Richmond A v Kingston B, Thames Valley League division 2 match played at the Adelaide pub Teddington on 17 March 2025

Like Kingston B’s previous fixture, a narrow win against Surbiton A, this match at Richmond was a relegation clash. The two teams were quite similar in terms of average ratings, but Richmond were strong on the top two boards. In view of my recent poor form, Alan Scrimgour kindly agreed to take board 1 against Mike Healey.

I was also grateful to John Foley for stepping in to play at short notice, and it was John who secured the first half-point for us. He commented on an amusing aspect of his encounter: “I played an uneventful Caro-Kann, with an early draw. I thought at first it was Chris Baker IM. I was confused because I played CBIM previously and this person looked different.”

The evening’s other draw was that on board 5. Raghu Kamath played the Dutch Defence and had pressure on the half-open f-file, but Homayoon Froogh defended stoutly. In the following position, Black could have opened a second front on the queenside and centre by playing his pawns to b6 and c5.

The board 1 game between Alan Scrimgour, with White, and Mike Healey began as a Sicilian Defence, c3 variation (1. e4 c5 3. c3). It was level until this position was reached:

Kingston soon equalised the score thanks to Stephen Lovell’s win with White on board 3. Here his opponent, John Burke, has just played 17…N(f6)xNd5. Stephen (pictured above, left) had to decide how to recapture, and had three choices.

This left the match all square with two games outstanding – boards 2 and 6. Both these games seemed hard to call for one side or the other, but in the case of the board 2 game this was because the position might be described as on a knife edge, while on board 6 the game looked to be heading for a draw. One Interesting aspect of Gajowniczek v Jones on board 6 was that Martyn had played the Grunfeld Defence, which in my experience is rarely seen in club chess, though I don’t know why.

The action in my game was all on the queenside, as Casper Bates had a passed pawn on the b-file and I had one on the a-file. As we entered time trouble the question was whether either of us could win the opposition’s pawn or force a weakening in his position. Unfortunately, I played too quickly, without sufficient calculation, as is often my problem when in time trouble, and allowed Casper’s queen and knight to enter the heart of the position and give mate.

Disappointed, I looked at the match sheet and saw that someone had scored the board 6 game as a draw, which would have meant that we had also lost the match. However, it turned out that whoever had assumed a draw in that game had jumped the gun: the two players were still fighting it out, although the opposite-coloured bishop ending did appear dead drawn. Martyn, who thought I was either winning or drawing my game, had offered a draw, which Maks had rejected. Sadly for the Richmond player, moments later he lost on time, still in a theoretically drawn position. So Kingston B had very fortuitously drawn the match 3-3.

This result still leaves the relegation issue very much undecided. Richmond have 8 points, but only two matches left, and those are against Kingston A and Hammersmith A. Ealing and Kingston B both have 6 points, but we have an extra match in hand. At the bottom are Surbiton with 5 points, but they have played a match less than us. So it’s all to play for.

David Rowson is Kingston B captain in Thames Valley League division 1

Kingston B v Surbiton A, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 9 March 2026

It’s sometimes said that relegation battles are not for the purist;  I think the course of this match supports that view. The key point is not how you play, but whether you get the required result, and in the end this was what Kingston B achieved against Surbiton A. Two short draws, one longer one, a game that saw an unlikely turn-around, a game decided by a blunder, and my own game, about which the least said the better (though the reader will see below that I have said quite a lot).

The first game to finish was the board 5 encounter. It began as a c3 Sicilian Defence, but after the queens were exchanged the players decided there was little to be gained from playing on and agreed a draw. Following this, another draw, on board 2. As Peter Andrews pointed out, the drama here was only in what might have been. In the following position Black played 17…f6, but Peter noted that “Black was struggling for a plan here, and missed a nice pawn sacrifice pointed out by the machine: 17…. h5.” The analysis below shows what follows if White accepts the pawn sac.

