David Maycock scored a perfect 6/6 to win the Kingston Bank Holiday Blitz, but young Zain Patel ran him close on an evening when the juniors shone
You have to be in it to win it. Quite a few of the Kingston big guns chose to sit out the Kingston Bank Holiday Blitz, held at the Willoughby Arms on Monday 26 May, but candidate master David Maycock put his reputation (and rating points – the event was ECF rated) on the line, and he triumphed in style, winning all six of his games.
The time control was the novel three minutes plus a seven-second increment – something we have come to think of as the “Kingston control” (we first used it in the monthly All Saints blitzes). Some young players mock it as blitz chess for oldies, preferring the high-pressure 3+2, but we reckon it makes for a better game, giving players more thinking time and having fewer games decided on time alone.
The key encounter of the tournament came in round 4 when David faced Zain Patel, the eventual runner-up with 5/6. Zain, with Black, was better in the middle game and had excellent drawing chances in an endgame with bishops of opposite colours, but David, with an extra pawn, was remorseless and Zain let it slip.
Zubair Froogh (left) v David Rowson on board 2 (foreground), with Zain Patel and David Maycock behind them
Both won their remaining games to secure first and second spots. Youngster William Lin was third with 4.5, gaining a whopping 61 blitz rating points in the process. Kingston president John Foley, Zubair Froogh, Peter Roche and Richmond’s Maks Gajowniczek tied for fourth with 4 points, and David Rowson, Surbiton’s Graham Alcock and 11-year-old Ethan Kim came next with 3.5/6 – a brilliant result for the talented Kim. The full final table can be found on Chess Results.
Twenty-eight players took part – the capacity for the playing room at the Willoughby – including nine from other local clubs. As we develop a roster of tournaments, we hope to make this inclusivity a feature. It increases the level of interest, ups the pitch of competition and changes the dynamic, allowing players who usually only meet fleetingly to get to know each other better. Summer plans include two more blitzes, a FischerRandom tournament and a Saturday rapidplay. Thanks to Julian Way and Edward Mospan for organising a very successful evening and pointing the way forward for future events.
Kingston B v Richmond C, Thames Valley League division 2 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 12 May 2025
I was abroad when this match took place, so can give only the sketchiest second-hand account of what happened. Alan Scrimgour kindly deputised for me as captain and played board 1, winning the match 4-2 but being thwarted with Black in his own game, held to a draw by the solid and almost certainly underrated Peter Kasprowicz.
Kingston veteran Peter Roche (pictured above, left, at a recent All Saints blitz tournament), who has returned to the fray this season after a long break, won well with White on board 2 against the capable George Milligan; Adam Nakar and Genc Tasbasi maintained their excellent form with wins with White on boards 4 and 6; and David Bickerstaff drew with Black on board 5 against Richmond C captain Michael Robinson-Chui.
Seth Warren, who has had an encouraging debut season, lost with Black to Barry Sutton on board 3, but Seth was feeling unwell and should be commended for playing at all in the circumstances, saving us from a default. A loyal service medal will be awarded.
An excellent performance by the team, which had undergone several enforced changes in the run-up to the match. With two matches left this season, Kingston B have been crowned as division 2 champions and remain unbeaten. That record will, though, be tested in those final matches, which are against Richmond B, who are themselves vying for promotion and are sure to put out a strong team. The two fixtures will be played back to back, home and away, on 2 and 3 June.
The final weekend of the 4NCL season saw CSC/Kingston 1 survive in the first division, while the second team were pipped for promotion from Div 3 and the third team finished a creditable sixth in Div 4
The final weekend of the 4NCL season, on the bank holiday weekend of 3-5 May, saw all three CSC/Kingston teams in action, though at different locations – the first and second teams in Daventry, the third team in Coventry. As ever, squad manager Kate Cooke handled the logistical complications with calm efficiency.
The first team survived their debut season in the very tough division 1 and live to fight another day. At the beginning of the season, I put our chances of survival at 50-50, or perhaps in my more pessimistic moments 60-40 against. Clearly we were identified by the rest of the league as likely relegation contenders – one rival captain told me that explicitly. Our first weekend did not go well, with defeats to eventual title winners Manx Liberty and to the very experienced Blackthorne. But we got stronger and the incredible victory against Sharks 1 on Weekend 4 paved the way for survival.
On the Saturday of the final weekend, we played the strong Cheddleton team – just the three GMs! We had brought in young Turkish IM Eray Kilic as a wildcard as a hedge against possible relegation – we were still not mathematically safe, though by now we were fairly confident of surviving. Eray, who played superbly all weekend, defeated GM Keith Arkell on board 1 to set up a drawn match in which Polish WIM Liwia Jarocka also scored a fine win against Nina Pert (the first of Liwia’s three victories across the weekend).
