Wallington v Kingston, Lauder Trophy quarter-final match played at Wallington United Reformed Church on 5 November 2025

There was a scary moment before the start of this match when the Kingston players entered the playing room and found our very own Peter Lalić chilling with the Wallington players. Fortunately – for me at least – he was only there to watch the opening stages at his most local club. For Kingston second-team players to face him for  a fourth time in six weeks would have been tough. There would have been room for him within the rating limit of 10,500 for the Wallington team, which had no one over 1700.

Jon Eckert, Rob Taylor and Robin Kerremans on boards 4 to 6 all won fairly quickly. Jon soon went a piece up, and Rob’s classical play with Black squashed his opponent with a big centre which left no room for the white knights to get out of the way of the rest of the army. Robin Kerremans played the English, despite which his opponent had a slight edge for a while. But Black’s advantage was short-lived, and Robin quickly turned the tables to win the black queen in the course of a mating attack.

John Foley (pictured above) had sacrificed an exchange in the style of Tigran Petrosian in Monday’s league game against Ashtead 1, and now sacrificed another one, this time in the style of Paul Morphy in the famous Opera House game against the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard.

I had a much less clear-cut game with Black against Robert Davies on board 1. I had a slight edge almost throughout, but the engine reveals that the advantage was much less than I had thought until my opponent slipped up in the tactics.

Xavier Cowan, who made his Kingston debut only on Monday, was last to finish, with Black against Daniel Luck on board 3. Daniel must be one of the younger club officials in the Surrey League, and is already the Wallington fixture secretary and their match captain for the Lauder and two Surrey league teams, so he has taken on a lot and we wish him well. Xavier has not taken long to figure out that exchange sacrifices are the club trademark.

So the result was what tennis followers would call a bagel (6-0), not surprising given the rating difference, but we have already seen this season, for instance in the recent first-team match against Wimbledon, that in games with a high tactical element almost anyone can go wrong. The Lauder Trophy semi-final will be an away match against the winner of Chessington v Epsom, and must be played by the end of February.

Peter Andrews is Kingston captain in the Lauder Trophy

Kingston 2 v Ashtead 1, Surrey League division 2 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 3 November 2025

Ashtead are the “yo-yo team” in division 2 of the Surrey League, having been relegated from division 1 last season and promoted the season before. So on paper this was one of our toughest matches. Ashtead substantially outrated us on boards 1 to 3, thanks to Kingston’s own Peter Lalić making his third appearance of the season against the second-team squad (the other two in the Thames Valley League for our own first team). However, Ashtead were missing some of their middle-order batting, so we had the rating advantage on the lower boards.

First to finish was David Rowson on board 5. David has previously had several draws with White against Bertie Barlow, so he was pleased to outplay him with Black from a level position.

David’s win enabled me to agree a draw with White against Phil Brooks on board 2 in a position where there was still plenty of play but which was unclear and where we were both a little uncomfortable. And soon afterwards Jasper Tambini drew with Black on board 3 against Dan Rosen in a game that had more clearly run its course. He was never worse, and indeed had had a fleeting opportunity to be better – a solid effort.

Xavier Cowan was making his debut for Kingston, although he is a familiar opponent for several of us in the Thames Valley League, where he captains the Ealing second team. With Black against Platon Razis on board 7, Xavier had a strange-looking pawn structure more reminiscent of a rugby scrum than a free-flowing set of threequarters, but as so often it was piece activity which was decisive.

Alan Scrimgour agreed a draw with White against Chris Perks on board 6, standing better but short of time, which ensured that we could not lose the match. And John Foley (pictured above, left) brought home the bacon with a win with White against Tom Barton on board 4 which reminded us of former world champion Tigran Petrosian.

Meanwhile, on board 1 Julian Way with Black had fended off Peter Lalić’s initiative to reach an equal late middle game in which one slip under mutual time pressure cost the game.

Disappointing for Julian, but a good effort against a player who is currently in excellent form and moving through the 2300s in the ECF rating list.

