Thames Valley Knockout final played at Harrow High School, Harrow on Thursday 19 June

It felt a little strange to play a major chess match on the longest and hottest day of the year so far, with several players in shorts and complaints that the air conditioning was too effective. But two strong teams, albeit missing the prodigious Bodhana Sivanandan on the Harrow side and the infectious Peter Lalic on ours, contested a tense match containing some high-quality chess. Kingston had a rating advantage on all boards except board 1.

First to finish was Will Taylor, with Black on board 6 against Jagdeep Dhemrait. In a Four Knights Opening, White had played Nc3 and Bc4, allowing a classic Nxe4 idea, ready to fork with d5 if White plays Nxe4. Instead White played Bxf7+ to dislodge the black king before recapturing on e4. In my youth, that was regarded as unclear, but modern computer assessments suggest the two bishops outweigh the loss of castling. Will seemed to have an edge for much of the game, based on more centralised major pieces, but his attempts at a winning attack were frustrated by back-row mate threats and a shortage of time, so a draw made sense.     

The game on board 2 between Manmay Chopra and David Maycock (pictured above) quickly exploded.

Our other Black game, Ash Stewart on board 4 v Nigel Alldritt, went less well. Ash’s pawn structure was seriously damaged in the early middle game. He got some activity for it, but after the queens were exchanged it was soon clear that the ending was hopeless.

On board 1, two FMs were in combat. To this spectator’s eye it was not quite clear that Supratit Banerjee’s kingside attack would outweigh the queenside initiative of Tanmay Chopra, but Supratit is familiar with the line and was confident that he had it all in hand. He was never worse, and after a less-than-obvious error by Black he outplayed his opponent, proving that the division of Black’s army – with his king’s rook unable to assist the battle on the queenside – was crucial.

2.5-1.5 up and with board count in our favour, things looked good. John Hawksworth on board 5 had not been able to break through against Harrow captain Nevil Chan, but in the major piece ending he seemed to have a space advantage. He found afterwards that the computer assessment was level – no breakthrough was available. And the downside of the space advantage was that his pawns were a little more extended. Nevil found a tactic, winning a pawn and coming down to a rook ending in which he controlled the only open file, so one pawn soon became two, which was fatal.

So the score was level at 2.5-2.5 and it was all up to Peter Large on board 3 against Steven Coles. Peter had allowed his c-pawns to be doubled, but in compensation had pressure down the half-open b-file against Black’s queenside-castled king, which looked promising even with the queens off. He “mislaid” the pawn on c3, and then temporarily sacrificed a rook, exploiting the position of the black king to win the material back and come down to an ending with rook and knight v rook and bishop, with one extra pawn but with his passed a pawn harder to defend than Black’s passed d-pawn.

With both players very short of time, the decisive phase of the game was not recorded, which was probably just as well for those of a nervous disposition. Peter had thought we were winning board 5 so could try to win this game without risk to the overall result, and he turned down at least one draw by repetition. But from being a little better, his position deteriorated to be level and then probably losing.

However, to deal with the white a-pawn the black king had gone over to the queenside and was therefore out of reach when the game crystallised to rook and one pawn each on the kingside. Even though Peter’s pawn was the h-pawn, he managed to place his rook behind his king on the g-file, and the black rook could not stop the pawn unaided, forcing Black to resign.

A 3.5-2.5 win for Kingston gave us our seventh trophy of the season, although given the difference in ratings the closeness of the match also reflects well on the home side.

Peter Andrews, acting Kingston TVKO captain

Richmond B v Kingston B, Thames Valley League division 2 match played at the Adelaide pub Teddington on 3 June 2025

Richmond wanted to prove a point in this match – that their B team could live with our title-winning side – and they proved it emphatically, running out winners by 5.5-0.5. We are champions of the division, but we were humbled by this result – the second team’s first defeat of the season in its final match. Indeed, the club’s final match of the season. All that remains is the Thames Valley Knockout final away to Harrow on 19 June – a tough assignment.

Richmond B, under their determined and resourceful captain Alastair Armstrong, put out an extremely strong team, spearheaded by the 2200-plus Maxim Dunn. We competed for a large part of the evening, but in the end as time pressure kicked in – Richmond use a tight control of 65 minutes plus 10-second increment – we crumbled.

Peter Andrews, with White against Maxim on board 1, was level (indeed felt he was slightly better when Maxim rebuffed his draw offer), but was outmanoeuvred as time took its toll. “Maxim found a plan and I didn’t,” was Peter’s succinct summing up. The litany of our woes on the other boards is almost too painful to recount. On board 2 Will Taylor, with Black, had fought valiantly against the Richmond captain and had a draw for the taking, but he had to find the correct move in the position below:

Homayoon Froogh, with White against the durable Sampson Low on board 5 (the two are pictured above, with Homayoon on the left), also blundered in time trouble in a position that was probably winning, and John Foley let at least a draw slip with White against John Burke on board 3. This really wasn’t our night. Jon Eckert, Black on board 6, lost the exchange against Pablo Soriano, and the Richmond man was in the box seat thereafter, smoothly converting in a well-played game.

Zubair Froogh, with Black on board 4 against the accomplished John Bass, saved us from the humiliation of a whitewash, getting a draw to cap an excellent first season for the club. The arrival of father Homayoon and son Zubair at Kingston this season has been one reason why we have ended up as champions of division 2 (see the final division 2 table at the foot of this report). It has been a truly fantastic season for Kingston B, and once we get over the pain of this defeat we will celebrate winning the title in appropriate style. For the club to win both Thames Valley division 1 and 2 is a truly remarkable achievement and surely a first in Kingston’s history.

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain

Final Thames Valley division 2 table

Kingston B v Richmond B, Thames Valley League division 2 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 2 June 2025

In the penultimate league match of the season, Kingston B held on to their unbeaten record with a reasonably comfortable victory against a battle-hardened Richmond B side, who were in with a chance of promotion if they could beat us in the final two back-to-back matches of the season.

Jon Eckert recorded a rapid victory against Richmond newcomer Polina Popovtseva on board 6, when White rounded on Black’s uncastled king in a French Defence that went badly wrong. Alan Scrimgour, playing White, took an early draw against distinguished Richmond veteran Richard James on board 2, while Stephen Lovell (Black on board 3) and Zubair Froogh (White on board 4) had rather more extended and exhausting draws against Sampson Low and Bertie Barlow, two tough opponents. Indeed, Stephen’s game did not finish until 10.30pm after three hours of hard-fought struggle.

On board 5, Homayoon Froogh had Black against Simon Illsley. Homayoon was always well ahead on the clock, but he was the exchange down and it looked like the Richmond player had at least a draw. Indeed, if the match had not been swinging Kingston’s way, he might well have offered one. But he played on and, with time short, blundered when under attack by queen and bishop, and was mated.

On board 1, in a high-class struggle between Richmond captain Alastair Armstrong, with White, and Kingston stalwart Peter Andrews, this was the complicated and double-edged position after Black’s 27th move, with time trouble already looming:

A satisfying win for Peter and a fine victory for Kingston B by 4.5-1.5, setting up the return match away to Richmond B due the very next day and with many of the same personnel likely to be involved.

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain

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.

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain

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.

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain

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.

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain

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.”

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, 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:

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain