Kingston members spend a fascinating weekend playing chess with the public at beautiful Ham House, next to the River Thames in Petersham, Surrey
The National Trust is evidently keen to offer more activities at its gorgeous historical properties. Thus it was that on the weekend of 8/9 August, a small group of Kingston Chess Club members took a giant-sized chess set and a few smaller boards, and set up in a well-shaded avenue of trees at the early 17th-century Ham House in Petersham, near Richmond, to demonstrate chess to visitors young and old.
There were lots of games being played on the nearby lawns – badminton, bowls, croquet – and the chess fitted in perfectly. The giant set, as usual, proved a great draw, with some tremendous battles between parents and children, Kingston’s “experts” chipping in occasionally to assist the latter. A lovely occasion in a perfect setting. Well done to Kingston club secretary Seth Warren and the National Trust for making it possible.
Kingston junior William Lin, who last year won the British under-10 championship, enjoyed a smooth victory in the blitz tournament held at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, on 6 July. Across seven rounds, played at a time control of five minutes and three seconds, William scored an impressive 6.5/7.
Only the rather more venerable John Foley, the Kingston club president, withstood young Lin’s onslaught, holding a difficult rook endgame to secure a draw. Their game, pictured above, drew a rapt crowd. John, an expert endgame player, makes a speciality of apparently impossible saves, and this one helped him to joint second place with fellow club stalwart David Rowson.
I undeservedly managed fourth with 4.5/7 after a terrible start, but it was two players on 4/7 who really caught the eye: juniors Miles O’Brien (playing off a ludicrously low estimated blitz rating) and the even younger Lucas Palmer Curiel, whose unquenchable enthusiasm for chess and rapid progress since joining the club six months have been a joy to behold.
Thanks as ever to Genc Tasbasi for organising the event with such aplomb and even managing to play in it, finishing with a 50% score. Playing and organising at the same time is never easy, so well done to him.
Kingston A won the final three matches of the Thames Valley division 1 season to take the title by an impressive margin
In the end Kingston A, under the inspired captaincy of Peter Large (pictured above, bottom right) won the Thames Valley division 1 title at a canter. It was Kingston’s fourth TVL title triumph in a row, underlining the fact that the past few years have been an unprecedented and glittering period of success for the club.
We were helped in mid-May by Surbiton defaulting their match with us, handing us a 6-0 victory. That was followed up with a rather more deserved 6-0 win away to Richmond, who were up against an immensely strong Kingston team and outrated by an average of more than 250 points a board. Richard James, Richmond’s president, ruefully described Kingston’s approach to the match as “maximalist”.
Two of Kingston’s superstars: FMs Supratit Banerjee (left) and David Maycock, playing at Richmond’s new bowls-club venue
In the final match, at home to Maidenhead A, the title had already been secured and we were weaker – how otherwise would I have found myself playing (and of course losing)?Kingston B had an important relegation match against Ealing A on the same evening and resources had to be spread across both teams.
This was skilfully done, allowing Kingston A to run out 4-2 winners against Maidenhead and Kingston B to draw their match against Ealing, ensuring Kingston came fourth in the division and consigning Ealing to relegation. Commiserations to Ealing, but hearty congratulations to Peter Large and his team for winning division 1 and to David Rowson and his players for not just avoiding relegation, which at one stage looked very likely, but finishing mid-table above three A teams from other clubs. A remarkable season.
The Kingston summer programme kicked off on 1 June with a six-round blitz, won by Joshua Pirgon on tie-break from Julian Ward in a well-contested tournament
Photograph (above):William Lin v Robin Haldane playing out a tense endgame
Kingston Chess Club, now fully installed in its new venue at the United Reformed Church in the heart of the town, is keen to keep up the momentum of a successful league season with a series of events this summer. The opening tournament – a six-round blitz played at the unusual time control of 3+7 (dubbed by arbiter on the night John Foley “the Kingston time control”) was won by Joshua Pirgon.
Joshua is a Surbiton player, but a key point about these events is that they are being thrown open not only to Kingston members but also players from other clubs, or indeed no club. We are trying to create a hub of year-round chess activity as well as fielding strong teams during the league season, and the success of this opening event led us to believe we are on to something.
