The three CSC/Kingston teams experienced mixed fortunes in the fourth round of 4NCL matches, played in Coventry and Daventry on the weekend of 21/22 March

The photograph above shows members of CSC/Kingston 1 playing blitz on Saturday evening after the victory over Warwickshire Select. Jacob Templen Grave (left) and Vlad Larkin are in the foreground, with Luisa Bashylina watching on

Weekend 4 of 4NCL, played at two separate venues in Coventry and Daventry on 21/22 March, proved to be tough for CSC/Kingston’s three teams, all of which were flying high in their respective divisions. The teams are still well placed after the struggles of the weekend, but it was a salutary lesson in how challenging 4NCL can be.

On Saturday, Kingston 1 squeezed past a very competitive and youthful Warwickshire Select team. Supratit Banerjee, playing on board 1 for CSC/Kingston to give him the strongest possible opponent, fought hard against Indian IM Siva Mahadevan, but Siva played what one observer described as a “gem of a game” and prevailed with a blistering attack.

Warwickshire’s Lorenzo Fava had a memorable win against IM (soon, we hope, to be GM) Harry Grieve with Black on board 2, and Finlay Terry-Bowcott did the same against FM Ulysse Bottazzi on board 4. But IM Vlad Larkin started the ball rolling for CSC/Kingston with a win on board 3, and our players proved almost irresistible on the lower boards. Wins for Jacob Templen Grave, Adam Collins and Luisa Bashylina, and a draw for Roland Bezuidenhout, took us over the line by 4.5-3.5. Warwickshire were outrated by 100 points a board, so should be congratulated on their performance.

On Sunday, we were up against a highly motivated Sharks 1 team. They brought in GM Daniel Fernandez especially to play against us, and just had a touch too much firepower and nous, running out 5-3 winners. The high spot for CSC/Kingston was Supratit’s terrific victory over IM Rajat Makkar, but there were plenty of other strong performances, notably Ulysse’s draw with IM Peter Roberson and Adam’s draw against IM Tom Rendle – both the CSC/Kingston players had Black. Vlad Larkin drew with Dan Fernandez in a game in which both had chances of winning at different times before peace was declared.

The win on Saturday and loss on Sunday left CSC/Kingston 1 fourth in the table – a very satisfactory position after last season’s early struggles and one we hope to maintain at the final three-round weekend on 2-4 May, when the first team will again be playing in Daventry.

Current Division 1 table

In the very competitive division 3 (knights), where CSC/Kingston 2 have high hopes of promotion, we had a narrow 3.5-2.5 victory over Oxford 2 on Saturday, with wins for Peter Hasson and Chris Fegan. But Sunday proved to be a disaster against Rhyfelwyr Essyllwg – yes they are Welsh and Rhyfelwyr means warriors. On paper the match was very close, but the events on the board proved anything but, and the Warriors ran out easy 5-1 winners, with draws from Peter Finn on board 1 and Jim Stayt on board 5 saving our blushes.

The loss makes the promotion fight harder for CSC/Kingston 2, but they are still clear second and in with a good chance going into the final weekend, with two teams from each Div 3 pool promoted to division 2.

Current Division 3 (Knights) table

The third team had an even tougher weekend – the result of being close to the top of the 30-strong league and coming up against very highly rated sides. On Saturday, they faced 3Cs, whose average rating of 2119 would make them one of the strongest teams in division 3. They beat CSC/Kingston 5-1, but well done to Phil Stimpson and Charukgan Muhunthan on securing draws against much higher-rated opponents. It was especially commendable by Charukgan, who was making his 4NCL debut.

The unpoetically named TMNT, CSC/Kingston 3’s opponents on Sunday, were not quite as strong as 3Cs, but they still had an average rating advantage of almost 100 points a board and ran out 4-2 winners. CSC/Kingston’s hero was Mike Cresswell, who scored a tremendous win against a player who outrated him by more than 150 points. Despite the two defeats, CSC/Kingston 3 are still ninth from 30 in division 4, which is very respectable.

Current Division 4 table (top 12 teams of 30)

The final weekend takes place over three days from 2-4 May, culminating in the final round on bank holiday Monday. The first team will be in Daventry and the second and third teams in Coventry. The first team will be happy with a top four place and the third team with a top 10 position, so most eyes will be on the second team, who for the third year in a row are fighting for promotion to division 2. They have been denied twice over the past two seasons. Can they finally do it this year?

Stephen Moss is captain of Kingston Chess Club

Kingston entered two teams in the Thorpe Trophy, played at Cheam on 14 March 2026. The A team retained the title and the B team came joint second, but there were a few alarms along the way

The Surrey League revived the long-dormant Thorpe Trophy – a four-round team rapidplay – in 2025, when a Kingston A team spearheaded by Peters Lalić and Large won it. The 2026 edition had the same result, but for much of the afternoon that conclusion was far from guaranteed.

