Played in round 6 of the third division in the 4NCL at Warwick on 11 February 2024
Foreground: Roger de Coverly (left) and John Foley about to start (photo: Kate Cooke)
I was delighted to play against the man and the legend that is Roger de Coverly. Roger is the most prolific of the contributors to the English Chess Forum, a loosely moderated and often negative bulletin board which nonetheless serves to entertain and, very occasionally, inform those interested in the politics and happenings on the chess scene with no shortage of trivia and arcana. I dip into it infrequently as piranhas swim in those waters.
Roger is a model contributor who is generally well informed and polite even to his detractors, if indeed there are any. Roger has posted more than 21,000 comments and replies on the forum, usually supported by evidence and with a plausible argument. With an average of 3.68 posts per day, it is a wonder that Roger has any time left to play chess.
The game was played in the match between Wessex A and CSC/Kingston 2. The teams were evenly matched and we expected tough games. This game had several critical points. At one point I had a clear advantage and told myself not to relax – the bane of the Player with the Advantage. Alas, I failed to take my own advice and played a weak move which threw away my advantage. Roger then became the Player who Suddenly Gained the Advantage. He then fell into the trap of not adjusting his assessment, so that he played a defensive move when he could have taken full control of the game. This allowed the Player who Previously had the Advantage, Lost it and then Gained it Back to gratefully drive the game to a conclusion.
Our first team continued their impressive run in the second division of the 4NCL with two victories this weekend whilst our second team are feeling the heat
The Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) third weekend took place on 10/11 February 2024 over two locations. Our first team, CSC/Kingston 1, played at the Mercure in Telford, whereas the second and third teams played at the Delta Marriott Hotel in Warwick. Our top team won both their matches and now sit atop the second division. There are only two weekends to go and bookies have stopped taking bets on whether we will get promoted to the first division. Team manager Kate Cooke played down the prospect, wisely taking one weekend at a time, especially as we have yet to play our main competitors.
For those unfamiliar with 4NCL, it is for national chess teams conducted over four divisions. It is played to the highest international standards, with strict rules about mobile phones. Players are randomly scanned for electronic devices as they enter the playing hall. Players are not permitted to visit the bookstall nor their car, for which the penalty is a default. The time control is 40 moves in 100 minutes followed by 50 minutes for the rest of the game. For each move there is an increment of 30 seconds, which means that players must always write down their moves, even if there is less than 5 minutes left.
Saturday 10 February
The first team line-up was strengthened by the addition of IM Graeme Buckley on board 1. In Saturday’s key game against rivals The Sharks 2, Graeme had a convincing victory over IM Peter Roberson. The match was won 5.5-2.5.
CSC/Kingston 1 riding high in the second division
Although CSC/Kingston 1 are riding high, a print of which should be framed, it should be noted that we have yet to play the teams in second, third and fourth places. Hence, the rigorous training sessions for the team conducted at our secret base in Surrey will be even more intensive.
Meanwhile, on Saturday over at Warwick, another recent recruit to the team, 15-year-old Luca Buanne, was top board for CSC/Kingston 2. The opponents were the hardy Hull and East Riding team, strengthened by some Ukrainian players. Luca made short work of his opponent in a sharp Pirc. The match was drawn 3-3.
Our third team played She Plays to Win, a training team for girls run by IM Lorin d’Costa. Although the girls were heavily outrated, they fought hard and drew the match. Nick Grey rued that he had lost to a 13-year-old, a common lament from the older generation.
Sunday 11 February
Our first team continued their winning ways beating the dangerous Anglian Avengers in the sixth round. The match was in the balance until going home time when Tom Farrand obtained a draw to secure victory. Plaudits to two first-team players who led the way with two wins each for the weekend: Peter Lalić and Clive Frostick. David Maycock launched a powerful attack against the Classical Caro-Kann.
Over at Warwick, our second team were facing the Wessex A team. The teams were evenly matched and the match score was level until the last game in which Wessex’s Allan Pleasants beat Julian Way with a tactical flourish.
The second team at the start of the match. Left foreground: Roger de Coverly facing John Foley, Julian Way to John’s right
CSC/Kingston 2 are now struggling not to be relegated from Division 3. We have lost three matches by the smallest of margins 3.5-2.5. There are still five rounds to go conducted over a weekend in March and a long weekend in May. Unfortunately in March both the first team and the second team are playing in Telford and we have found it difficult to get our best teams together for the cross-country trip. We face the dissonant prospect of having one team in the first division and two teams in the fourth division next season.
