Dominic Fogg and Miles O’Brien were joint winners of the club’s first evening rapidplay, played atthe Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 12 October 2026
When Kingston moved to the United Reformed Church last season, we decided to start offering rated friendlies at classical time controls to members of the club. This has proved a significant success, thanks to the unstinting work of Ed Mospan – who organises the pairings and rates the games – and fellow club-night organiser Genc Tasbasi.
Monday 12 October saw an important step forward in this plan to offer members more than the usual diet of club matches and casual chess: the inaugural evening rapidplay, played over three rounds as an experiment to see if it could be run alongside two league matches and eight classical rated friendlies.
That meant we had 24 players engaged in league chess, 16 playing friendlies at a time control of 75 minutes and 10 seconds, and another 16 who chose to play in the rapidplay tournament. It meant a very full house, an enormous amount of work for the indefatigable Ed Mospan, and a lot of shushing from me as I tried to keep noise levels down to a reasonable level.
The rapidplay tournament, won jointly by Dominic Fogg and Miles O’Brien with 3/3, was deemed a great success. My only observation was that we needed a fourth round to determine an outright winner. Three rounds at 10 minutes plus a five-second increment meant a fairly early finish, so it should be possible to get at least one more round in and possibly two if the field expands to, say, 24 and an extra round is required to establish a winner.
It would also be possible to adjust the time control to make it a little less blitzy. Again it is a personal opinion and Ed, as controller, will have the final say, but 15+5 strikes me as a better intermediate version of the game between blitz and classical. We will now review the experiment and make any necessary refinements in time for a tournament planned for 9 November.
The rapidplay games are rated and offer serious competition, but they avoid the situation where a major blunder in the opening in a game slated to last three hours means you get a very early finish or an evening of back-to-the-wall torture with no real prospect of reversing the initial error. With a four- or five-round rapidplay, you accept the loss, reset the pieces and go again with even greater determination.
From the New Year, the hope is to make the rapidplays regular events, though with members still being given the option of a classical rated friendly every Monday if they are not engaged in a league match and that is their preference. The club committee will discuss how to combine the different formats to best effect and without causing undue disturbance to matches, especially after 10pm when time trouble kicks in, nerves jangle and brains tend to freeze.
Jasper Tambini won the 22nd edition of the monthly blitz at All Saints Church in Kingston on 30 September 2026 on tie-break from IM Peter Large, with both scoring 5/6
Jasper Tambini (pictured above) is always competitive at the All Saints Blitz, and it was his turn to triumph when the tournament resumed after its summer break. He lost to Chris Briscoe in round 3 – Jasper reckoned he had been swindled – but otherwise recorded five wins against very good opponents to finish on 5/6.
IM Peter Large, a multiple winner of the Blitz, had the same score, but lost out on tie-break. At the end of the tournament, Peter could be seen poring over exactly how the tie-break works. Strength of opponents seems to be the key, but I share Peter’s qualms about tie-breaks and have yet to find one that truly satisfies me. What a wonderful competitor Peter is. We can learn so much from his professionalism, limitless love for the game and the standards he sets himself.
Peter also scored five wins and a loss, with Robin Haldane claiming his scalp in round 5. “I think I have only beaten Peter once before,” Robin said later, “so the score must now be about 15-2 to him. Peter played the same line of the Sicilian against me where in the past I have swapped queens and got a slightly worse position and he has outplayed me. This time I improvised over the board, keeping the queens on, and managed to find some cheapo tactics where Peter gave up queen for rook and bishop, but had two very strong bishops threatening my king on the diagonals. It was very double-edged and could have gone either way, but I got lucky and managed to get a forced mate just before he got one on me. Having put a lot of effort into that game, I got completely outplayed in the last game [against Jasper] where I played passively against a London-type set-up.”
Robin is unfailingly modest and courteous, but he should never be underestimated in these tournaments. He is a fierce and highly creative competitor whose great strength derives from his inexhaustible desire to play, learn and innovate. Like Peter, Robin is always challenging himself to improve. Neither ever plays rote moves or a routine game. They never go through the motions.
Robin came joint third on 4/6 with Chris Briscoe, Epsom president Marcus Gosling and Alan Bracher, a strong player (he played for Cambridge in the Varsity match in 1968) who has returned to chess after a lengthy absence. Alan has a classical, highly principled positional style and crushed your correspondent in round 3, reducing my pieces to immobility. I also lost a (metaphorically) violent game against Alan Hayward in the final round to finish on a somewhat dismal (though thoroughly deserved) 2/6.
Thanks as ever to Edward Mospan for running the show and to All Saints Church for hosting us in their delightful Heritage Room. We do it all again, God willing, on Wednesday 28 October.