The neat feature of the Thorpe is that the four-person teams have to have two players of unspecified rating – naturally teams select the strongest players they can muster – and two with a rapidplay rating below ECF 1750. It’s an excellent opportunity for players who usually play for different league teams to play alongside each other and in this case celebrate success together.

We had the tried-and-trusted pair of Lalić and Large back in harness for Kingston A, this time joined by Alexander Chmelev and Seth Warren (the winning team is pictured above, with left to right: Warren, Lalić, Chmelev and Large). Kingston A had FM Vladimir Li, making a welcome return to competitive chess, on board 1; Jasper Tambini on board 2; er, me on board 3; and Genc Tasbasi on board 4.

The Peters, well supported by Alex and Seth, both scored 3.5/4 to guide Kingston A to a tournament-winning 11.5/16 – the event is decided on game points – but the role of Vladimir in deciding the title must be emphasised. He scored a perfect 4/4, thus both propelling Kingston B into second place alongside South Norwood and also denying the main rivals of both the Kingston teams from garnering vital points. Jasper also performed well, scoring 3/4, and missed a mate in the game he did lose in round 2 to Graham Keane.

The event had started relatively poorly for Kingston A, who managed to win by just 2.5-1.5 against Streatham B, with Streatham veteran Martin Smith getting a commendable draw against IM Peter Large. But they made up for that in round 2, thrashing Wimbledon 4-0, despite a surprise appearance for Wimbledon by Kingston chair Peter Andrews, filling in for an absent Wimbledon player. (The tournament is serious but also social, and we were happy to help out to fill the gap.)

Seth got an important win in this match and Alex Chmelev, who scored 3/4 across the four rounds, was proving rock-like. Kingston B were also performing well, though my loss on time when a rook up in round 2 against Streatham A was crucial in the final tally of game points (sorry team-mates).

Epsom A and Richmond A were always likely to be the main dangers to a repeat Kingston title victory, though South Norwood had also brought a strong team, headed by Marcus Osborne (who scored an excellent 3.5/4 on top board) and Paul Dupré, and were going well. Indeed, but for a surprise loss on board 3 to Streatham B in the final round, they would have won the trophy.

A key match-up came in round 3, when Kingston A took on the Epsom A. Despite being heavily outrated, Epsom A got a 2-2 draw to ensure that the last round would be a nail-biter. Peter Large beat James Allison, who has been a thorn in Kingston sides this year, but young Ethan Bogerd (who scored 4/4 in the tournament) beat Alex Chmelev to boost Epsom’s cause. Another Epsom youngster, Arnav Kumar, drew with Peter Lalić.

Kingston B beat Epsom B 4-0 in round 3 and were leading going into the final round, but vertigo may have kicked in – on my part at least. I played the all-conquering Ethan Bogerd with Black and, after surviving an early onslaught, had a winning endgame. Ethan offered me a draw, which I turned down, sure I had a simple win. But, playing on the increment – Ethan uses virtually no time and wanders round the playing room looking at other games – I blundered and lost. Moral: never play juniors at rapidplay.

My defeat gave Kingston A an opening in their match against Richmond A. Peter Large defeated Alastair Armstrong, Alex Chmelev completed an impressive afternoon with a win with Black over the very capable Raghu Kamath, and on board 1 Peter Lalić scored a crucial win with Black against the highly rated Caspar Bates. Peter has kindly reconstructed the game (few players record rapidplay games, but Peter has almost total recall).

As well as avoiding juniors in rapidplays, you should avoid Peter Lalic, whose accuracy levels remain remarkably high even at a time control of 20 minutes plus five-second increment.

All that was needed now for Kingston A to retain the trophy was for Kingston B to inflict sufficient damage on Epsom A to stop them coming through to pinch the title. Vladimir Li duly beat Arnav Kumar with Black on board 1 to record his fourth win of the afternoon, and Jasper Tambini then got a crucial point on board 2 against James Allison to ensure that Kingston A won the trophy and Kingston B came joint second.

Afterwards, Peter Large reminded us that it the denouement was remarkably similar to last year. “In 2025 Kingston A were a half-point behind Kingston B and a full point behind Epsom A going into the last round,” he pointed out. “In the last round Kingston B were paired with Epsom A and Kingston A played Richmond. Kingston A won the title because Kingston B obtained a 2-2 draw with Epsom. Jasper Tambini won the crucial game for Kingston B on board 2.” Groundhog Day indeed.