Meanwhile, our third team battled The Full Ponty, which included in-form Tony Hughes on board 5, winner of the recent All Saints Blitz. We were outrated by an average of 200 elo points per player. However the team played out of their socks with wins for Petr Vachtfeidl on board 1, the newcomer Fabio Buanne (father of Luca) on board 6 and, at well past going home time, Nick Grey on board 4. Nick’s position did not look convincing, but he played the endgame well and pulled a victory out of the hat against a player he first faced in 1979. The drawn match means that CSC/Kingston 3 remains mid-table with little prospect of promotion unless we do exceptionally well in the next two weekends.
New recruit Fabio Buanne on the left scored 75% on his first 4NCL weekend
Grandmaster John Nunn has been made an honorary fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, the highest award that a college can make. It symbolises recognition of the enormous contributions John has made to chess as well as his academic achievements. John can place this honour alongside that of honorary life vice-president of Kingston Chess Club. The college interviewed John Nunn last October, and he explained that the difference between playing chess as a young man and now is that once it was about improving and learning whereas now it is managed decline.
John played for Kingston Chess Club as a junior, winning the club championship in 1969 and 1970. He went up to Oxford in 1970 to read mathematics at the age of 15, the youngest undergraduate since 1520. He became a grandmaster and was awarded his doctorate in the same year, 1978, when he was aged 23.
John kindly returned to play for Kingston in the 2018 Alexander Cup final. He won his game in a narrow defeat to Surbiton. The previous time John had played for us was in 1974, a golden period for the club when it won both the Surrey Trophy and the Alexander Cup. The gap of 44 years in games played for the club must be a record. Kingston finally captured the coveted cup again in 2022.
John Foley
John Nunn early 1970s
Chris Briscoe v John Nunn, Alexander Cup Final, 2018
A grandmaster class in defence. Chris Briscoe goes all out in a kingside attack, but John Nunn has it covered.
John Nunn v Matthew Sadler, Lloyds Bank, 1993
John Nunn at his peak at brushing aside the 19-year-old Matthew Sadler, who went on to be one of England’s strongest grandmasters.
We are delighted that Mir Sultan Khan has been officially recognised with the title of international grandmaster. He played at the highest levels from when he arrived in England in 1928 to 1933, becoming British champion in 1929, 1932 and 1933, and was top board for England in three Olympiads. He returned to his native Punjab in Pakistan in 1933, leaving the international chess scene.
Image: GM Sultan Khan (right) playing against his patron Sir Umar Hayat Khan
The international grandmaster title was launched in 1950 by Fide, which granted the title to the leading players in the world who were still alive at that date. There was never any question regarding whether Sultan Khan deserved the title. He was regarded as one of the strongest players in the world during his playing years. He defeated José Raúl Capablanca, world champion from 1921 to 1927 (see game below), at the Hastings tournament in 1930/31. Capablanca described Sultan Khan as a genius.
In a meteoric career, Sultan Khan also beat Rubinstein, Marshall, Yates, Menchik, Colle, Thomas, Alexander, Tartakower, Flohr, Johner, Grob and Bernstein. The issue in 1950 was a practical one – Fide officials were unable to contact him. He had stayed in England as part of the household of his sponsor, Sir Umar Hayat Khan, who had also then returned to his home country.
The Pakistan Chess Federation lobbied Fide during 2023 and finally, on 2 February 2024, Sultan Khan received retrospective conferment of his honorary international grandmaster title during a ceremony with the president and prime minister of Pakistan in Islamabad.
Sultan Khan had been a member of Kingston Chess Club and played for Surrey for a period towards the end of his stay in London. The club pledged its support to the president of the Pakistan Chess Federation, Hanif Qureshi, when he visited London as part of the London Chess Conference in 2023.
Blitz tournament played at All Saints Church, Kingston upon Thames, 31 January 2024
John Foley
All Saints is a historic church in Kingston, which was England’s capital in Saxon times. Nine Saxon kings of England were crowned here in the 10th century. In a development of its pastoral mission, the church seeks to reach older people through the provision of chess. The church accepted the club’s proposal of a regular chess tournament, along with volunteering for social chess. The church provides a welcome and warm space with a café in the centre of Kingston. The club believes that providing different types of playing spaces within Kingston enables a much wider range of people to enjoy the social benefits of chess.