Stephen Moss is captain of Kingston Chess Club
Final standings
1: Jasper Tambini (Kingston) 5/6 (winner on tie-break) 2: Peter Large (Kingston) 5/6 3-6: Alan Bracher (Kingston) 4/6, Chris Briscoe (Surbiton) 4/6, Marcus Gosling (Epsom) 4/6, Robin Haldane (Streatham) 4/6
Kingston chair Peter Andrews won the well-attended seven-round blitz which kicked off the new season at the United Reformed Church in central Kingstonon 7 September 2026
We expected about 30 players at the opening blitz of the new season. In the event we got almost 50, and players were still streaming in when the tournament was due to start at 7.30pm. Kingston treasurer and event controller Genc Tasbasi, who signed up a stack of new club members on the night, dealt with the rush with aplomb (amid occasional panic when the pairings went wrong) and we eventually got going at about 7.40pm.
Young Harvey Li, a newcomer to the club, played superbly and was on 4/4 when homework and an early school start meant he had to withdraw. He was given a prize for his achievements to that point. I filled in thereafter, scoring 2.5/3. Doesn’t that make Harvey and me joint winners? (I did not receive a prize!)
The usual suspects – Jasper Tambini, David Rowson, John Bussmann, Joshua Pirgon (another new Kingston member), Stephen Lovell, Martyn Jones, Richmond stalwart Maks Gajowniczek – all performed well. They were never far away from the top of the leaderboard and tussled with each other as the evening wore on.
Alan Bracher, returning to chess after a very long break, showed his skill is still intact, finishing joint eighth. A tremendous performance given he has hardly touched a chess piece for 50 years and that we were playing at quite a sharp time control – five minutes with a three-second increment.
Alan is a very strong player who played for Cambridge in the Varsity match in 1968 before disappearing overseas. Now he is back and we will hope to see him at some point in Kingston colours, though at present he says his preference is for casual chess.
Fine performances, too, by Ben Hambridge, yet another new Kingston member; Kingston veteran Peter Roche; Mark Sheridan, taking time off from the Proms, where he has been playing cello all summer with the BBC Symphony Orchestra; and the mercurial Jimmy Kew, another recent joiner.
We have, though, left the best till last. After being, in his words, “smashed” by Siddarth Ramaraju in the opening round, Kingston chair Peter Andrews sailed through the rest of the tournament with 6/6 to pip Jasper Tambini and David Rowson, who finished joint second on 5.5/6. Another triumph for the so-called “Swiss Gambit”, where an opening loss in the first round eases a player’s path thereafter.
Absolutely not deliberate on Peter’s part, in case you draw any such inference. He was probably discombobulated by not knowing, in the opening confusion, whether he would get a place in the tournament. “I was withdrawn to make room for more players when we didn’t have enough clocks, then re-entered to replace no-shows, leading to confusion,” he explained afterwards.
Oddly, he appears twice on the results list – at the top and the bottom (this may be a first in chess history, coming first and last in the same tournament). The enfeebled Peter Andrews loses his first game and appears to withdraw. A second, emboldened Peter Andrews then appears, having donned his Superman outfit in the lavatory at the venue, and sweeps through the rest of the competition to secure victory. “The wrong Peter Andrews was deleted,” he said afterwards. As he said to Jasper, “You can never have enough Peter Andrews.”
“Fix”, I cried, but to no avail. It is true that Jasper’s opponents, in particular, were rather more testing – which is why the Swiss Gambit can be effective – but we take nothing away from Peter. It was a well-deserved victory, achieved with dynamic play, and earning him the box of chocolates which he had brought along as first prize. A memorable (if exhausting) way to mark the start of the season.
Stephen Moss is captain of Kingston Chess Club
Leading scores
1 Peter Andrews 6/7 2-3 Jasper Tambini and David Rowson 5.5/7 4-7 John Bussmann, Joshua Pirgon, Stephen Lovell, Martyn Jones 5/7 8-13 Maks Gajowniczek, Alan Bracher, Ben Hambridge, Alex McTavish, Peter Roche, Liam O’Sullivan 4.5/7
Former British champion Harry Grieve, who recently gained the title of grandmaster, took on 26 of Kingston’s finest in a simultaneous display. It proved a tough night for the GM
A few days before he played in the British championship, where he performed strongly and finished joint fourth, grandmaster Harry Grieve (who won the British as an FM in 2022) played against 26 members and friends of the Kingston club in a simultaneous display at the United Reformed Church in central Kingston, the club’s home. It turned out to be a memorable evening.
Harry won 13 games, drew eight and lost five. The Kingston victors on the night were Peter Andrews, David Rowson, Martyn Jones, Jasper Tambini and Tom Mayers, and we look at their games below. Harry, who played from 7pm until well after 11pm and missed his last train home, was a great sport throughout and philosophical about the reverses.
One of his conquerors suggested it had been a mistake for Harry to have opted for aggressive openings – Harry had White on all boards – and complicated games. Why not keep it simple and technical? “It’s definitely true about the complications,” Harry said afterwards, “and many of the games I lost were as a result of losing control of those. On the other hand, several games I drew were from more dry positions where my opponents played solidly, and having more long endgame-type games also doesn’t seem ideal for the strategy. So maybe the aggressive style would have been more successful if I’d finished off a few boards more quickly. I think it took until 9.30 to get the first result!”