So after two matches Kingston 2 are top of the division 2 table. We are unlikely to be able to turn out teams regularly as strong as we have for these early matches, but it is very encouraging that already the usual struggle against relegation seems unlikely to materialise. And longer-standing members will remember that it is only a few years since we were pleased when Kingston 1 seemed secure in Surrey division 2. 

Peter Andrews captains Kingston’s first and second teams in the Surrey League

Kingston 1 v Wimbledon 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 27 October 2025

David Rowson was kind enough to captain this match, as I was returning from Paris and could not guarantee reaching the venue before the start time. Happily Eurostar was on time, and I was able to attend. Indeed, with David Maycock struggling to arrive before the default time, I was nearly required to substitute on board 1. Had I done so, I would have outrated the Wimbledon board 1, an illustration of the huge disparity between the ratings of the two teams, an average of over 300 points a board. The story of the night was that Wimbledon, depleted by the absence of several players at a tournament in Guernsey, nearly overcame that difference.

The early skirmishes favoured Kingston. On board 1, David Maycock with White overcame his initial deficit on the clock to win decisive material on move 17, upon which Marcus Baker immediately resigned. Then Zain Patel, also with White on board 3, exploited Tony Hughes’ inaccurate implementation of a correct idea.

Then things went off track. Stephen Carpenter sacrificed a piece unsoundly against Jasper Tambini, who had Black, on board 6, but Jasper moved his king to the wrong square allowing the white queen a crucial check, depriving the defence of a critical tempo and leading to mate. Next, Peter Hasson, with Black on board 4, chose the wrong capture in complications against Gordon Rennie and lost a piece.

Meanwhile, John Foley was in increasing difficulty with White on board 7.  When the match line-ups were circulated, George Lin had warned on WhatsaApp that Djan Sennaroglu was a dangerous junior, having been one of William Lin’s main rivals for the recent British Under-10 championship – they had drawn their individual game. But by then John had switched off his phone, and perhaps underestimated an opponent ostensibly 300 rating points below him.  The youngster had an edge from early on, despite apparently not needing to spend much time at the board. He eventually reached a minor piece ending two pawns up and duly converted it. The match was decidedly not going according to plan.

On board 8, David Rowson with Black faced Omar Selim’s drawish Scotch, but David got on top after the queens were exchanged:

That made the score 3-3. Both board 2 (Neil Cannon v Peter Lalić, who had Black) and board 5 (Julian Way with White against John Polanyk) looked around equal, although unbalanced. Could at least one of our players make their higher ratings count? In the event, they both did. With both players running short of time, Neil Cannon made several slips which allowed Peter to win material, eventually a queen. So a draw from Julian would be sufficient. He is a highly experienced endgame player, and duly delivered, although we have no record of the last 20-plus moves.

So we had won after all, albeit with a sharp reminder that it may take only one mistake to lose a game, even if one is the higher-rated player. Wimbledon should be applauded for a gutsy effort despite being below strength, and clearly Djan is an extremely promising junior who will appear on higher boards in future seasons. Wimbledon captain Gordon Rennie claimed a “moral” victory, and we grant him that. Happily we take the actual victory, though it was a worrisome evening.

Peter Andrews captains Kingston’s first and second teams in the Surrey League

Guildford 2 v Kingston 2, Surrey League division 2 match played at the Guildford Institute on 20 October 2025

Two very solid-looking teams lined up for this one, with Guildford 2 having the rating advantage on the top four boards and Kingston 2 on boards 5 to 7. I lost the toss, a significant advantage for Guildford in a closely balanced match with an odd number of boards.

Most of the games were long battles, so the outcome was unclear until Guildford’s impressive crop of juniors had gone home. The relatively early finishes were draws. On board 5, David Rowson (with Black) and his opponent Malcolm Twigger-Ross both missed a tactic which would have won a pawn for White, but David was soon able to stabilise for a draw. On board 4, the game between John Foley, who had White, and Adrian Wallace lacked the mistakes that make for excitement, and soon reached a drawn rook and pawn ending.