This was also the result on board 3, but only after more than 40 moves. From a kind of Catalan Opening, numerous exchanges led to an ending in which Jasper Tambini (foreground, left, in photograph above), with Black, had a bishop against Neil Davies’s knight but ultimately could not make progress.

So three peaceful conclusions left the match all square, but the remaining games were much more contested. Martyn Jones, playing White, and David Cole dared to explore the complications and imbalances of the Winawer variation of the French Defence. As can happen in this opening, White’s queen hoovered up Black’s kingside pawns, but allowed Black to take his central pawns in return. The position here is unbalanced but roughly equal:

Martyn’s win put Kingston one game ahead, but the signs for the overall result were not promising as I was struggling to defend an inferior ending on board 1 and Stephen Lovell was the exchange and a pawn down on board 4.

Stephen had played the English Opening, but commented: “My opponent played a system I hadn’t encountered before, and I didn’t find the best way of meeting it.” This was the position after Nick Faulks had shored up his queenside by moving the a8 rook off the long diagonal and his pawn to b6 and taken a grip on the centre:

Due to the players’ shortage of time, the record of the moves ends in the position above, but this was the key result for Kingston B, as it ensured that we would win the match and made the result of my own game incidental.

As Black in another English Opening I had obtained what I thought were promising chances, but accepted exchanges which eventually resulted in a fairly level position:

My dissatisfaction with the way my game had gone was offset by the fact that we had won the match, an important step towards possible safety from relegation in Thames Valley division 1. I’ll take another few chaotic encounters like this if we can get the results we need.

David Rowson is Kingston B captain in Thames Valley League division 1

Ealing A v Kingston B, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at Actonians Sports Club, London W5 on 16 February 2026

On arrival at Ealing’s venue, we were pleasantly surprised to find that their team was not as strong as feared. Andrew Harley, their captain, was absent, and overall we actually slightly outrated them.

The early result on board 3, where Peter Andrews (pictured above) had White against Alejandro Lopez-Martinez, increased my hopes that we would get something from the match. From an English Opening, a close positional contest was looking likely when Peter’s opponent made a serious oversight.

The next result, a win for Martyn Jones on board 5, put us two up. Jack Sheard played the Lion variation of the Philidor Defence, but took a risk in opening up the centre early and was efficiently punished by Martyn. In the following position Black has just played 8…d5.

The board 2 game, in which Kingston’s Will Taylor had Black against Duncan Grassie, begun with an unusual opening – the Levitsky Attack). It is worth looking at the game from the beginning:

The board 4 game, with Kingston’s John Foley playing Black against Xavier Cowan, began with a deceptively quiet line of the Queen’s Gambit Declined, only to explode into tactics in the position below.

The most significant rating difference was on board 1, where I faced FM Rick McMichael. I have played him twice before, some years ago. This game was similar to the others in that I had White and chose the King’s Indian Attack against his French Defence. However, it was different in terms of the line played and, eventually, the result (I hadn’t previously lost to Rick).

Rick played imaginatively, assessing that having a backward pawn on e6 was not important in comparison to the attacking chances he obtained against my kingside. We reached this position after my 30th move:

On board 6 Seth Warren succeeded in equalising out of the opening, an Italian Game. His opponent’s attempts to attack on the kingside led to his pieces getting rather tangled up, and Seth managed to capitalise on this to win a pawn. Unfortunately, he made just one error in the ensuing ending and lost the exchange; a pity, after he had done well to reach a good position.

Thus the match ended 4-2 to Ealing. This was another disappointing result for Kingston B, given that for some time it appeared a close-fought match from which we could have anticipated at least a draw. We still have six matches left this season, so we just have to do our best to get points from them.

David Rowson is Kingston B captain in Thames Valley League division 1

Maidenhead A v Kingston B, Thames Valley division 1 match played at St Luke’s Community Hall, Maidenhead on 19 January 2026

Another Monday evening, another trip to Maidenhead. Last week it had been our A team making the journey, and now it was our B team, but for two of us, Peter Hasson and me, it was a return trip, as we played in both matches.

