Maidenhead C v Kingston C, Thames Valley division 3 match played at St Luke’s Community Hall, Maidenhead on 9 November 2026

Sometimes, just getting a team to Maidenhead from Kingston feels like an achievement, but this was one of those days when we didn’t just get there (thanks to drivers Adam Nakar and Ethan Fox) but managed to win the match 3.5-2.5 as well. It was Kingston C’s first match of the season and a testing start for captain Jon Eckert, but he – and we – passed the test with flying colours.

The Fox brothers on boards 5 and 6 both finished fairly early – we were playing at a shortened time control of 65 minutes and 10-second increment. Ethan, having been in control throughout, was victorious; Eoin made a slip and paid the price. 1-1 and all to play for.

Adam, as well as being an ace driver, is also a nifty chess player whose excellent run of recent form has taken him back above an ECF rating of 1700. Here he was up against a capable junior and the game was level for a long while, but eventually Adam’s pressure told and his opponent blundered. 2-1 to Kingston.

I played an attacking game with White on board 3 and always had my nose in front. The crunch came in the position below where, for once, I found a good move:

That made it 3-1 to Kingston. We couldn’t lose the match, but could we win it? Captain Jon Eckert (pictured top left) made sure we could, securing a draw on board 1 against a higher-rated opponent which took us over the line at 3.5-1.5. That left Seth Warren struggling to hold with Black on board 2 against Stephen Briggs. Seth had been on top early in the game, but then missed a tactic which allowed White back into it. Seth’s position deteriorated further, and the players reached the ending shown in the diagram below.

At first glance, queen and pawn v rook looks like no contest, but this is actually a very instructive drawn endgame. The black rook should stay on the a-file and check the white king ad infinitum. If the white king loses patience and captures the rook, it is stalemate – the desperado rook is a surprisingly common theme in endgames. Unfortunately Seth, with time short, wandered off the a-file, allowed the white queen to move and lost, making the final score 3.5-2.5 to Kingston and the drive home a little more angsty than it would otherwise have been.

Stephen Moss is captain of Kingston Chess Club