Joshua tied on five points with Julian Ward, but was awarded first prize – a compendium of great chess games – because he had beaten Julian in their head-to-head encounter in round 4. The next three places were occupied by two redoubtable veterans, Robin Haldane and Peter Roche, and a rising talent, Constantin Liesch, all on 4.5/6, with a gaggle of strong players on 4/6 hard on their heels. Full results.
The event marked a superior degree of organisation. We made this an ECF-rated event as many players find value in monitoring their progress. We also collected a game fee (£5 members / £10 non-members, cash or card) towards the cost of renting the venue for which we used a credit card reader. The club’s projector was used to display each round’s pairings and rankings on the wall. The results were displayed in real time on Chess-Results for anybody who wants to follow the tournament.
Peter Andrews collecting the entry fees watched over by Genc Tasbasi
Next week the club will stage a FischerRandom tournament, and future events in June and July will include a rapidplay, another blitz, a simultaneous display by FM David Maycock and a talk on “Principles of Attack” by FM Julian Way. Julian’s talk is free, but we are making a modest charge as above to participate in the tournaments and simul – to pay for the room and raise funds for the club. We hope this programme will form a template for future summers.
In what may be a first for the Thames Valley League, Kingston have been crowned champions of the knockout cup without having to take on a rival in the final. Harrow and Richmond had been due to contest a semi-final to determine who would meet us in the final, but communications seem to have broken down between the clubs and the match never took place.
The Thames Valley season has now been concluded, leaving no time for their semi, let alone a final against Kingston, and the league has decided to award Kingston the trophy. Congratulations to Kingston’s successful TVKO captain Alan Scrimgour (pictured), though naturally he would have preferred to get his hands on the silverware after a proper contest.
The win by default means that Kingston have completed (for the third time in four seasons) a clean sweep of all four major Surrey League and Thames Valley League titles – the Surrey Trophy (Surrey League Div 1), the Alexander Cup (Surrey League 10-board knockout), Thames Valley Div 1 and the Thames Valley knockout.
It has been a period of extraordinary domination by Kingston in the local leagues. We also won the Thorpe Trophy (Surrey team rapidplay) and the Beaumont Cup (Surrey League Div 2) this season, and our 4NCL partnership with CSC saw our first team finish second in the top division – another mighty performance.
There were too many fine individual performances by Kingston players to enumerate them all, but we must note the showing of some of our more senior members in the John Hawson Trophy, the Surrey League competition for over-60s awarded on the basis of best percentage score in Surrey league and cup matches. The trophy was shared by two revered Kingston players, Peter Large and Alan Scrimgour, with a 75% record, and, as the list below shows, there were three other Kingston players in the top six. Quite extraordinary. Even your own aged correspondent managed to break 50%. A memorable season all round. Let’s do it all again next year – if we still have the strength.
Stephen Moss is Kingston club captain
* To win the John Hawson Trophy, players must play a minimum of five Surrey games. The players marked in red in the list above all played at least five games.
IM John Hawksworth won the 21st edition of the monthly blitz at All Saints church in Kingston on 27 May 2026 on tie-break from Jasper Tambini, with both scoring 5/6
At the beginning of the 21st edition of the All Saints Blitz, IM John Hawksworth seemed a bit doubtful about signing up to play. It was another hot day in the middle of a very hot spell, and John had recorded an important victory for Kingston the previous evening in the Alexander Cup final against Guildford, played at Ashtead, when Kingston secured their fifth title in a row, winning the match by 6.5-3.5.
But tired or not, John battled hard to win his third All Saints crown against a pack or young contenders, with Jasper Tambini, an accomplished blitz player, running him very close. The two met in the fourth round when Jasper turned down John’s draw offer before (in true Jasper style) going on to press too hard for a win, losing in the process. But that is essence of Tambini – attacking flair that can sometimes backfire – and to try to change or dilute such a style would be dangerous, the baby possibly being ejected along with the bathwater.
John went on to draw his final two games against Joshua Pirgon and Tom Mayers, while Jasper beat Marcus Gosling and Joshua, but the round 4 victory was enough to hand first place in the tournament to John on tie-break. It was far too hot for the traditional chocolates to be given as a prize on this occasion, so John won a handsome water bottle for his pains. Far more appropriate.
