Maidenhead B v Kingston B, Thames Valley League division 2 match played at St Luke’s Community Hall, Maidenhead on 10 February 2025

“And we will get you back for the away trip to Maidenhead.” Words uttered by Stephen Moss at the 2024 end-of-season celebration as he presented me with a special signed copy of his book The Rookie as a farewell gift before I departed for pastures new in Oxfordshire. 

Fast forward eight months, and true to Stephen’s word here I was at Maidenhead’s St Luke’s Community Hall, making my return to action. Also granted the captain’s armband to marshal the team I had captained for the past two seasons in the Thames Valley league. It was great to be back.

On paper, it looked like quite an even match-up. However, Maidenhead’s captain Simon Foster had a decision to make when at 7.45pm his top board Steve James hadn’t arrived and wasn’t answering his calls. Simon boldly decided to sub himself in, only for Steve to walk in the room at 7.46pm, with two moves already on the board. Simon, though, managed to back up his brave decision by defeating the estimable Peter Andrews.

Peter had exchanged his queen for two rooks in what was a complicated middlegame, but unfortunately missed a crucial move that would have resulted in pinning his opponent’s queen. “I saw it the moment I had a made my move,” Peter said later, “and then made several more bad moves while the balance of my mind was disturbed and as time ran out.” A case of not just missing the winning move but knowing you have missed it – the worst of all worlds. Simon appeared very relieved after the game after making a potentially hasty decision to sub himself in, and credit to him for getting the victory. 

On board 2, the ever dependable Alan Scrimgour (pictured above) was facing Charles Bullock in his penultimate game before flying out to Prague at the weekend to represent the Scottish team in the World Senior Team Chess Championship. Alan played an excellent game with Black, his two bishops synchronising menacingly from distance to home in on his opponent’s castled king. The key moment in the game occurred in the position below:

I had the pleasure of meeting Zubair and Homayoon Froogh (Zubair is Homayoon’s son) – promising new members who have made excellent starts to their Kingston careers. However, it wasn’t to be their night as they succumbed to the very experienced Tony Milnes and Nigel Smith respectively.

Zubair works as a doctor and dashed from his day job in London to Maidenhead for the match – a long drive is far from ideal preparation for a tough encounter like this. Playing with White on board 3, he felt he made a mess of the opening but outplayed his opponent in the middlegame to equalise. He then had an opportunity to liquidate to a draw but decided to push for victory, which in hindsight was perhaps over-zealous as he got trapped in a neat mating net on the edge of the board. On board 4, Homayoon found himself a couple of early pawns down and couldn’t regain them. The extra pawns proved the difference in a tense rook and pawn endgame, with both players playing on the increment. 

I had the white pieces on board 5 against William Castaneda and managed what I thought at the time was quite a smooth victory in the Scotch Gambit. I felt my opponent played too passively in the opening, from which he emerged with a very cramped position. I provoked a pawn break that allowed me to pick up a pawn, and from there I exchanged off pieces, winning another pawn. My opponent resigned as I was about to promote. However, the computer shows my opponent missed a chance to equalise when I sloppily misplayed the move order in an exchange sequence, demonstrating the importance of thorough calculation, something that my rusty chess brain wasn’t up to computing.

On board 6, Adam Nakar got a tremendous victory against the higher-rated John Snead. Adam had felt a big win was just around the corner, and looked delighted (and relieved!) with his result after he had forced home his pawn advantage in the endgame. So the match ended in a 3-3 draw. It is always a good point on the road to Maidenhead, and it was a pleasure to return to the fold alongside some familiar faces. I’ll maybe see you next year in Maidenhead.

Gregor Smith

Kingston B v Surbiton B, Thames Valley League division 2 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston, on 29 April 2024

After a fine season in Thames Valley division 2, we found ourselves in with a chance of promotion going into the final game of the season against neighbours Surbiton B, who also faced exactly the same prospect. We spent most of our preparation for the match undecided if getting promoted would be a wise idea or not for the club. On the one hand, you always want to win and play at the top level, but on the other hand a second Kingston team in the top division could present logistical nightmares, not to mention produce some severe rating disparities and mismatches.

Unclear on what the best outcome would be, it would be down to fate to decide. We fielded our usual line-up of second-team regulars, with expert-level players Julian Way, Peter Andrews and Alan Scrimgour as the top three, and Stephen Moss, me and Nick Grey making up the middle order/tail (delete according to how generous you are feeling). Between the six of us, we have played 50 Thames Valley League games this season – stability and consistency, the core of a successful team. 

Surbiton brought a strong and balanced team to the Willoughby, with only 127 rating points separating their top and bottom boards (compared with our 357). There was no doubt that promotion was uppermost in their minds, especially given that their first team were set to be relegated from the top division. All was set for an intriguing match.

Alan Scrimgour, with Black, faced Paul Dupré on board 3, and was happy to settle for an early draw against a dangerous opponent. Stephen Moss then succumbed to the in-form Sean Butler on board 4 after his Smith-Morra Gambit self-destructed. Having vowed never to play the Scandinavian last week, Stephen has now said he is jettisoning the Smith-Morra as well. Quite what he will play next season is anyone’s guess – Scrabble perhaps. Nick Grey, playing Andrew Boughen for the second time in a week, made a mistake in the opening and went down on board 6, leaving Kingston with an uphill struggle for promotion. 