On board 1, Peter Hasson and Clive Frostick have faced each other several times before, and were perhaps drained after their successful efforts for Kingston/CSC’s second team at the 4NCL over the weekend. Peter lost a pawn but got some major piece activity and the white advantage dwindled away in time trouble to a drawn rook ending. 

The first decisive result came on board 2, where Guildford’s Tim Foster made several aggressive decisions and I was conscious of needing to use the white pieces even though a draw would have been a useful result judging from the ratings. The outcome was a slugfest which did not lack the mistakes which make for excitement.

One up with three to play was looking good. Stephen Moss on board 7, with Black against Anton Barysenka, had struggled to find a plan in a game where he had the worst of the minor pieces, a bishop on b7 whose only role in life was to defend isolated pawns on d5 and a6. Understandably he fell short of time, and to add to the psychological pressure, his board was nearest to the café, where the post-mortems were sufficiently loud to impinge on the playing area. But after he relieved his feelings on the chess pathologists, and finding that losing a pawn resulted in the exchange of the bad bishop, he was able to simplify to a draw with a neat little tactic.

Soon after this, Alan Scrimgour on board 6, with White against Ian Deswarte, notched the decisive point by converting an advantage which had evolved from positional superiority out of the opening to material superiority in the endgame. There was just one moment when this progression could have come unstuck.

With Jasper Tambini on board 3 having come through a turbulent middle game with Black against Matthew Dishman to go into a much better endgame, a Whatsapp message informed our distant fans that we were going to win 5-2. That turned out to be an overstatement.

And after the excitement, Black has a much better endgame, a pawn up and with White having three isolated pawns to worry about. This, though, was not the end of the story and the resourceful Guildford player was not going to make it easy for Jasper.

Nevertheless a draw with Black against Matthew Dishman is a good result, and 4.5-2.5, with everyone contributing, an excellent win in a match we lost comfortably last season. Our morale survived even the frustration of the night closures on the A3 on the consequently prolonged return journey.

Peter Andrews captains Kingston’s first and second teams in the Surrey League

Kingston 1 v Coulsdon 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 13 October 2025

Coulsdon were severely handicapped in this match by a train stoppage in the Waterloo and Clapham Junction area. Their board 7 defaulted, and several other players lost time which might have proved valuable later, although we made a concession to the circumstances by agreeing to start 10 minutes late. On paper, they were significantly weaker than Kingston below board 1, and weaker than we would expect them to be at home. Nevertheless, halfway through the evening the match could easily have been close, but Kingston pulled away in the closing stages.

The first to finish was Zain Patel, making his very welcome debut for us in local league chess with White against Ishan Ramdewar, and this one was crushing from an early stage.

The Surrey League is privileged to have young entertainers of national status like David Maycock and Supratit Banerjee (pictured at the top of the report) turning out on Monday evenings, and they did not disappoint.

As an interesting psychological footnote, we are indebted to Supratit for the score of this game. The final moves were played more or less on the increment by both players, and David’s score ran out a few moves before the end. Supratit’s was neat and complete, despite the time shortage, the complexity of the game, and even though he had been close to lost for several moves. Some of us barely ever have a complete score of a game that goes the distance. Moral – the best players do not allow their emotions to override their ability to think.

The spectators had expected an early conclusion on board 8, where Jasper Tambini had opened up White’s kingside. But Stockfish actually gave Coulsdon’s Paul Jackson the advantage at this point, and Jasper needed a second round of tactics to win:

On board 3, Peter Large with White survived a moment of real danger against Mark Smith:

On board 6, with Black, Peter Hasson blocked the kingside against Martin Faulkner’s numerical superiority on that side, and was able to spare his queen for a raid which snaffled the a-pawn. It didn’t look like much, but after over 70 moves, it turned out to be enough to win the rook and pawn ending.