There will be chess at All Saints every Wednesday from 10:15 to 12:30 A blitz tournament will take place on the last Wednesday of each month.
The club organised a small blitz tournament at the church to generate interest in chess from parishioners and visitors. The time control was 3 minutes plus 7 seconds per move over five rounds. It was a friendly event and not rated. We were joined by two players from Wimbledon Chess Club. Two other people from the church community joined us: Graham Williams, the husband of the curate, and Ian McDonald, the Lord Mayor of Kingston in 2009/10. In between rounds, the players restored their energy with coffee and croissants from the café. I was tournament controller and used Chess:Manager on my iPad for pairings.
Tony Hughes from Wimbledon was the bookies’ favourite, so to speak, having the highest rating of all the competitors. He was dubious of this expectation until it was pointed out that although some other players may have been stronger in league chess, when it comes to the faster form of the game, blitz chess, performance can be quite different. The ratings proved accurate and Tony duly won the event. Tony was in sparkling form and saw off all challengers to end with a perfect score of 5/5. He received a shiny silver cup which he gratefully announced he would be using as a prize for a future children’s competition.
Tony Hughes receiving the prize from event controller John Foley (photo: David Bickerstaff)
The main danger to Tony came from David Rowson. Tony saw off the challenge in the penultimate round, watched by a small but growing band of spectators. David ended in second place.
Round 4 crunch game Hughes v Rowson, watched by Stephen Carpenter, Stephen Moss and Byron EslavaChurch ‘listeners’ Janet and Hazel were captivated by the over-the-board struggle
Some photos from the event by John Foley.
Round 1: David Rowson v David ShalomRound 1: Gareth Williams v Stephen MossRound 2: Stephen Moss v David BickerstaffRound 4: Ian McDonald v David Bickerstaff
“Thanks to John and Stephen for organising a really enjoyable little tournament in a beautiful venue. Hope it can be repeated. Congratulations to Tony Hughes.”
David Rowson
“Thanks. Really nice morning even for our poor blitzers. Nearly beat Tony Hughes with Black. Beat Stephen Carpenter with c3 Sicilian dream position which I will analyse. Moss-Rowson was a treat, and David Shalom played well and gave me a thrashing. The church players that stepped up did very well.”
Coulsdon 1 v Kingston 1, Surrey League division 1, Coulsdon, 15 January 2024
The match was a curtain-raiser to the forthcoming semi-final in the Alexander Cup. Coulsdon brought along four juniors, with the talented Supratit Banerjee moving up to board 1 where he faced Kingston’s regular top board David Maycock. Supratit had done well at Hastings, where he drew with Kingston’s new signing Ameet Ghasi in the first round (see their game in the footnote). Ameet, who came a commendable third at Hastings, was full of praise for the youngster.
In the pre-match preparation, we identified the endgame as Supratit’s relative weak point. In a league match earlier in the year, John Foley had beaten Supratit from a level position in the endgame. David Maycock followed the plan and reached a theoretically level endgame position, which he then proceeded to win. This required some careful play, but when you know what you are doing chess can feel easy.
The first-round game at Hastings 23/24: Banerjee v Ghasi
When schools break up for Christmas, parents can be forgiven for wanting to find some activity for their children, especially if it has some educational value. A new type of activity is a Brain Camp. The idea is to spend a few days of intensive game activities where the games have a special characteristic. All the games are strategy games. There are no dice or cards – there is no element of luck. The outcomes are down to the skill of the players, which increases gradually through practice and some theory.
The four-day Kingston Brain Camp was organised by John Foley through his chess teaching company ChessPlus, and ran from 18-21 December. It followed the same format as the Summer Camp in July. The children, aged 7-9, played under close supervision at the premises of a local school, Holy Cross Prep. The children were encouraged to learn and play several games. The camp was held in a friendly atmosphere where the emphasis was on learning and having fun. As well as chess and games equipment, we used software resources from LogiqBoard, ChessKid and Lichess. Alongside John were the highly experienced tutors Brigitta Peszleg and Dr John Upham.