Thanks to tournament controller Graham Alcock for running the tournament, to Peter Andrews for bringing the trophy – happily, to be re-presented back to Kingston A – and to Genc Tasbasi for finding the time to take the excellent photographs in this report while doing his bit to secure joint second place for Kingston B. Multi-tasking which proved to be beyond me. I guess we will do it all again next March. Can we make it a hat-trick of wins?

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain

Kingston C v Surbiton D, Thames Valley League division X match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 2 March 2026

It has been an up-and-down season for Kingston C, and this was one of the downs, losing 3-1 to a well-organised Surbiton D team. Surbiton skipper Phil Goodings got the better of Sean Tay in a tight encounter on board 1; Kim Cross beat Anqi Yang on board 3; and Harry Roberts edged out Robert Chmiest on board 4. That left Nette Robinson, as so often this season, to save Kingston’s blushes with a win with White against the tricky Nikolai Mantaev on board 2. Congrats to Nette on her excellent recent run.

Stephen Moss is Kingston club captain

Guildford 3 v Kingston 4, Surrey League division 5 match played at the Guildford Institute on 2 March 2026

This was a very good win by Kingston 4 against a Guildford 3 team with plenty of experience on the top boards. Thivan Gunawardana, Constantin Liesch and Genc Tasbasi all won with White ; two games with Black were lost (it really was a night for the white pieces); but Tom Mayers got Kingston 4 over the line with a draw with Black against a strong player on board 1. Well done to Tom, new to Kingston but already making an impression, and the team.

Stephen Moss is Kingston club captain

Kingston 3 v Epsom 5, Surrey League division 4 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 23 February 2026

Kingston 3 were badly hampered in this match by a default on board 3 when the Kingston player forgot his engagement at the Richard Mayo Centre. But his team-mates rallied to the cause superbly, and wins for Martyn Jones, Adam Nakar and David Shalom, plus a draw for Jon Eckert (pictured) with Black on board 2 against a dangerous opponent, saw Kingston 3 home and kept them in the promotion hunt in Surrey division 4.

Stephen Moss is Kingston club captain

Richmond C v Kingston C, Thames Valley League division X match played at the Adelaide pub Teddington on 10 February 2026

This is not a match on which we wish to dwell. What on paper was a well-balanced encounter produced a very one-sided result, Richmond C trouncing Kingston C by 3.5-0.5. Well done to Nette Robinson (pictured above in singing mode), who secured a draw to avoid a whitewash. And congratulations to Karl Stand’s Richmond C team on playing so well to secure an emphatic victory.

Stephen Moss is Kingston club captain

Coulsdon v Kingston, Alexander Cup semi-final played at Coulsdon Chess Club, Chipstead Valley Road, Coulsdon on 9 February 2026

The build-up to the Alexander Cup semi-final away to Coulsdon was not propitious for Kingston. Two players reported sick, though one managed to suppress his ailments for an evening and play. Young Zain Patel was also sick, but his illness worked to our advantage. He was too ill to fulfil a singing engagement, so was able to replace the player who really was too ill to make it to Coulsdon. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.

A further complication was that we were playing Guildford 2 at home in Surrey division 2 on the same night. We needed strong players for that match as well. Fighting on two fronts is not easy. But the final blow came at 7.33pm, just as the match at Coulsdon was getting under way. The news was relayed via the club WhatsApp group that our 2200-plus board 4 was having a desperate journey south to Coulsdon and would not make it before the half-hour default time. There was only one reserve – a rather feeble player rated 1750. Yes, me. I would do my best, but outrated by 300 points we were almost certainly 1-0 down before we even started.

On board 7, Julian Way and Ian Calvert agreed a quick draw – a reasonable start as Julian had Black against the supersolid Calvert. David Rowson drew on board 8, as did Peter Lalić against the dangerous Ian Snape on board 2. I then went down to my expected defeat – thoroughly deserved as I played a singularly dull game and was out-techniqued by Coulsdon captain Mark Smith. That put Coulsdon 2-5-1.5 up and Kingston’s nerves were jangling.

Peter Hasson calmed those nerves to some degree with a smooth win on board 6 against Amit Kulkarni, whom he had beaten in the corresponding league match at Coulsdon the previous Monday – a useful dress rehearsal. “I had played the same opponent with the same colours in the league match a week earlier, when he suffered a positional opening disaster,” explained Peter afterwards. “This time he opted for something solid, but conceded White a big space advantage and was also burning time as he was not so familiar with the position.”