The Maidenhead team was very similar to the previous week apart from the absence of GM Matthew Wadsworth and the addition of John Wager. The average ratings of the two teams on the night were almost identical, and this was reflected in the play, but unfortunately for Kingston (spoiler alert) Maidenhead succeeded in winning games in which they were at best slightly better early on and drawing games in which they were slightly worse.

Having said that, on board 4 the result might have gone Maidenhead’s way if John Wager had found the winning line in the ending. In the middlegame the centre and kingside had become blocked, which meant that the question was whether White could exploit his advanced pawn chain on the queenside. He managed to get a pawn to a7, but John Foley blocked this with a knight, resulting in this position:

Shortly after this, Alan Scrimgour and Tony Milnes also agreed a draw. The game had started as a French Defence Winawer Variation, with complex play on both sides of the board. In the end the players were happy to share the point.

Prior to my own game I had noticed that Andrew Smith usually played the Centre Game, but, as he told me afterwards, he has very recently started to try out the Ruy Lopez. However, he admitted that he was unfamiliar with the line I played, and after 19 moves I had reached a comfortable position:

The board 3 game began with a classical Closed Ruy Lopez. Jasper Tambini, with White, established a knight on d6, but Stephen James had counterplay through his bishop on the a8-h1 diagonal and his rook on g6:

So the score was Maidenhead 2.5 Kingston 1.5 with two games to finish. The board 6 game between Maidenhead’s Charles Bullock, with White, and Kingston’s Homayoon Froogh opened with the Slav Defence. In the position below White is looking threatening on the kingside, but, as Homayoon noted afterwards, if he had played 25…Nc5 or Qc6 he would have been at least equal, as White’s next move would not have been possible.

Maidenhead now had a decisive two-game lead. In the remaining game, on top board, Peter Hasson (pictured above left), with White, had achieved an advantage, since Bohdan Terler’s h-pawn advance backfired, as can be seen in the diagram below (after Black’s 29th move):

Thus the match ended in a Maidenhead win by 4-2. We could dwell on the might-have-beens, but better to move on and do our best to obtain the points we need to stay in the division.

David Rowson, captain of Kingston B in Thames Valley division 1

Kingston B v Richmond A, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 5 January 2026

I’m not sure if Kingston have ever previously had two teams in the first division of the Thames Valley League. We may well have, but I haven’t been able to trace a record of it.  It’s clearly a challenge for a B team to retain their place in the division, so we are anxious to earn every point we can in order to avoid relegation. Last season just six points would have been sufficient to stay up, but we can’t be sure that will be enough this year.

Therefore our home fixture against Richmond A was another six-pointer, to use the football cliché. We actually outrated our opponents slightly on every board except the top one, so could hope for at least a draw, and the first results suggested that we might expect more.

The board 4 game finished surprisingly early.  Against Stephen Lovell’s English Opening, Maks Gajowniczek played ambitiously, but his pawn advances looked to be premature, as his pieces were not well placed and he had kingside weaknesses. In the position below Maks moved 12…d5.

Not long after this, Kingston went two points up with a win on board 6 by Martyn Jones over the always combative Bertie Barlow. This game opened as a French Defence Winawer Variation, in which Black gives up his g- and h-pawns in exchange for White’s d-and e-pawns, leaving an unbalanced position. Martyn allowed a queen exchange, as his outside passed pawns looked more dangerous than Black’s central pawns. This was the situation after White’s 31st move:

Shortly after this, Kingston’s drive for the full points also looked to be almost unstoppable as Homayoon Froogh won with Black to make it a whitewash on the bottom three boards. The opening was a Caro-Kann, with Sampson Low opting for the Advance Variation. Homayoon gained the two bishops and made good use of them, reaching this position:

So we were three-nil up with three games remaining in which to gain the winning half point. On board 3 Alastair Armstrong had chosen the c3 line against Peter Andrews’ Sicilian Defence, and Peter, in an unfamiliar position, had misplaced his king’s knight to c7, where it had very little scope for action. However, Alastair did not choose the best plan and Peter managed to reach a position which was almost level.

