Maidenhead A v Kingston B, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at St Luke’s Community Hall, Maidenhead on 26 October 2026
Kingston B have had a challenging start to their Thames Valley Division 1 campaign. Their first two matches took place at home, but against the might of Kingston A, and their third match required the team to make the arduous journey to Maidenhead. All those intrepid enough to set off into the wilds of Berkshire deserve plaudits, no matter the result. Three members drove there, one explored public transport links, and two of us just sat back and enjoyed the ride, grateful to the drivers.
Although Maidenhead lacked GM Matthew Wadsworth, they still fielded a strong team. The first result was a win for the home side on board 6, where Jon Eckert had looked to be level for most of the game. Following that, Kingston got on the scoreboard through Peter Hasson’s solidly played draw against FM Andrew Smith. This was the position after White’s 29th move, following a series of exchanges:
Here Andrew Smith (White) was apparently worried about Black’s potential plan of pushing the a-pawn, especially given that Andrew had less time, so he offered the draw. After the forced continuation 29…Rxb2 30. Rxc4 Rxa2 31. Rc7 Kf8 32. Kg2 Peter says that “White is probably for choice in this endgame, but Black has at least two defensive plans that keep the game equal. The first plan, which was my intention in the game, was to push the a-pawn as fast as possible to create counterplay. The trick here is to swap the a-pawn for White’s f-pawn to free the black king and to counter-attack the h-pawn. The second plan is more complicated but involves placing the rook on the fifth rank to prevent the advance of the white king.” As it was, these lines were only tested in analysis, not in the game itself, but they do indeed lead to equality.
Both Peter Andrews’ and my own game demonstrated the well-known truth that positions with few pieces on the board can paradoxically be extra tricky. Peter, with Black on board 4, and Josh Sharma exchanged down to a rook and opposite-coloured bishop ending, reaching this position:
Meanwhile, in the board 3 game Bohdan Terler had played the Caro-Kann Defence against Jasper Tambini. The game was roughly level until the players entered time trouble, when Jasper made a sacrifice which, unfortunately for him, was not quite sound.
My own game, in which I had White on board 5, began with an Italian Opening, which Stephen James clearly intended not to allow to be a Giuoco Pianissimo. However, his early pawn advances against my king were, he agreed in retrospect, premature. In the position below I was hoping to take advantage of his lack of development and uncastled king.
Kingston B had already lost the match, as the score was now 4-1, but on board 1 Julian Ward (pictured above) gained us a consolatory win, and in doing so he and Liam Varnam played the most exciting game of the match. The opening was an unusual (to me, at least) variation of the English, in which White was able to double Black’s f-pawns. This was the position after White’s 24th move (Qh5):
Clearly several of these games could have had very different results if a move or two here or there had been more accurate. But that is the nature of chess. Overall, the result just about reflects the rating differences between the two teams. Kingston B still have plenty of matches to try to repeat their 2025/26 feat of surviving in the top Thames Valley League division.
David Rowson is former captain of Kingston A in the Thames Valley League