But all was by no means yet lost. Julian Way secured an excellent victory on board 1 against rising Surbiton star Joshua Pirgon – another great result for Julian with Black. Things were getting spicy, and on board 2 Peter Andrews faced Surbiton captain Nick Faulks. Nick deviated from earlier battles in the English, which Peter had won. He induced Peter to give up the bishop pair in return for doubled isolated pawns, leading to a tense middlegame in which Peter had a slight edge. But his time shortage, uncastled king and Nick’s centralisation gave home supporters cause for concern.

Eventually Peter blundered, but Nick eschewed what should have been a winning move to get the draw by perpetual check which meant Surbiton could not lose the match and ensured they would have a team playing in the top division of the Thames Valley League next season. “Phew!” Nick was heard to mutter afterwards. Job done – and an important job too for his club. That made the score 3-2 and Surbiton had what they needed.

Finally, I managed to swindle a victory against young Joseph Morrison. Joseph outplayed me in the opening, but had used up a lot of time in doing so. I had nothing to lose and at the time knew a win was our only hope of promotion, so fired an all-out attack on the kingside which was tricky to defend against while playing on the increment. Practically it was easy for me to make moves, and hard for my opponent to defend, and I eventually managed to break through and win, settling the result at 3-3. 

Congratulations to Surbiton for topping the division ahead of Richmond and Twickenham B, who are also promoted and will, instead of us, have the logistical and rating dilemmas of having two teams in division 1 next season. We were at the same time disappointed and relieved by the result – a complicated emotion.

Season review

I think solid is the way to sum up the season. We only lost two matches, had a healthy game difference, no thrills, no real spills! My Player of the Season goes to Julian Way. Julian has led the line brilliantly, recording five wins, two draws and just a single loss –  an impressive +4 score. His wins have always been an impressive combination of positional understanding, neat tactics and accurate endgame play. 

Thanks to everyone who played this season. We had a solid core of solid players who were extremely dependable, and happy to travel, throughout the season, making team selection simple.

Moving on

On a personal note, in my second season of captaincy, I was very pleased to vastly improve on my own performance last season and finish unbeaten, with six draws and four wins in the division. However, it will sadly be my last season with Kingston (for now!), as from June I’m heading for pastures new in Oxfordshire to start a family.

I joined Kingston Chess Club in 2021, like many having turned to online chess during the pandemic. I was keen to resume playing the game that had been a large part of my early childhood. The Kingston club has had a central role in my life since. I’ve relished the competitiveness of league chess, but probably valued even more the relaxed casual games down in the bar on a Monday night.

The lectures that go over my head, simultaneous displays against elite players, the many blitz tournaments, garden chess in the rain and driving to Maidenhead will all go down as cherished memories, but it’s the people that will really be missed. Thanks to everyone for making the club a special place. I will be excited to watch Kingston Chess Club’s progress over the coming years and, you never know, I might be back. I will in any case have a similar length drive to Maidenhead from my new home in Oxfordshire, so anything is possible!

Gregor Smith, captain of Kingston B in Thames Valley division 2

Richmond B v Kingston B, Thames Valley division 2 match played at the Adelaide pub, Teddington on 13 February 2024

We arrived at the Adelaide pub in Teddington to be met by a very strong Richmond B side. Richmond’s A team are struggling in the top division of the Thames Valley League, and apparently their cunning plan is to put out strong teams in division 2 to compete for promotion in order to give them a safety net in case the unthinkable happens. This meant that their bottom board was higher rated than our third. 

With this probably playing on my mind, given the 200-point rating disparity I faced against my opponent Bertie Barlow on board 3, I offered a draw after 25 moves when I felt Bertie had equalised as Black in the Scandinavian Defence and had thwarted my main plan to attack down the queenside. He accepted.

Alan Scrimgour drew shortly after on board 2 against John Burke. He felt he had equalised, but could see a flurry of exchanges that he felt left him without much of a plan to make progress and offered a draw which was duly accepted. 

Jameel Jameel, a newcomer to the club this season, produced the fireworks of the night, wrapping up an impressive 19-move victory on board 6. He played the Accelerated Dragon, and, with his opponent castling queenside, Jameel went for the kill after the c3 pawn was ominously pushed. With White cramped in the corner, Jameel was able to sac his queen on a2 and mate on the flank with his lifted rook, with all flight squares covered by his bishop and his opponent’s pieces. A lovely sequence and a great victory for Jameel, who is coming on leaps and bounds. This is Jameel’s first published game.

Nick Grey looked to be doomed as Sampson Low got the better of the opening, stopping Nick from castling and winning a pawn. But these dynamic positions are the ones Nick likes and he managed to get some tricky counterplay that, if played incorrectly, could have been disastrous for Sampson. Sampson negotiated the situation well, but Nick had regained equality and a draw was agreed, with neither side fancying the unclear endgame. 

David Shalom played accurately against Alastair Armstrong on board 5, building up a nice edge after he managed to blunt his opponent’s early g5, which led to a big hole in his kingside. However, David felt he didn’t manage the position well, and the game flipped suddenly, with the Richmond player capitalising on some unsound tactics. This levelled the match at 2.5-2.5.

The last game to finish was on top board between John Foley and Maxim Dunn. John was pressing down the kingside with a chain of pawns dominating the white squares and doubled rooks on the h-file. However, Maxim defended the position well, managing to mitigate John’s attack and, as John fell into time trouble, picking up a pawn on the queenside. Running out of good moves, John flagged, Maxim was victorious and Richmond had prevailed.

Gregor Smith, Kingston captain in Thames Valley division 2