The crunch match came on Sunday against Barbican, who needed to beat us to have a chance of avoiding relegation. It was an extremely tense encounter, with victories for IM Vladyslav Larkin and Supratit Banerjee (newly confirmed as an FM at the age of just 11) offset by losses for IM Malcolm Pein and CM Peter Finn. It all came down to the board 5 game between David Maycock (pictured above) and IM John Pigott. The Barbican player held the advantage in a minor-piece endgame, but David would not relent, time started to worry his opponent and the IM blundered and eventually lost on time. We were finally safe. On Monday we defeated Sharks 2, who were already doomed to relegation, to secure seventh place in the table – a terrific result after our travails in the early part of the season.
Div 1 – Round 9
Div 1 – Round 10
Div 1 –Round 11
Div 1 – final table
We had hoped that the second team would win promotion from Div 3 (Knights) into division 2. It would certainly have been team planning easier as the top two divisions always play alongside each other at the same venue. But it was not to be. The team won well on the Saturday, but lost to a strong Brown Jack team on Sunday and went down to the excellent To Be Decided in the promotion decider on Monday.
We needed to beat To be Decided 5-1 to win promotion, but in truth that never looked likely. To Be Decided ran out 4-2 winners and go up with Sussex Martlets 1, who had a perfect season – 11 wins in 11 matches – to win the division. Many congratulations to both the promoted sides. CSC/Kingston 2 finished in fourth place, tied on match points with the Rookies. In the end a slight disappointment when we had been vying for the second promotion spot all season.
Div 3 (Knights) – Round 9
Div 3 (Knights) – Round 10
Div 3 (Knights) – Round 11
Div 3 (Knights) – final table
In division 4, CSC/KIngston 3 have enjoyed an extremely successful season and finished sixth in the 32-team league. This division is structured as a Swiss rather than an all-play-all, and sixth spot was a good deal higher than we have been in previous seasons. The drawn match on Sunday against Div 4 title winners Barnet Knights C was particularly notable, as was Petr Vachtfeidl’s performance in winning all three of his games (two of them against 2000-strength players) across the weekend. Chris Rice, too, had a tremendous weekend, scoring 2.5/3.
Div 4 – Round 9
Div 4 – Round 10
Div 4 – Round 11
Div 4 – final table
Well done to everyone who played for the CSC/Kingston teams through the season, and thank you all for trekking to motorway hotels across the Midlands in all sorts of weather (who can forget the biblical downpour at Daventry last November?) to keep the flag flying. Despite stumbling in Div 3 in the final two matches, it has been an amazingly successful season, and the way we have competed with GM-packed teams in division 1 has been remarkable. Thanks above all to Kate and Charlie Cooke, who have made all this possible. Now at last Kate can get some rest after seven months spent juggling three teams and a squad of 40 players at three different venues. A truly fantastic effort.
Richmond C v Kingston B, Thames Valley League division 2 match played at the Adelaide, Teddington on 6 May 2025
This was a somewhat low-key way to ensure Kingston B won Thames Valley division 2, but satisfying nonetheless. Not easy either. Richmond C may be bottom of the table and certain to be relegated, but they put up a stern fight and there were some excellent games.
Adam Nakar and Richmond captain Michael Robinson-Chui had a hard-fought draw on board 5 which both clearly enjoyed; Jon Eckert, continuing his rich run of form, won a fine attacking game with Black against the resilient Peter Kasprowicz on board 2, and Genc Tasbasi won emphatically against Andreas Maroulis on board 6, delivering mate with the white king stranded in the middle of the board and assailed on all sides.
The sole reverse came on board 3, where Alicia Mason lost a thriller to Tom Lloyd, who on this performance looked significantly underrated. Lloyd directed his heavy artillery in the form of queen and both rooks at the white king and eventually the white fortress cracked, with the king pursued across the board at the expense of significant material loss. Alicia cleverly went in search of a perpetual, but eventually the checks ran out and Richmond had got a point back.
In the end , though, it didn’t matter because wins for Kingston on boards 1 and 4 put the result beyond any doubt. On 4, Seth Warren, who has had an encouraging start to his Kingston career, won well with Black against Barry Sutton. White’s decision to castle queenside in a Queen’s Gambit Declined always looked a little suspect, and so it proved, with Seth going several pawns up and smoothly converting a rook and minor piece endgame.