Winner John Hawksworth (left) receiving his prize of a much-needed water bottle from tournament controller Ed Mospan
Robin Haldane, who came third, Joshua Pirgon and Chris Briscoe as usual performed with aplomb. Joshua and Chris were joined in joint fourth by a new kid on the All Saints block, Tom Mayers, who also scored an impressive 4/6, downing your correspondent in a tight game along the way. Alan Hayward, a previous winner of the tournament, also returned to form and was another of the players sharing fourth spot.
We also need to single out Jimmy Kew, a chess lover who has only just started playing competitive chess but who played with skill and spirit throughout, ending on a more than creditable 2/6, having missed at least one other win against a very strong player along the way. A remarkable performance. The young twins Piotr and Robert Chmiest also played wonderfully well. Their chess is showing marked progress, which is gratifying as they are keen and highly regarded members of the Kingston club.
The All Saints tournament now takes a summer break, returning on Wednesday 30 September with All Saints Blitz XXII. It will then take place on the last Wednesday of each month until the end of the year, running from 11am until 1pm.
Stephen Moss is Kingston Chess Club captain
Final standings
1: John Hawksworth (Kingston) 5/6 2: Jasper Tambini (Kingston) 5/6 3: Robin Haldane (Streatham) 4.5/6 4-7: Joshua Pirgon (Surbiton) 4/6, Chris Briscoe (Surbiton) 4/6, Tom Mayers (Streatham) 4/6, Alan Hayward (Surrey) 4/6
The climax of the 4NCL season saw our first team soar to second place in division 1, while our second team were at last promoted from division 3
Photograph above of the CSC/Kingston 1 team which played on Saturday and Sunday (from left): Vladyslav Larkin, David Maycock, Roland Bezuidenhout, Jakub Kosakowksi, Ameet Ghasi, Harry Grieve, Zain Patel, Liwia Jarocka
The final weekend of the 2025/26 4NCL season – the long early May bank holiday weekend – saw CSC/Kingston 1 playing in Daventry and the squad’s second and third teams in Coventry. Each faced three tough matches over three days, and the results could hardly have been better.
The first team began on Saturday with a match against Oxford 1, who had some very talented young players. CSC/Kingston had a rating advantage, but it was far from one-way traffic. Oxford juniors Kenneth Hobson and Jan Murawski got draws with IM Harry Grieve and GM Ameet Ghasi respectively and Daniel Udovenko overturned FM Roland Bezuidenhout in a tricky rook endgame on board 5. But the extra firepower of the CSC/Kingston team eventually told, and we ran out winners by 5.5-2.5.
The team had another success on Sunday, beating a strong White Rose 1 team 5-3. CSC/Kingston’s Polish GM Jakub Kosakowski held the 2677-rated GM Gawain Jones to a draw on top board, and victories by Harry Grieve, Roland Bezuidenhout and Liwia Jarocka sealed an impressive victory, which guaranteed CSC/Kingston 1 would have a high placing in the final table.
Just how high was not clear until Bank Holiday Monday, when victory in the crunch match against the powerful Wood Green Youth and the fact that high-flying Sharks 1 could only draw with Cheddleton allowed CSC/Kingston 1 to leapfrog both into second place in the table. It was admittedly a fairly distant second place – the senior Wood Green team, who brought in super-GM Michael Adams for the final weekend, won all 11 of its matches across the season and took the title at a canter – but it still represented a tremendous achievement in only our second season in the top flight.
There were seven draws in the CSC/Kingston v Wood Green Youth match (including one on board 5 for Supratit Banerjee, who had come in from a training camp in Munich especially to play), but a smooth win by Ukrainian IM Vladyslav Larkin on board 4 against Irish IM David Fitzsimons sealed the match and second place in the table for CSC/Kingston. A wonderful end to an unforgettable season in which our talented young team performed heroically.