Alastair annotated his win on the Richmond club blog, and, in the spirit of inter-club cooperation, the link to his analysis is here. His victory over Peter made the score 3-1 to Kingston, so could we conjure up a half-point for a home win?

The board two game also proved to be a tough one for Kingston. Jasper Tambini, with White, made what seemed a good pawn sacrifice, but John Burke defended carefully and, as sometimes happens, Jasper felt it necessary to make further imaginative sacrifices in order to keep his attack alive. Ultimately, a piece down after a long battle, he had to accept that his opponent had managed to snuff out the attack.

That made the score 3-2 to Kingston with one game left to finish, which was, as luck would have it, my own with Black against the highly rated Mike Healey (our encounter is pictured at the top of the report). From a kind of hybrid Vienna/Italian Opening the game progressed into a queenless middlegame in which neither of us had much activity, or, to put it more accurately, I had almost zero activity and Mike had a little more than zero. As often seems to happen, the game was blown open just when we both had little time left.

My immediate resignation meant that the match was drawn 3-3. This was not a bad result against an A team, but a disappointment considering our impressive 3-0 start. Still, with eight matches left this season we can remain hopeful of survival.

David Rowson is Kingston B captain in Thames Valley League division 1

Kingston B v Maidenhead A, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 24 November 2025

The fixture schedule has given Kingston B a tough introduction to their first season with the big boys of the Thames Valley League first division. Having played Kingston A “home” and “away” in the first two matches, we next faced the league leaders, Maidenhead A. Admittedly, Maidenhead away do not seem to be the same daunting challenge as they are at home; they were missing some of their strongest players, most notably GM Matthew Wadsworth. Nevertheless, we expected a close match.

In fact, the only board on which we were outrated was the top one, as Bohdan Terler has a very impressive 2235 ECF grade. However, this was actually the first game to finish, with a convincing win for Peter Hasson (pictured above). After opening with the curiously named Slow Variation of the Sicilian Defence (2. Be2), White surprisingly allowed a knight fork which won the exchange. He didn’t get any real compensation for this and Peter efficiently pressed home his advantage.

On board 4 Alan Scrimgour, with White, and John Snead were contesting a c3 Sicilian Defence. Alan commented that “The game was mostly level, even slightly better for him early on,” but he felt that he later missed a couple of chances before the position resolved itself into one where it was hard for either player to make much progress.

This was definitely a night for the Sicilian Defence in all its varieties. Jasper Tambini chose to employ the Grand Prix Attack against Charles Bullock on board 2. He noted: “I think it’s interesting to show how the Grand Prix Attack, thought to be such an aggressive opening, can turn into positional play as well.” In the position below the game looks like a war of attrition, but it was at this point that Jasper gained a decisive advantage.

As the evening went on, all the games turned in Kingston’s favour. I had gained the bishop pair early on with Black against Nigel Smith on board 3 , but was only able to capitalise on this when the queens came off and, in a battle between passed pawns, my own, backed by the two bishops, proved the more dangerous.

Meanwhile, on board 6 Kingston newcomer Martyn Jones had achieved the sort of position a Vienna Gambit player dreams of:

So the score was 4.5-0.5 to Kingston B with only the board 5 game to finish. Here Homayoon Froogh, with Black against Nigel Dennis, had been the exchange down for some time, and his prospects looked bleak. Remarkably, as time trouble approached, he turned the tables, and his bishop and three pawns overcame his opponent’s rook and one pawn. This was the position in which White slipped up.

This was a fitting conclusion to a very dominant performance by Kingston B. The result gives us our first Thames Valley League division 1 points, and also, by taking points off Maidenhead, is helpful to the Kingston A team in their quest to win the league for the fourth successive year.