John Hawksworth was less fortunate with Black on board 4. He achieved a slight edge against Ian Calvert’s notorious 1. b3, and went into the rook and pawn ending a pawn up. But with both players down to around a minute, he missed a fleeting opportunity to penetrate with his king, and the endgame resolved into a textbook draw with R+P v R with the defending king in front of the pawn, so Black’s extra pawn could not be forced home.  As an aside, this is an ending which comes up often enough to be worth looking up in a book – anyone can draw it against an experienced IM if they know the right plan.

Peter Lalić on board 2, with Black against Evaldas Baltrunas, also reached what looked like a drawn ending, this time with a knight each. But I had experienced his skill with knights in the ending at first hand last week, so had not given up on the win. Peter’s endgame play has been compared to Capablanca’s.* That may be an overstatement, but he does find chances others do not see.

And so a long and well-contested match finished with a rather flattering 7-1 scoreline to Kingston, which may be useful if the battle for the league title is tight at the end of the season. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

* My batting has been compared to Don Bradman’s, ie “it’s not as good”, but I don’t think that was meant in Peter’s case.

Peter Andrews is chair of Kingston and captains the club’s first and second teams in the Surrey League

Guildford 1 v Kingston 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at the Guildford Institute, Guildford on 31 March 2025

This match had looked for some months likely to be critical in our effort to regain the league title. A draw or win for Kingston would seal the deal. A loss would mean that Guildford would have the chance to catch us on match points when they visited Coulsdon in Easter week, although they would have to win both matches by large margins to catch us on game points.

Home advantage has been a major factor in Surrey League division 1 this season. This is probably not the effect of the “Ninth man” crowd support or pressure on referees or VAR officials, but the more pragmatic fact that all the clubs find it more difficult to field their strongest team when travel time and difficulty is involved. So although this looked likely to be our toughest match of the season, it was encouraging that we could field a fully representative side, with five players over ECF 2200, and all four of the regulars [Maycock, Large, Lalić, Healey] whose high scoring had carried us this far.

Much would depend on the strength of the side Guildford had available. We were relieved to see no Goldings; FM Alex, at close to 2400, is a handful for anyone. But they were solid enough to outrate us on the bottom three boards, even with captain James Toon resting himself.

Unless the spectator has a compendious knowledge of opening theory (and after all, if my knowledge was that extensive I would probably have been playing myself), it is often difficult to assess the early stages. The most obvious difference was on the clocks, where for example David Maycock and Guildford’s Gwilym Price had rattled off 14 moves each in the same time which Peter Lalić and Mark Josse had used for four.

The only position clear to me was on board 6, where Will Taylor had arrived a few minutes late after a difficult journey. He soon fell into a trap in the Jobava London System (in which White plays d4 and Bf4 as in the mainline London, but also an early Nc3), the viciousness of which belied the appearance of its junior author, Adam Sefton. White’s Nb5 threatened Nc7+, winning the rook on a8, and Will realised to his horror that Rc8 was no defence because Nd6+ would still win the exchange because his e-pawn was pinned. The only way to defend both threats was Kd7, after which it was difficult to develop and of course illegal to castle. Will wriggled stoically, but it wasn’t much fun to play or watch from a Kingston perspective and Guildford were on the scoreboard.

The first Kingston win came from board 1, where David Maycock had White against Gwilym Price.

Soon afterwards, Luca Buanne on board 5 gave us the lead by defeating the strong Guildford junior Zac Welling, known to several of us through his appearances for the Surrey U2050 team. Suffice it to say that this should be Zac’s last season of rating-limited county chess and we wish him well as he moves on to higher things.

From the early middle game, Luca had had a grip on the position and an extra pawn, and from that stage I had counted on the game as our most likely win (partly because Luca has been such a reliable performer once he gets on top). Superficially this looked like a smooth conversion, but, as you’ll see, appearances can be deceptive.   

Peter Lalić, with White against Mark Josse on board 3, extended the lead in what was from the Kingston side the game which flowed most continuously to its logical conclusion.