That left Peter Andrews up against the dependable Victor Bluett on board 1. In the position below, White already has an edge, but Peter felt the sequence that followed made it close to terminal for Black. Peter himself provides the commentary.
Peter’s win completed a 4.5-1.5 victory for Kingston B and secured the Thames Valley division 2 title with three matches to spare (see table below). The team has won 10 of its matches and drawn the other. A formidable performance which very nearly matches the title-winning A team’s record of 11/11. Quite a season.
Kingston v Coulsdon, final of the Lauder Trophy, played at the Peace Memorial Hall, Ashtead on 29 April 2025
Photograph above: The Kingston team ahead of the Lauder final: (from back left) Moss, Kerremans, Bickerstaff, Eckert, Andrews, Scrimgour (Photograph: John Foley)
The Lauder Trophy is a mathematical puzzle: you need six players and have a maximum of 10,500 rating points to play with. How to slice the cake – three 2000-strength stars and three under-1500s, or six middle-ranking players? It’s a conundrum.
As Lauder Trophy captain, I didn’t really feel I’d cracked it ahead of this final. I was only using 10,342 rating points for the team, which is criminal really. A key player rated around 1900 had dropped out with illness a few days ahead of the match and I’d stepped in with my anaemic grade of 1750. I felt we were underdogs and had resigned myself to likely defeat against a Coulsdon side that I knew would allocate their points with discrimination.
The only consolation was that we were playing the Alexander Cup final at Ashtead on the same night and, since we had managed to put together a tremendous team, I was reasonably confident we would win it for the fourth year in a row. The Lauder, though, was in the lap of the gods, and my expectations were low.
Alan Scrimgour, with White, and Ian Calvert – both very solid and experienced players –quickly agreed a draw on board 2. That could have been predicted. Peter Andrews was Black and outrated by almost a hundred points on board 1 – that would be tough. I also feared the worst on board 4. where David Bickerstaff was Black against a junior, Arnav Jayaprakash. David was sitting next to me and from an early stage I disliked the cramped nature of his position.
I knew we would have chances on board 6 – Robin Kerremans hadn’t played a classical game for a year, but I felt his rating of 1250 was lower than his true strength (underrated players are gold-dust in the Lauder). But the match, I believed, would be decided by Jon Eckert’s game on board 4 and mine on 5. Fortunately, Jon had had an excellent win the previous night and was in good fettle, and for once I felt reasonably focused (having White was a bonus).
My game was next to finish after the board 2 draw. The course of the game was decided by a decision I made on move 14. My opponent had played a French Defence, but castled queenside – a choice that invariably makes for an exciting game as White attacks on the queenside and Black does the same on the kingside. We pick up the game as I make my defining decision.
We were 1.5-0.5 up and went further ahead when Robin Kerremans won on board 6. White is already much better in the position below, but Black lashes out with 25…f5 and and his position quickly falls apart.
2.5-0.5 to Kingston, but now came the reverses. David Bickerstaff’s game was another French in which he castled queenside, and once again White’s queenside attack was faster than Black’s putative kingside assault. David was already under the cosh in the ugly position below, but then made what he considers a key error:
“Overall quite an uncomfortable game.” was David’s summing up afterwards. “The computer agrees with my general analysis during the game that his queenside pawn storm was not a threat without his pieces also supporting and so could be ignored. In that respect I handled it well. My pieces, though, were quite uncoordinated and threats of back-rank mate with my king on a8 and white pawn on a6 made it difficult to find an advantage. Trading off some additional pieces earlier and finding more space would have helped improve my position.”
Top two boards : Peter Andrews (left) v Timur Kuzhelev and Alan Scrimgour v Ian Calvert. Photograph: John Foley
Coulsdon were now only down by 2.5-1.5, and the scores were soon level when Timur Kuzhelev got the better of Peter Andrews on board 1. Peter had been a little behind after shedding a pawn in the opening, but fought tenaciously and felt he had a drawing chance in the position below.
With the scores tied on 2.5 all, it was now down to Jon Eckert on board 3 with Black against Coulsdon captain Matt Darville, who outrated Jon by 80 points. I couldn’t bear to watch, knowing that even a drawn game and a tied match would give the title to Coulsdon on board count.
Jon, though, was not going to let it slip. He played well in a French Advance and always stood slightly better, with two bishops against two knights. But time was becoming an issue and the last position we can conclusively establish before the players stopped recording under the five-minute rule is this one, where Jon has a pawn on the second rank protected by his light-squared bishop.
This is winning for Black – not because the c-pawn will get home, but because while White has to spend time neutralising it with his rook, knight and king, the Black rook and king will mop up enough white pawns to create a winning advantage. The pawn on d4 is likely to fall to the marauding Black rook and, once the white knight is exchanged – necessary to take Black’s c-pawn – the Black king will penetrate on the kingside.