David Rowson is Kingston B captain in Thames Valley League division 1

Surbiton 1 v Kingston 2, Surrey League division 2 match played at Fircroft, Surbiton 19 November 2025

For this match I deputised as captain for Peter Andrews, who was busy moving house, though he did manage to come to the venue later to support his team. The thread of his WhatsApp commentary expressed well the twists and turns of the match, in which for a long time the final decisive result appeared improbable. Surbiton had a rating edge on five of the boards, and on the other two the ratings were close to parity.

The first game to finish was on board 3, where Alan Scrimgour (who had Black) and Joshua Pirgon agreed a draw, despite the fact that, as Alan Scrimgour said later, he was possibly slightly worse in the final position. After that the difficulties of my own game required all my concentration, so I wasn’t aware of the order of events.

I did, however, register that Stephen Moss was conducting a devastating kingside attack with Black against Graham Alcock on board 7. One thing that was original about this was that Stephen had opened with the Caro-Kann Defence and then castled queenside – commendably ambitious play. A key early moment came in this position.

In the board 1 game, Mark Josse began with the English Opening against Kingston’s Jasper Tambini (pictured above, right), and the two players castled on opposite sides. The presence of all four bishops on open diagonals made for a double-edged position.

The board 4 game between Stephen Lovell and Liam Bayly had also begun as an English Opening. White was able to put pressure on Black’s queenside pawns.

On board 5, Homayoon Froogh had Black against Neil Davies. It was an intense struggle, but after a long period of manoeuvring Homayoon got on top in a time scramble to record another good win. Meanwhile Jon Eckert, with White on board 6, was pressing Nick Faulks hard with a kingside attack. He showed principle in refusing to take a draw by perpetual check, but unfortunately a subsequent error resulted in him losing.

On board 2, having misplayed the middlegame and lost a pawn with White against David Scott, I tried to find tactical resources to avoid going straight into a lost endgame. In this position I was eventually successful.

So Kingston 2 defied the ratings to achieve a clear victory in a very well-contested match. We look forward to the return match against Surbiton 1 at home tomorrow.

David Rowson is Kingston second-team captain in the Thames Valley League and was acting captain in this Surrey League match

Kingston B v Kingston A, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 6 October 2025

On Monday 6 October Kingston B (nominally the home team) and Kingston A did battle again in Thames Valley League division 1. Clearly shaken by their relatively narrow 4.5-1.5 win in the first encounter, Kingston A felt impelled to draft in yet another titled player, Supratit Banerjee, to their team, which already contained two international masters and one Fide master. Plucky Kingston B were strengthened by the welcome additions of Peter Hasson and FM Julian Way.

For the second week running I found myself playing an international master, this time on board 5. Wishing to avoid being bested by John Hawksworth’s positional skills, I chose a double-edged line of the Old Indian. It turned out that both of us were improvising from move 6, and I managed to get a promising position. However, a few moves later John made a tactical offer of a draw, which I cravenly accepted, fearing that for the second week running I might throw away a good position against a very strong player.

Shortly afterwards the board 6 players also agreed to share the point. The opening had been a Ruy Lopez, Morphy Defence, and Alan Scrimgour probably had some advantage over Jasper Tambini in the final position, though there was still plenty of play. So Kingston B were all square with Kingston A after the first two results, but unfortunately for the Bs there would be no further early draws on the remaining boards.

The next game to finish was the battle of the FMs on board 2. Julian Way chose the Rossolimo Variation against David Maycock’s Sicilian Defence, and the game was level during a lengthy manoeuvring phase. This was the crucial position:

Kingston B were now a game down. On board 1 there was another close contest in a Sicilian. Eventually Supratit’s queenside pawn majority overcame Peter Hasson’s resistance, as Black could only prevent White promoting to a queen by giving up material.