Unfortunately around this time Jasper Tambini, with White, went down on board 7 against Luke Nelson. Fortunes fluctuated, and both sides landed blows, until Jasper lost a piece to a skewer down the a1-h8 diagonal when a rook got stuck in mid-board. That defeat meant we were just 3-2 up.

With around 2½ hours gone, I found the other games hard to assess. On board 4 Mike Healey, with Black against Clive Frostick, looked a little worse, but he sacrificed a pawn for some activity. Clive was very short of time and offered a draw, which Mike, who has had no draws this season, declined. Julian Way on board 8, with Black against Matthew Dishman, had been a little cramped out of the opening, but then won material. Who would score the decisive point? In fact the two games finished simultaneously. We turn first to board 4.

On board 8, Julian Way had an initial space disadvantage but turned things round with tactics.

So 5-2 in front we had won the match and the league, and with no single individual having definitively scored the decisive point all could celebrate equally. But there was still a game going on, board 2, Nigel Povah (White) v Peter Large, who both played for England senior teams in their highly successful visit to Prague recently, but were now in combat.

Kingston were thus champions of the Surrey League, having won six out of eight matches, with two drawn. In the league table, the margin of victory looks convincing, but all the away matches were a struggle. There was a narrow 4.5-3.5 win at Ashtead, two 4-4 draws, and some of the time scrambles at Guildford could easily have gone wrong. At home we proved we were the strongest side.

The backbone of the championship success was the very high percentages logged by our most regular players: Peter Lalić 7 out of 8, Peter Large 5.5/7, Mike Healey 6/6 and David Maycock 4.5/6, a result taking him in the ECF April rating list to 2400 for the first time – many congratulations. They enabled others coming in on the lower boards to play without too much pressure to score heavily. Several of these players achieved strong results: Julian Way 3.5/4, Luca Buanne 3 out of 4, and I was pleased with my own 2.5/3.

This is not, of course, the end of the Surrey season. There remain the Alexander Cup and Lauder Trophy finals, against Guildford and Coulsdon respectively, both of which will be played at Ashtead Chess Club on Tuesday 29 April. Then perhaps we can have a rest.

Peter Andrews, Kingston captain in Surrey League division 1

Kingston 1 v Ashtead 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 10 March 2025

Going into this match, Kingston knew that a win here and a draw at Guildford at the end of the month would win the Surrey Trophy. But a loss at Guildford, who have turned out some very strong sides at home, where they are unbeaten, would mean that they could catch us on match points. So it was important to achieve a big win against Ashtead, in case the season’s honours are decided on game points.

That incentivised us to field a stronger team than would normally be necessary against the bottom club, while it was clear when team sheets were exchanged that Ashtead had struggled to raise a team. There were rating differences of over 500 points on some of the boards, suggesting that a big win should be achievable. Nevertheless, several of the games went the distance, with the visitors showing their fighting spirit.  

First to finish was Mike Healey (pictured above right, sitting beside Peter Lalić). Mike had Black on board 4 against Ashtead captain Bertie Barlow, and the game crystallised with White objectively holding but in practice under some pressure.

Board 7, where Jasper Tambini had White against young (and probably significantly underrated) Tom Vinall, was less straightforward. Jasper tried a gambit against the Caro-Kann, and at one stage I relayed to the crowds in the bar anxiously waiting for news that it looked dodgy. A few minutes later I returned to the arena to find that Jasper had won!

Board 8 was more relaxing for the captain, although no doubt less exciting for other viewers. Julian Way, with Black against Peter Grabaskey, accumulated material and won risklessly.

John Hawksworth’s win with Black against Chris Perks on board 6 was similar: advantages accumulated, and then some classy play to force the decision.

On board 5 Ash Stewart, with White, had to decide what to do with a big advantage in space against Daniel Richmond.

So we had a clean sweep of boards 4 to 8. But boards 1 to 3 were still in progress with time running short.  On board 3, playing Black against Tom Barton, David Maycock was in the uncharacteristic role of sacrifice acceptor.