Peter’s win tied the score at 2.5-2.5 and it quickly became 3-3 when Zain Patel, who had been substantially worse in the opening, secured an important draw against fast-rising junior Rupert Marsden with Black on board 5. If we had lost that game, as had once seemed likely, it really would have been squeaky-bum time. Well played Zain! Did this match really hang on the dodgy state of your vocal cords?

The feeling was that Will Taylor, with Black on board 9, had winning chances against Vedant Papneja. But time was starting to press and Will, in his own words, “blundered into a perpetual on the increment”. That made it 3.5-3.5, and the match was still in the balance. I could barely bring myself to watch, but Peter Lalić, who was spectating and could actually work out what was going on, was looking confident. He was right to be so – the rest of the match proved to be one-way traffic.

Peter Large (pictured above, right), had Black against Evaldas Baltrunas on board 3 and the game turned into a fascinating tussle, with much middle-game manoeuvring for an advantage. The endgame was tricky and, though Peter had a serviceable advantage, time was running short. Peter then played a knight check with such elan that his opponent assumed his hemmed-in king had been mated, missing the fact there was a flight square. Peter declared it “the strangest game I have played in my 58-year chess career”. Hallucinations, it seems, are part of chess, even at this elevated level.

On board 10, Kingston’s president and Alexander Cup captain John Foley played a masterful rook and pawn endgame to defeat the doughty Nick Edwards – a tremendous battle between two admirable players who have each been on the chess scene for more than half a century. After the game, John looked sheepishly pleased with his win, and he has instructively annotated it for the website’s Games section.

The marquee game was the board 1 match-up between Supratit Banerjee and David Maycock. David had beaten Supratit in the league match the previous week, but this time Supratit had the white pieces. Would that make a difference? David played a tricky sideline of the Philidor Defence – do we detect the influence of team-mate and sparring partner Peter Lalić? – and it worked out very well, allowing him easily to equalise in the opening. There followed some cagey positional chess, proving that David – who we usually think of as a purveyor of chess fireworks – can also play in a more pragmatic, wait-and-see style.

Now, after a series of games against each other in IM norm tournaments and the Surrey League, David and Supratit can revert to being team-mates in the 4NCL and the Thames Valley League. Kingston are very fortunate to have two such talents.

The wins by Peter Large, John Foley and David Maycock came in rapid succession and made the final score 6.5-3.5 to Kingston. The earlier travails were forgotten and we could at last rest easy. Until the final at least, where a very strong Guildford team awaits us. This eagerly anticipated match will take place at the neutral venue of Ashtead Chess Club on Tuesday 26 May. We thumped Guildford 8-2 in the final last year, but expect it to be much closer on this occasion as Guildford have added to their resources and are building a very powerful team.

The incentive for Kingston to retain the trophy is that it would complete a run of five successive Alexander Cup titles – something no team has ever done in the 100-year history of the competition. We feel the weight of history on our shoulders, but will that burden prove too great? Book your tickets for the final now; it is going to be intense … and we hope historic.

Stephen Moss is Kingston club captain

All three CSC/Kingston teams made good progress in the third round of 4NCL matches, played in Coventry and Daventry on the weekend of 7/8 February

We have reached the halfway stage of the 4NCL season, and all three CSC/Kingston teams are feeling pretty chipper. The first team had a tremendous weekend, winning both their matches – against Blackthorne and Celtic Tigers 1 – by 6.5-1.5. IM Harry Grieve, FMs Supratit Benerjee (pictured above) and Roland Bezuidenhout, and WIM Liwia Jarocka all scored 2/2 across the weekend. The results leave CSC/Kingston 1 joint third in division 1 and looking to improve on last season’s seventh place.

Current Div 1 table

The second team, playing in division 3 (knights) and chasing promotion to division 2, suffered a reverse on Saturday, going down narrowly to promotion rivals Golden Cockerels. But an emphatic 5-1 win against Celtic Tigers 2 the following day means they still lead the division going into weekend 4 on 21/22 March. With Golden Cockerels and Sussex Martlets 2 just a point behind, the battle for the two promotion spots is sure to be intense. Silverio Abasolo had a memorable weekend, winning both his board 2 games against strong opponents.

Current Div 3 (Knights) table

Determined not to be left out, CSC Kingston 3 – playing in division 4 in Daventry – also had an excellent weekend, hammering She Plays To Win Lionesses B 5.5-0.5 on Saturday and edging out Ashfield 2 3.5-2.5 on Sunday. Daniel Sparkes and Giampiero Amato both scored 2/2, but everyone contributed in two very solid team performances. That leaves CSC/KIngston 3 in third place in division 4 and suddenly starting to dream of promotion. Four go up to the two division 3 pools from this division.

Current top 11 teams (from 30) in division 4

Stephen Moss is Kingston club captain