This result meant that Kingston A were sure of another victory unless the remaining two games went the B team’s way. The board 4 game might be described as relatively uneventful, but IM Peter Large succeeded in making his pieces more active than John Foley’s, and when White made a slight mis-step with his rook Black forced the win of the a pawn, which eventually moved on to a7, leaving John with no choice but to give up a piece for it. Thus Kingston A, 4-1 ahead, were assured of victory.

The last game to finish, between two of the four Peters involved in the match, was closely fought and went down to a time scramble. Peter Andrews played yet another Sicilian Defence and Peter Lalić chose to counter it with an aggressive form of the Closed Variation, boldly advancing his kingside pawns. In this position he sacrificed a pawn to force Black to move his king:

Thus the match ended in an anticipated, but I think not entirely easy, victory for the extremely strong A team, by a margin of 5-1. The B team wish them success in their task of achieving a fourth straight Thames Valley League title. Our own goal is more modest, to see if we can avoid relegation back to the second division. At least we have now got our matches against the strongest squad in the league out of the way.

David Rowson is Kingston B captain in Thames Valley League division 1

Kingston A v Ealing A, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 12 May 2025

After contesting 11 matches crammed into just five months of play, we arrived at our final Thames Valley division 1 encounter on Monday 12 May. I say “we arrived”, but I was actually abroad for this last match and was grateful to Peter Large for taking on the captaincy duties.

Kingston effectively made a winning start before any of the players had sat down, as Ealing’s captain, Andrew Harley, considerately informed us in advance that their board 6 had had to drop out due to pressure of work.

The first game to finish was that on board 3, where Jonathan White had moved 1. f4, Bird’s Opening, against Vladimir Li. A complicated set of exchanges took place in the centre of the board, leading, eventually, to a level position. Despite the players still having four pieces and six pawns each, neither of them saw a reason to continue.

In Vladimir’s case this was probably partly due to his disappointment at not having taken some chances to gain an advantage earlier.  Vladimir has played little recently and he said afterwards, with typical self-criticism, “I think I am simply in bad form for a variety of reasons. The main one is being rusty.” To the average observer the chances not taken were far from obvious. In the position below White has just played 11. Qa4? attacking two pawns but potentially reducing the co-ordination of his pieces.

The board 4 game opened with Peter Lalić, with White, choosing the Austrian Attack against Tony Wells’s Modern Defence. His opponent advanced his kingside pawns but neglected his piece development. This was the position after White’s 13th move:

This game is a good example of the perils of underdevelopment. Tony Wells only brought out his king’s knight on the 34^th move, upon which Peter immediately chopped it off.

Board 5 saw Ealing’s Xavier Cowan, with White, opting for the Sämisch Variation against Ash Stewart’s King’s Indian Defence. After the queens were exchanged a position with asymmetrical pawn structures was reached, in which chances were roughly even, but Black had to keep an eye on White’s c4 and d5 pawn pair:

On board 2, against Alan Perkins’ Sicilian Defence Peter Large played a kind of Closed line with Bb5. His bishops were soon pointing menacingly at Black’s king’s position:

The remaining game saw the debut of Supratit Banerjee (pictured above) on board 1 for Kingston, an acknowledgement of the remarkable fact that at just 11 years of age he has reached an ECF rating of 2401. With Supratit Black, the opening was a classical French Defence (1.e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4). White won a pawn on the queenside, but Supratit played resourcefully to set his opponent problems. This was the position after White’s move 26:

Thus Kingston not only won the match 4.5-1.5, but also completed an historic 100%-winning Thames Valley division 1 season (see final table below). As captain, I want to thank all our players for making our progress so smooth and relatively undramatic. We have an incredibly strong squad, but results don’t always follow ratings, and what was impressive was the determination and consistency with which our top players won game after game.

Special mention must be made of Peter Lalić’s remarkable record of 10 wins and one draw from 11 games, and also the fact that both Peter Large and David Maycock had ECF rating performances of 2441 for their Thames Valley League seasons. John Hawksworth and Ash Stewart were great additions to the squad, and our very talented young players Supratit Banerjee and Luca Buanne made significant contributions. At different times different clubs looked capable of challenging us, but none of them managed to maintain such a level of consistency.