Then came our first frustration. On board 1 Peter Large, with White, and Phil Brooks played an accurate – 98% on each side, according to Stockfish – but uneventful game in which the evaluation never reached 0.5 in either direction.  We give the concluding position.

A draw was agreed here. It is not clear why now rather than on move 39, when the last chance for a pawn break or king penetration disappeared. Perhaps it was influenced by the decision to limit the new Kingston Chess Club scoresheets to 50 moves; neither side wanted to consume a second sheet unnecessarily.

On board 3 Peter Lalić, with White, had a winning kingside attack for a long time, but his opponent was difficult to nail down.

The game continued, with Peter steadily developing his advantage. He was, though, very short of time by now, so built time with a little shuffling in order to visualise the winning idea.

Thus the match finished 7.5-0.5. A 4-4 draw at Guildford would seal the Surrey title for us, and a narrow defeat would set them a very demanding target when they play at Coulsdon before Easter. Not that we can afford to go to Guildford envisaging a narrow defeat. We go there hoping to overturn their proud home record this season.

Peter Andrews, Kingston captain in Surrey League division 1

Epsom 1 v Kingston 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at Epsom Christian Fellowship Hall on 17 February 2025

Photograph above by John Foley: front David Maycock (left) v Graeme Buckley; second game is Peter Lalić v Susan Lalić

Home advantage has been a notable factor in Surrey League division 1 this season, so a visit to defending champions Epsom promised a tough match. We were missing our two IMs, Peter Large representing England at an international seniors event and John Hawksworth ill, but were still formidably strong, with the captain able to play a watching brief after driving half the team down. Epsom were missing a likely future IM in Zain Patel, at another overseas tournament (if the Solent counts as overseas).

The absence of Peter Large resulted in an intriguing mother v son clash between the Lalićs on board 2. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this ended in a quick draw. The players played some friendly moves afterwards in which mother established an advantage over son, and before I noticed that the clocks had stopped and the result sheet filled in, I was concerned, but I was soon able to move on.  

Peter Hasson could make little headway on board 5 against the solid Chris Wright, with exchanges down to a bishop ending in which neither side could penetrate the other’s position. On board 6 Jasper Tambini quickly established a winning advantage against Epsom president Marcus Gosling, a pawn up and having wrecked the white kingside, albeit with some damage to his structure. Marcus then sensibly decided to sacrifice a piece for two pawns to take the initiative and pose concrete threats. The sacrifice was not sound for a machine, but for a human chess player it wasn’t easy to find an accurate defence, and the game quickly went downhill for Jasper.

David Rowson v James Pooler on board 7 was also looking good for some time, but also went downhill after an opportunity had been missed. David’s effort to break through with a pawn advance left holes around his king, which his opponent belied his relatively modest rating to exploit. 

Thankfully Mike Healey almost immediately hit back on board 3 against Robin Haldane. The queens were exchanged early on, and Mike backed his bishop against Robin’s knight, together with a lead in development and central pawn mass. His judgement was right, and the queenless middle game was a smooth squash with no big tactics. According to Stockfish, White was 95% accurate.

So with three games left in play, Kingston were 3-2 down. We had been slightly better in all three for much of the game, but by the closing stages all looked objectively drawn, and with all six players short of time, anything could happen. 

Board 4 was a clash between the oldest player in the match, the former British champion Peter Lee, and the youngest, Luca Buanne. Luca exploited a classic Sicilian pin down the c-file to win a pawn. 

On board 8, John Foley dodged a bullet when his opponent declined to make a very promising piece sacrifice.

So scores were level and the match would be decided by board 1, Maycock v Buckley, who were predictably in a time scramble – David had been playing on the increment for some time. Although he had an advantage out of the opening, he missed several chances to cash in. The one he regretted most, although it required great visualisation in several lines, occurred at move 20.

This was a fantastically complicated game for which we owe the players thanks. The match finished 4-4, leaving both sides feeling rightly that they could have done better, and Epsom feeling justifiably that they had outperformed the ratings.