Matt battled on, but it would have taken a time-induced blunder – always possible of course – to rescue him, and Jon was not in the mood to make one. Black eventually forced victory, giving Kingston both the match and the Lauder crown (for the second year in succession) by 3.5-2.5. A great triumph for an outrated team, but also a considerable personal success for Jon Eckert in a high-pressure, must-win game.
Stephen Moss (left) receives the Lauder Trophy from Surrey tournament director Graham Alcock
Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain and Lauder Trophy captain
Hounslow B v Kingston B, Thames Valley League division 2 match played at the Royal British Legion, Hounslow on 28 April 2025
This was not a match I expected Kingston B to win. We were away, outrated, and perhaps distracted by the fact we had two big finals the following evening. But in reality the team stepped up brilliantly and won 4-2 to keep us on top of the Thames Valley division 2 table.
I had a dull draw on board 4 against capable junior Vibhush Pusapadi; Homayoon Froogh had a rather more exciting and higher-class draw with Sesh Vaddadi on board 2; Peter Andrews had what he described as a “stress-free” win in a rook and pawn endgame against the very solid Mateusz Dydak on board 1; David Shalom outmanoeuvred Hounslow veteran Leon Fincham to register an important win on board 5; and Genc Tasbasi lost on time (in a lost position) against the wily Frank Zurstiege on board 6.
Game of the night was Jon Eckert (White) against Hounslow captain David White (Black) on board 3. John played the Grand Prix Attack against David’s Sicilian, leading to this position after 13 moves:
Kingston 2 v Surbiton 1, Surrey League division 2 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 7 April 2025
John Bussmann (pictured) has been playing a lot more for Kingston this season and has made important contributions to both the first and second teams. This was a very fine victory playing for Kingston 2 against Surbiton 1, contributing to an emphatic 6-1 win against our neighbours. The game, which hinges on a lovely sacrifice for long-term positional advantage, shows John’s great tactical flair.
Kingston’s Mexican star scores 6/6 to win the club’s Easter Bank Holiday Blitz. Stephen Moss reports
As the league season becomes a little less full on, we can start to turn our attention to internal club activities such as the blitz run on Bank Holiday Monday. Organised by Julian Way, John Foley and David Bickerstaff, this was an enjoyable 26-player event won by CM David Maycock with 6/6, closely pursued by FM Vladimir Li and Zain Patel (pictured above, front right, playing Tony Hughes) with 5/6. That’s a very classy trio to have at the top of the leaderboard in what proved a highly successful event.
In a first for the club, the tournament was posted on the Chess Results server with the results updated in real time. That allowed members to follow what was happening remotely and is also great publicity for the club. More of our internal tournaments will be publicised in this way.
The key match-up came in round 4 when David, with White, got the better of Vladimir Li in a closely contested game. Vladimir felt he had an advantage in the early part of the game, but then erred as time started to press. The time control was three minutes with a seven-second increment – relatively generous for blitz but still testing against a player like David, who is forever setting problems and adding layers of complexity.
Friends and rivals: David Maycock (left) prepares to play Vladimir Li in their crucial fourth-round encounter
Zain Patel’s only loss had come against Vladimir in round 3. Zain had come fresh from playing in the Southend Chess Congress, which had concluded earlier that day, so to play in the Kingston Blitz a few hours later showed a remarkable degree of commitment. His enthusiasm is infectious and he was still at the club playing friendly blitz 45 minutes after the main event had ended.
Other strong performers were Surbiton’s young star Joseph Morrison, Kingston junior William Lin and Wimbledon’s ever competitive Tony Hughes, a three-time winner of the monthly All Saints Blitz. Edmond Andal was also having a good tournament until he blundered against Vladimir in the final round in a winning position.
David, a noted chocoholic, took the first prize of a box of Lindt chocolates (this is not a desperate bid for sponsorship, by the way); juniors Zain Patel and William Lin received prizes for their high placings; and Zain’s younger sister, Parisa Patel, who also had a tremendous tournament, won the giantkilling prize for her victory on time over Kingston club president John Foley. Reports that John will be retiring from chess in the wake of the tournament are, we are told, entirely without foundation.