Thanks are also due to Peter Andrews and Peter Large for stepping in to captain in my absence, to Stephen Moss for all his support and advice, and to Greg Heath and Ed Mospan for unfailingly being available to set things up in the Willoughby.

That makes it three Thames Valley League titles in a row. Can we do it again next season?

David Rowson, Kingston A captain in Thames Valley League division 1

Wimbledon A v Kingston A, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at St Winefride’s Church Hall, Wimbledon on 17 April 2025

Our penultimate Thames Valley League division 1 match of the season found us away to Wimbledon, playing in the kindergarten surroundings of St Winefride’s Church Hall. On arrival I showed the Wimbledon captain, Ian Heppell, our team’s line-up, and he commented drily, “You didn’t need to bring such a strong team.” This was because Wimbledon were missing all their top players and the rating differences between the two teams made the contest look as if it would be a huge mismatch. Little did either Ian or I suspect how the evening would go.

The first game to finish was my own, a damp squib on my part. I had White and the positional advantage I thought I might have achieved from my Italian Game, intangible at best, was easily annulled by Stephen Carpenter, who was probably a little better in the position where we agreed a draw (White to play):

On board 2 Luca Buanne had White against Marcus Baker, and Luca’s Ruy Lopez was challenged by Marcus with the Marshall Attack, gambiting a pawn. In this standard position Luca opted for an unusual continuation:

Thus Kingston were a game down, with the position on board 6 also starting to look ominous for us. As Stephen Moss commented pessimistically on the club WhatsApp group, “The unfolding drama … Nightmare at the Nursery.” Fortunately, soon afterwards Peter Large struck back on top board.

Peter, with White against Neil Cannon, began with the Trompowsky Attack, but was critical afterwards of the way both players handled this tricky opening. This was the position after 11…0-0:

Kingstonian relief at levelling the match score was short-lived as Will Taylor lost soon afterwards on board 6 against Georgi Velikov. Will’s ambitious queenside play from the Black side of a Ruy Lopez had led to his losing a pawn, and then, in a difficult position, the exchange. In time trouble Will continued to fight, but his opponent played accurately and forced resignation when threatening unavoidable mate. So the score was 2.5-1.5 to Wimbledon with boards 2 and 4 still in play. It seemed that the Kingston players were slightly better in both games, but neither was completely clear. Were we about to lose our proud 100% TVL division 1 record?

The board 4 game between Wimbledon’s Gordon Rennie, with White, and Kingston’s John Hawksworth had opened with a Sicilian Defence, Taimanov Variation, leading to a position with contrasting pawn structures:

This result levelled the score at 2.5-2.5. As has often happened this season, Peter Lalić’s game, playing Black against Wimbledon newcomer Stephen McLoughlin, was the last to finish and the one which would decide the match. The game started as an Albin Counter-Gambit, but multiple exchanges led to a position in which Black’s queen and knight were superior to White’s queen and bishop, especially as the dark-squared bishop was handicapped by pawns on the same colour. Here White made a mistake which led to the loss of a pawn: 

Over the next 20 moves or so, with both players in time trouble (although quite possibly Peter doesn’t see playing on the increment as time trouble), Peter manoeuvred to get his pawns on to white squares, safe from the bishop. He was then helped by Stephen McLoughlin’s moving his queen away from his king’s defence, so that when this position was reached he had to go in for an unfavourable exchange of queens in order to save his f-pawn:

Kingston had thus won the match by the narrowest margin, 3.5-2.5, and great credit must go to the Wimbledon players for giving us such a scare. This was our closest match result so far this season, of which only one contest remains, against Ealing on 12 May. Can we finish with a 100% winning record?

David Rowson, Kingston A captain in Thames Valley League division 1