The result of this match means that if both Kingston and Guildford win their other matches (by no means a certainty), Kingston may need another 4-4 draw at Guildford to be sure of the title, although the game points may be sufficiently in our favour that a narrow loss would suffice.   

Peter Andrews, Kingston captain in Surrey League division 1

* See also match report from Epsom.

Kingston 1 v Coulsdon 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 19 January 2025

Kingston 1’s only dropped match point so far this season was in the opening match at Coulsdon, so the return fixture was eagerly awaited. Our new GM Ameet Ghasi had agreed to play, and we knew in advance that our Thames Valley League team-mate Supratit Banerjee would be on board 1 for Coulsdon, so there were a few spectators as well as 14 boards crammed into the match room at the Willoughby.

However, the exchange of team sheets revealed that Coulsdon were missing several players from the team which had fully extended us in October. Some of their talented juniors, in particular, find it difficult to travel on a school night.

Three of the games were clearly in Kingston’s favour before the crowd had settled. First to finish on board 3 was David Maycock, whose opponent Ian Calvert had made a small slip in the Scandinavian Defence and found himself being pushed off the board. David was able to play his trademark g4 on move 14 and the game was soon over.

On board 8, Julian Way had won a pawn early on with Black against Ben Ruiz, and had a lead in activity as the endgame crystallised.

Peter Large’s opponent Timur Kuzhelev had tried the Vienna Game, but the position soon had the unmistakable look of a King’s Gambit gone wrong, with Black a pawn up and a tidal wave of pawns filling the holes around the beached white king.

Peter Lalić’s game with Black against Venkata Kilambi on board 4 was a well-balanced King’s Indian Defence until White allowed a winning sacrifice on move 18. Soon afterwards, there was an even more spectacular opportunity and the game was quickly over.

That took Kingston to a 4-0 lead, but before the match points could be sealed, Will Taylor had fallen into a tactic with Black against Anuj Venkatesh on board 6. He had chosen an active line against the Catalan which was objectively level but dangerous, and then found his queen being chased when it had multiple responsibilities.

Readers not familiar with the Catalan might like to note that Ng5 threatening mate on h7 by a queen on c2 while discovering an attack by the Catalan bishop on g2 is quite a common theme.

Mike Healey, very modestly positioned on board 5 (showing the great strength of this Kingston team), brought home the bacon despite stalwart resistance by Coulsdon captain Nick Edwards in a Caro-Kann in which Black was cramped but solid. It was difficult to withstand the pressure on the clock and the board, and Black eventually lost on time with a spectacular forced mate available to White on the board.  

David Rowson faced even tougher resistance with White against Paul Jackson on board 7. In a semi-blocked French Defence position, Black had opened the h-file against the white king before White could make progress on the queenside, giving him the advantage. But eventually the weakness of f7 told, and David was able to attack in front of his own king with two black pieces out of the main action on the queenside. An exchange sacrifice gave him time for a decisive penetration with his queen.

That left Kingston 6-1 ahead, with Ghasi v Banerjee on board 1 still in progress. This was a slow burner, with most of the tactics in the lines that were not chosen, and both sides trying to test the other by asking them to make decisions requiring some longer-term evaluation. The traps were all avoided, and eventually a little tactic by Supratit left a level major-piece ending.  With both sides down to around a minute on the clock, it would have been possible for either to play on in the hope of an error, but with the match already decided the players’ mutual respect was such that they agreed a draw and resumed the discussion downstairs.

Supratit is of course very much one of the Kingston gang (he plays for us in both the Thames Valley League and 4NCL), and he had a friendly post-mortem with Ameet and several of our other leading lights for over half an hour, although the nature of their game was such that few definitive conclusions were reached.

Meanwhile, Kingston extended their lead in Surrey division 1. We are still the only club to have scored any match points away from home, suggesting that our visits to Epsom in February and Guildford in March will be critical.  