Each game has its special characteristics and requires different strategies. The children feel as if they are all on the same level as they all have to learn to play games some of which may be unknown to them. The games included chess, the classic game which has been around for 1,600 years and which will never go out of fashion. A conventional chess camp focuses on chess only and revolves around lectures and competitions. This is appropriate when training talented children who want to get into competitive chess. However, when dealing with regular children it is important to provide a more varied diet than chess.
Following years of research and practice, John has developed an approach to teaching games in which chess forms part of a continuum of games played on an 8×8 board. One of the drawbacks of focusing exclusively on chess is that children drop out too early. They are being introduced too rapidly to a game which takes a lot of effort to play well. Whilst children love competition, the joy of play can be lost if the stakes are too high. There is also a practical reason for playing other games: chess takes too long to play. Children do not like waiting for others to finish playing their games. We did not want to use game timers because these bring a different type of problem – children playing to the clock rather than focusing on the game strategy. If games are to be educational, children should not be under time pressure.
The games played included:
Loser’s Chess – the first player to lose all their pieces wins the game
Draughts – move diagonally on black squares, win by jump-capturing all your opponent’s pieces.
Halma – pieces jump over each other to reach the opposite corner of the board
Reversi – counters are reversed if they are caught between the opponent’s counters
Slimetrail – both players move the same piece and try to reach their corner, never visiting the same square twice
In addition to the games, there were several problem-solving challenges including:
8 Safe Officers problem
8 Queens problem
Knights Tour
Army power minimisation problem
The children were fully engaged throughout and we never heard them say they were bored. The feedback from the children and parents has been very encouraging and we are planning to run another camp at Easter.
Kingston 2 v South Norwood 1, Surrey League division 2, Willoughby Arms, Kingston, 4 December 2023
This was the final game to finish in Kingston second team’s 6-1 victory over South Norwood 1 – a result which encourages us to believe we can survive in this testing division (we were close to being relegated last year). John Foley came into this game off the back of two uncharacteristic defeats, and winning this thrilling encounter was a great restorative. Paul Dupré plays his part with some bravura attacking chess. A memorable meeting between two stalwarts of the game, and with a nice gloss on a game played in Surrey more than a century ago.
Creassey Tattersall v Henry Stephens Barlow (Surrey Championship, 1904) was played in Thornton Heath, south London. The game moves are incomplete but we have the attacking opening. With such a wonderful name, I had to check him out. Creassey went on to become an expert on Persian rugs. Barlow worked at the Admiralty. In 1900, Tattersall defeated Frederick Soddy in the Varsity Match. Soddy went on the win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1921 for his work on radioactive isotopes.
Chess and games camp for 7 to 11-year-olds from 18-21 December at Holy Cross Prep School, Kingston upon Thames KT2 7NU
John Foley
Following the successful summer chess camp which the children enjoyed, parents asked if I could run a camp to coincide with the Christmas holidays. Happy to oblige, the camp will run at a local Kingston School.
Update: the Camp will be running a week later than originally advertised because many schools would not yet have broken up if we had adhered to the original date.
The camp is for any child who enjoys playing board games. Prior knowledge of chess is not required. The event comprises lectures and demonstrations on various games such as draughts, halma and chess. We have a compendium of 36 instructional games. The children practise the games against other children and the instructors. There are some fun puzzles and maths-related activities.
The children who attend will obtain more confidence in playing games and will have spent an enjoyable few days in a friendly environment.
This is not a chess training event. It is an event to delight and inspire children who enjoy games and like having their brain stretched.
Middlesex v Surrey under 2050 county match (board 1) played at All Saints Church, Child’s Hill, London NW2 on 14 October 2023
This was the opening county match of the season. The four home counties (Middlesex, Essex, Kent, Surrey) scrap it out to see who progresses to the national finals later in the season where they invariably play strong teams from Lancashire and Yorkshire in a remote Midlands location. The home team usually has a strong advantage in getting all their 16 players out. With our weaker team, the pressure was on me to perform.
All Saints Church, Child’s Hill, London NW2
Previously, we had played in the adjacent community hall of All Saints church. This time we played in the nave of the church itself. The setting was lovely except there was only one toilet in the vestry for 64 players (the under 1650 team was also playing), which was literally inconvenient. This gave me every incentive to finish my game early.