Final Division 1table
The CSC/Kingston second team has been knocking on the door of promotion from division 3 for several seasons, and finally achieved it with two victories on Saturday and Sunday and a heart-stopping draw on Monday. The first two matches were won fairly comfortably, with Silverio Abasolo, Peter Finn and Clive Frostick all scoring 2/2, but the final game against Iceni (with Silverio unavailable) was very tough.
Iceni slightly outrated the CSC/Kingston 2 team, so a draw in the match was a good result. But would it be enough? At one point it looked as if the highly rated Golden Cockerels would pip us at the post, but in the end they could only draw their match with Warrington Mates, and Peter Finn’s draw against Iceni on board 1 was enough to get us over the line. Indeed, we were in the end only pipped to the Division 3 (Knights) title by Poole Patzers by half a game point. Two teams go up from this division 3 pool, and that was always the principal objective. We will now have both the first and second teams at the same venue next season, which we hope will make team planning and transport arrangements simpler.
Final Division 3 (Knights)table
The third team contains players with a wide spread of strengths and promotion was never likely against some strong outfits in a competition which operates as a 30-team Swiss. The Swiss system means that a win one day tends to pit you against a strong team the next, and vice versa.
All three of CSC/Kingston 3’s matches went according to rating: a 4-2 loss on Saturday against the strong Castell Nedd, one of the four teams ultimately promoted from the division, was followed by a win on Sunday by the same score against the outrated (and perhaps aptly named) Eternal Optimists.
Monday saw a match-up with The Full Ponty, who ended up in second place in the division and were also promoted. CSC/Kingston 3 fought admirably and five of the games were drawn (special mention to Petr Vachtfeidl for holding the highly rated Sven Zeidler on board 1), but Tony Hughes got the better of Mike Cresswell on board 5 after a tough struggle and The Full Ponty (excellent name for this Welsh side!) were home. Congratulations to them. That left CSC/Kingston 3 in mid-table after a season in which they won five matches, lost five matches and drew one – a very satisfactory all-round performance.
Final Division 4 table
Ameet Ghasi (left) and Liwia Jarocka play Saturday-night blitz in the bar – always important for team bonding at 4NCL
Shortly after the final 4NCL weekend, we received the welcome news that IM Harry Grieve, a mainstay of CSC/Kingston 1 this season, had achieved his final IM norm at a tournament in Budapest and was now a grandmaster-elect. Hopefully next season, GM Grieve will be turning out for CSC/Kingston. Vladyslav Larkin also reached the magic 2500 rating mark in the June Fide list, and is now just one norm away from also becoming a grandmaster. This young team is truly coming of age.
We also had the less happy, but not entirely unexpected, news that Kate Cooke was stepping down from the captaincy of the CSC/Kingston squad after an immensely distinguished and hard-working 12 years in charge. We thank Kate and her husband Charlie for all their selfless dedication to the cause over the past decade and more. Kingston president John Foley, a very good player as well as being a leading chess educationist, has kindly agreed to take up the mantle and assume the captaincy of CSC/Kingston. Kate and Charlie will be a very hard act to follow, but we will press on in the hope of even better things to come.
IM John Hawksworth won the 20th edition of the monthly blitz at All Saints church in Kingston on 29 April 2026 scoring a perfect 6/6, with Chris Briscoe and Jasper Tambini second and third
Class will always out and so it proved in the 20th edition of the All Saints Blitz. With 10-times winner Peter Large on his way back from playing for England in the Fide World Senior Team Championships in Albania, fellow IM John Hawksworth scooped the monthly prize with a faultless display which earned him six wins from six games.
John is always very modest and said he expected “normal service to be resumed next month” with Peter Large likely to be back in action, but this was a tremendous display. Having disposed of my dubious Smith-Morra Gambit in round one, he beat a succession of strong players – David Rowson, Tom Mayers, Jasper Tambini, Chris Briscoe and Epsom president Marcus Gosling. Four of those players are 2000 ECF strength or above, and Tom is rising fast.
John’s reward for winning the tournament was a copy of The Mammoth Book of the World’s Greatest Chess Games, a special prize to mark the 20th edition of the monthly All Saints Blitz. He was presented with the book (plus the obligatory bar of chocolate) by visiting Kingston luminary and FM Vladimir Li (see photograph above, with John on the left).
