this together.

There is now a three-month gap until the next round of matches on 23/24 January 2027, when the first and second teams will be in Bedford and the third and fourth teams in Peterborough. We have plenty of time to reflect on what went right and what went wrong, and to prepare for the challenges of the New Year. With a group of committed captains and a squad numbering 50, we believe we are ready for whatever lies ahead.

John Foley is honorary president of Kingston Chess Club and captains CSC ChessPlus Kingston in 4NCL Division 1.