David Maycock (right) receiving his prize from tournament controller Julian Way
Top six
First: David Maycock (6/6) Joint second: Vladimir Li and Zain Patel (5/6) Joint fourth: Joseph Morrison, William Lin and Tony Hughes (4/6)
CSC/KIngston’s first team record a remarkable victory over the formidable Sharks 1 and the second team win both their matches to give themselves a shot at promotion on a riveting fourth weekend at 4NCL
In the late afternoon on Saturday 5 April, something remarkable happened: CSC/Kingston 1, new to division 1 this season and among the favourites to be relegated, beat Sharks 1, who for the past few seasons have been vying to win the 4NCL title. It was a remarkable victory and a mighty tribute to captain Kate Cooke and her vibrant and youthful team (members of which are seen in the photograph above playing late-night blitz after their triumph). This is the scorecard of the success:
Vlad Larkin and Ulysse Bottazzi overcame significant rating disadvantages to draw on the top two boards; David Maycock (who spurned a draw offer) and Zain Patel lost with Black on boards 4 and 8; but we were carried over the line by wins from Roland Bezuidenhout (against grandmaster Daniel Fernandez!), Supratit Banerjee, Peter Finn and German WFM Luisa Bashylina, who enjoyed a fantastic debut weekend for the team winning both her games.
On the following day, the first team lost 5-3 (nothing to do with the late-night blitz, honestly) to a strong Chessable White Rose 1 team (see scorecard below), but even that was a close-run thing. Vlad Larkin felt he had a winning chance against top GM Gawain Jones, but it came close to the first time control when he had only seconds to calculate. Peter Finn also had excellent drawing chances against Harry Li, but blundered in the endgame.
There was, however, no crying over opportunities lost. Overall, this was a great weekend which gives CSC/Kingston 1 a good chance of surviving in the division 1 sharkpool. The final weekend, in Daventry on 3/4/5 May, promises to be fascinating one, with make-or-break matches against Cheddleton, Barbican and Sharks 2.
The weekend after CSC/Kingston 1’s great achievement, it was CSC/Kingston 2’s turn to trek to Peterborough for rounds 7 and 8 of division 3 (knights). The team won convincingly by 4.5-1.5 against Celtic Tigers 2 on Saturday (see scorecard below), but had a scare against Sussex Martlets 2 on Sunday, coming back from 2-1 down to win a nailbiter. Clive Frostick, who had been unwell coming into the weekend, heroically secured a crucial draw in the final game to finish to take the team to victory. Props also to Tom Ferrand and Chris Fegan for winning both their games over the weekend.
CSC/Kingston 2 now have a chance of winning promotion to division 2 on the concluding three-match weekend in Daventry on 3/4/5 May (when division 1 and division 3 knights will be played at the same venue, allowing the first and second teams to play alongside each other). The round 11 match against promotion rivals To Be Decided on the last day of the competition is likely to be decisive (as the name of our rivals, currently ahead of us in the table by a single game point, handily suggests).
CSC/Kingston 3, who head to Coventry for the final weekend on 3/4/5 May, also had a productive weekend, beating Ashfield 2 on Saturday before losing a hard-fought match to Apprentice Woodpushers on Sunday to leave them eighth in the table. Promotion is still possible, but they would have to win all three of their matches on the final weekend and others results would also have to go their way.
Here are the tables as they currently stand for the divisions in which the three CSC/Kingston teams play:
Kingston 2 v Surbiton 1, Surrey League division 2 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 7 April 2025
Surbiton 1 brought a surprisingly weak team to the Willoughby for this Surrey division 2 match against Kingston 2, and were duly despatched 6-1. Both teams are safe in this division, so perhaps their attention was elsewhere. They defaulted on board 3 and had a very young junior on board 7 who did not last long against Homayoon Froogh, so were 2-0 down very early on and never thereafter looked like mounting a challenge.
Will Taylor, with Black, and Surbiton captain David Scott had a hard-fought draw on board 1, and Surbiton’s Alexey Markov secured an excellent draw with Black against Alan Scrimgour on board 4. “I made a couple of inaccurate moves early on in the c3 Sicilian that I have been playing for decades,” Alan said afterwards. “This allowed my opponent to initiate a series of exchanges leaving the position completely level.”
That was as good as it got for Surbiton. John Foley (pictured above, head in hands) showed his usual masterly control in beating Graham Alcock, securing a small advantage in the middlegame and remorselessly hammering it home in the endgame, and Alicia Mason got the better of Paul McCauley’s Sicilian on board 6. Paul had a slight edge in the opening, but made an error in the middle game that cost him a bishop and, hard though he tried, could never claw his way back, with Alicia forcing resignation with a tactic that won more material
Peter Andrews, whose board 3 opponent defaulted, hailed John Bussmann’s board 5 win over John Rennocks as the game of the match, and we have chosen to analyse his fine victory, which contains a very nice sacrificial idea, in depth in the Games section.