Chris Briscoe, who is always in the frame, was second with 5/6 and Jasper Tambini – a strong and enthusiastic blitz player – third with 4.5/6. Then came several seasoned club players on 4/6, but special mention should be made of Dominic Fogg, who belied his rating of 1612 with a strong performance to also finish with 4/6. Commendations, too, to John Hawes and David Shalom for excellent showings. John, in particular, played startlingly well for a relative newcomer in beating three strong players.
All in all, another memorable All Saints Blitz. We do it all again on Wednesday 27 May, with our Albanian absentees – past winner Tony Hughes was also in Albania, playing for Wales, as was Alan Scrimgour representing Scotland – likely to return to make the field even stronger.
Stephen Moss is Kingston Chess Club captain
Final standings
1: John Hawksworth (Kingston) 6/6 2: Chris Briscoe (Surbiton) 5/6 3: Jasper Tambini (Kingston) 4.5/6 4-7: Dominic Fogg, Marcus Gosling, Graham Keane, David Rowson 4/6
Surbiton D v Kingston C, Thames Valley League division X match played at Fircroft, Surbiton on 15 April 2026
Kingston C completed their Thames Valley division X season in style with a 4-0 victory over Surbiton D. Club newcomer Aytek Koyun won well on board 1 against the very capable Nikolai Mantaev; Sean Tay, with Black on board 2, was too strong for Kim Cross; Mark Sheridan on 3 shaded a tough encounter with Harry Roberts; and Rob Taylor completed the whitewash by defeating Charlie Feigen on board 4.
A very encouraging result for Jon Eckert’s team to end a season in which they have competed well throughout, but suffered several narrow defeats in close matches that kept them in the bottom half of the table (see final standings at foot of report). Div X is primarily about getting game time, and Jon selected teams that prioritised giving as many club players as possible experience under matchplay conditions. Many thanks to Jon and his players. We do it all again in Div X next season.
IM Peter Large won the 19th blitz held at All Saints church in Kingston on 31 March 2026, with Chris Briscoe and Arne Eilers in joint second scooping the other prizes
It is becoming a familiar tale: Peter Large (pictured above, receiving his prize from arbiter Edward Mospan) once again won the monthly All Saints Blitz – his tenth win in 19 editions of the event. Peter sets the standards and it’s up to the rest of us to try to emulate him.
It was one of Peter’s more comfortable victories. Once he had disposed of me in the first round, he beat Marcus Gosling – his former team-mate at Epsom – in a second-round crunch match, and then saw off a trio of strong players, Jasper Tambini, Chris Briscoe and Robin Haldane, in the next three rounds. Peter is a consummate pro and closed out the tournament with a draw against Arne Eilers in the final round.
Peter Large (left) prepares to do battle with Epsom president Marcus Gosling in the second round at All Saints
Peter finished on 5.5/6, a full point ahead of Arne and Chris, who came joint second. There was plenty of strength in depth in the tournament, as the four players who came next on 4/6 – Robin Haldane, Joshua Pirgon, Anthony Hughes and Jasper Tambini – demonstrated. Peter Roche came eighth with 3.5/6, and Kingston junior William Lin scored a commendable 3/6, alongside Alan Hayward and David Rowson.
Peter Large shows off his egg-cellent trophy, flanked by runners-up Chris Briscoe (left) and Arne Eilers
Special thanks to Constantin Liesch, who contrived to lose on time to me when he was completely winning, thus giving my score more respectability than I deserved. We will do it again in the 20th All Saints Blitz on 29 April.
Stephen Moss is Kingston Chess Club captain
Final standings
1: Peter Large (Kingston) 5.5/6 2-3: Chris Briscoe (Surbiton) 4.5/6, Arne Eilers (Streatham) 4.5/6 4-7: Robin Haldane (Streatham) 4/6, Joshua Pirgon (Surbiton) 4/6, Anthony Hughes (Wimbledon) 4/6, Jasper Tambini (Kingston) 4/6 8: Peter Roche (Kingston) 3.5/6 9/11: William Lin (Kingston) 3/6, Alan Hayward (Pimlico) 3/6, David Rowson (Kingston) 3/6
