Simultaneous game played to mark the centenary of Kingston Chess Club in 1975 Bill Waterton (subsequently club president) and Bill Booth (the then current president) were club stalwarts. They both managed to draw with the master Leonard Barden when he came to give a simultaneous display. The prize was a signed book. Bill Booth recalled the […]
Simultaneous game played to mark the centenary of Kingston Chess Club in 1975 The game was originally published on an older version of the Kingston website and was from there included in the BritBase collection of Leonard Barden’s games.
Like most chess clubs, Kingston from time to time invites leading players to give simultaneous displays. It is not known how much members had to contribute to play against the starriest simultaneous performer in the club’s history, but whatever it was, it must have been worth it for the experience, as the player in question was José Raúl Capablanca.
“Boris Spassky has had a curiously uneven chess career for a world title-holder,” said Leonard Barden in the foreword to Bernard Cafferty’s 1972 book Spassky’s 100 Best Games. “Teenage prodigy, junior world champion and the youngest ever qualifier for an interzonal at 18 (Fischer later lowered the record), Spassky was already the crown prince of international chess before he was 20. Then came years of disappointments, quarrels with his trainer and chess officials, and divorce before a second surge carried Boris to the summit in 1969.”
R. P. Michell should be an inspiration to amateur players with a full-time career. He made a mark in the chess world using solid play, eschewing theoretical or sharp lines. He held his own against the strongest players in the world. We learn that chess is a struggle: one should keep trying to improve the position and make things difficult for the opponent.
Co-organiser Stephen Moss introduces the tournament, and, below, John Saunders offers a blow-by-blow account of a fascinating and controversial event The Third Kingston Invitational was a Swiss for 45 players played at Tiffin Boys School in central Kingston from Monday 12 to Friday 16 August. Nine rounds, Fide-rated, 90min + 30sec time control, with Fide […]
Grandmaster John Nunn has been made an honorary fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, the highest award that a college can make. John played for Kingston Chess Club as a junior winning the club championship in 1969 and 1970. John kindly returned to play for Kingston in the 2018 Alexander Cup final.
Peter Large and Peter Lalić joint winners of the Surrey Challenge Cup Oct 2024 Barden Prize to top junior and joint winner Stanley Badasconyi 3rd Kingston Invitational Prize giving at Tiffin Previous winner IM Connor Murphy Maciej Czopor won on tie break Vladislav Larkin joint winner Roland Bezuidenhout joint winner Peter Large came 5th Vladislav […]
Chris Wright (Epsom) v Michael Healey (Kingston)Kingston v Epsom, Alexander Cup semi-final played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 5 February 2025 Marcus Osborne (South Norwood) v John Hawksworth (Kingston)South Norwood 1 v Kingston 2, Surrey League division 2 match played at West Thornton Community Centre on 16 January 2025 Ashley Stewart (Kingston) v Alan […]
Kingston and Thames Valley Chess Club An historic account by W. E. Waterton – published in the Malden Clarion in September 1965 Kingston’s Chess Club was established in 1875. Its 90th AGM. will be held in October. Records in club hands go back only as far as a meeting held on 14 October 1914. On […]