Peter Andrews, Kingston captain in Surrey League division 1

Ashtead 1 v Kingston 1, Surrey League division 2 match played at the Peace Memorial Hall, Ashtead on 10 December 2024

A somewhat depleted Kingston team nevertheless outrated newly promoted Ashtead on all boards. We are, however, far too experienced to expect an easy match, and this was confirmed by the early results – there weren’t any, and it became clear that most games were heading for time trouble, where, as we have already seen this season, anything can happen.

On board 5, David Rowson had conceded a space advantage against Ashtead captain Bertie Barlow, who had also played for Richmond against our TVL first team the previous night. He found a good sequence of exchanges to get to a slightly better endgame (queen, rook and bishop each), but the position was blocked and with progress unlikely a draw was agreed.

Alan Scrimgour struck our first blow on board 7. A couple of inaccuracies as White had allowed his opponent Tom Barton to equalise. He prepared a kingside attack which induced his opponent to weaken on that side, pounced on the opportunity to open the h-file for his rooks, and quickly won decisive material.

Peter Large has been in tremendous form for Kingston, but got no change out of Phil Brooks’ French Defence on board 1. Computer post-mortem analysis found a couple of opportunities to establish a +1 edge, but requiring an indifference to the pawn count which is difficult for human beings. No one can accuse these top players of a grandmasterly draw – the battle ended with bare kings.

The highlight of the match was Peter Lalić’s game on board 2 as Black against Dan Rosen, who is able to play for Ashtead in division 1 this year now that Wimbledon are in division 2. After characteristic early exchanges, Peter had the advantage in the early endgame based on White’s doubled e-pawns. In trying to defend those, the white rook became trapped in a box on the queenside, only able to extricate itself by means of an exchange which ruined his queenside structure. Despite getting down to a minute on his clock, Peter was able to set up a prolonged zugzwang, starting on move 36.

On board 6, Ian McLeod accepted my offer to go into an unbalanced middle game, in which he gave up bishop for knight to double my f-pawns.

My judgement was that the resulting big centre and two bishops would outweigh the doubled pawns and the difficulty in finding a safe place to put my king. The final position illustrates the success of that strategy, with White immobilised by the black pawn rush.

By now White was almost on the increment and struggling to find sensible moves to play. Material is still level, but the e3 pawn is about to fall, and after Black plays e5 white will be almost paralysed. So White resigned. I had had some amusement in the game from making my first move with my king’s bishop on move 25. But this was misleading, as the bishop had protected several important squares from its initial position and had retained the choice of diagonal on which to emerge until the last minute. Motionless but not inactive.

That took us to four points, with three games still in play. Unfortunately, Jasper Tambini had drawn a short straw on board 4. As an overseas newcomer, James Allison’s estimated ECF rating is derived from his Fide rating, and (to judge from the usual difference between Fide and ECF) is at least 150 points too low. For a long time the post-mortem computer evaluation was that White had little more than his starting edge, but Jasper found his activity limited against white’s Catalan structure, tried a sacrificial approach to break out, and conceded defeat a rook down when it became clear that black’s counterplay had been thwarted.

Peter Hasson’s game against Jonathan Hinton on board 3 had so much in it that it would justify its own blog, and we are grateful to him for reconstructing it despite having stopped recording well before the end of the game. Peter had White and opening subtleties had given him a big advantage by move 23, when he missed a lovely combination.

Last to finish was John Bussmann on board 8. John had built an advantage in the middle game, won a pawn, and then sacrificed the exchange for a second pawn to maintain the initiative. Strictly the sacrifice was not necessary, but he rebuilt his advantage after it. In the position below, he had a clear win.

So in the end we scraped home by the minimum margin. Well done Ashtead for outperforming their ratings; let’s hope they can repeat that fighting spirit in their other home games and nick some points off other teams, which would help us in the title race. Thanks to the Kingston players for making the journey, especially Peter Hasson, whose trip home to Farnham was delayed by a road closure, completing what for poor Peter (one of our four Peters!) was a very frustrating evening.

Peter Andrews, Kingston 1 captain in the Surrey League