Surbiton D v Kingston D , Thames Valley League division X match played at Fircroft, Surbiton on 28 October 2026

This was Rob Taylor’s first match as captain of a Kingston team – thanks to Rob for stepping up as we have added a team in the Thames Valley League this season – and it ended in an honourable draw at our neighbouring club’s friendly venue.

Junior Makul Kansal won quickly on his Kingston debut against veteran Kim Cross – many congratulations to the super-enthusiastic Mukul – but Harry Roberts lost to Surbiton’s tactically astute junior Dominic Tang and Miles O’Brien succumbed to the wily Paul McCauley on board 1, leaving us 2-1 down.

It was thus left to Aytek Koyun (pictured above, left) to save the match for Kingston with Black on board 2 and he did not disappoint, securing a passed pawn and holding on to it in a tricky endgame against Nikolai Mantaev. Well done to Aytek, recent winner of the Felce Cup, and to the team on grabbing a deserved draw in this local derby.

Stephen Moss is captain of Kingston Chess Club