Kingston chair Peter Andrews was cock-a-hoop about his victory over Harry, and we start with his game. The annotations are by Peter.
Another Kingston stalwart to win was David Rowson, who afterwards said: “I was very pleased with my game, though Stockfish finds fault with the moves of course. I felt sorry for Harry. He probably didn’t expect quite such a tough evening. The psychology of playing a GM in a simul is interesting. I at first assumed that he had a deep insight into every position, but after a while I realised that he didn’t have the time or focus (playing 26 games at once) for this and was generally relying on his intuition, which was bound to let him down sometimes as every position has its own special features, which can only be discovered through pretty deep analysis.” Here is David’s game, with his comments:
Another Kingston winner on the night was Martyn Jones, who has a terrific debut season for the club last year and followed it up with a clear-eyed win here. (He recently became a father, but the sleepless nights do not seem to have dulled his tactical skills or positional awareness.) Martyn’s game is below, with some brief comments by him.
Jasper Tambini always plays aggressively and is a challenge for strong players in one-on-one chess, let alone in a simul. In his early 20s, playing in the 2013 British championship, Jasper downed grandmaster and former British champion Chris Ward in a thrilling game. Here Jasper claims another GM scalp, though afterwards Harry said he thought his resignation had been premature (it had ben a long night!).
The fifth player to win against Harry was young Tom Mayers – a superb result for him and a great boost so early in his chess career. Tom has provided extensive notes on the game below, and his annotations capture the unique pressures of playing in a simul and having to play at the simul-giver’s pace.
In retrospect, I realise that pitting Harry against 26 players, quite a few of them rated 2000-plus, was a bit unfair. He was clearly keen to spend more time thinking about complicated middlegame positions, but the clock was ticking and we didn’t want to finish at 2am. If this had been a Sunday-afternoon simul, spread over six or seven hoyrs, Harry would almost certainly have done better. As it was, as the night wore on, Harry had to speed up, errors were made and good players were able to exploit them.
The collective strength of the opposition also told. Harry couldn’t knock out the weaker players fast enough to put time pressure (though ever quicker visits) on the players who were doing well. In that sense a simul is a real team effort. Finally, many of the strongest players were seated together in one row, and they seemed to draw strength from the resistance each was putting up. They could see Harry had problems on a neighbouring board and that emboldened them further. Giving simuls against a large group of strong, motivated players is not easy.
Various prizes were awarded to players who had beaten Harry or achieved a draw, but counterintuitively Harry awarded the main prize, a copy of Stefan Zweig’s Chess Novel (also often called The Royal Game) to Richmond chair Alastair Armstrong. “I was really impressed by some of the creative resources Alastair found to complicate the game from a lost position.” Harry explained. We end by showing the prize-winning game, with a description of the rollercoaster by Alastair. It’s good to end on a game Harry won, because his play throughout was dynamic, and win, lose or draw he remained phlegmatic and boundlessly engaging.
The great thing was that Harry’s tough evening did not affect his play at the British, where he was in contention for the title until losing to tournament winner, 17-year-old GM Shreyas Royal, with Black in the final round. Maybe we can even claim some credit for sharpening him up for the tournament. Maybe…
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.
John Foley reports on Kingston Chess Club’s leading role in the town’s popular Saxon Fayre, which took place on 25 July 2026 in the Market Square and All Saints Church
Chess featured prominently at this year’s Saxon Fayre, where Kingston Chess Club had a stall in the middle of the Market Square and also in the All Saints Church. Both stalls were fully occupied throughout the day as members of the public challenged our experts or just played among themselves. Our volunteers interacted with well over a hundred people who stopped by the stalls to chat or play. The event was held from 10.30am until 5pm on a beautiful summer’s day with temperatures reaching 29°C.
The chess stall was busy throughout the day
Our stall in the Market Square had two tables, each under a gazebo, one with two chess sets and the other with a large-piece chess set and a hnefatafl set. The latter is also known as the Viking game and was a nod to the historical nature of the event.
The big set chess match
In All Saints Church, which is situated on the north side of the Market Square, we had two tables allowing for four chess sets. In addition, we had a floor set which attracted a young audience.
Father and son
The Kingston Fayre had a variety of stalls illustrating various aspects of medieval life. There was also a re-enactment with an honour guard of armed soldiers marching through the town accompanied by drummers. Everybody was smiling as this motley crew passed by with their smocks and spears.
Passing parade
A couple of dozen people expressed an interest in coming along to the club or in entering their children into the Kingston Junior Chess Club, which will be starting on 14 September at the United Reformed Church in central Kingston, where the Kingston club meet. We will be contacting them over the summer.
Stephen Moss v Robin Haldane
We could not have delivered this event without our volunteers. The main organiser from the Council was Emma Humphries. John Foley was the Club organiser. The irreverend Stephen Moss took charge of church activities.
Stephen Moss, Dominic Fogg, Alan Scrimgour, Correr Chen, John Foley. Photo: Leila Raivio
Seth Warren designed the iconic club t-shirts. Alan Scrimgour brought the tables in his car from our former venue at the Willoughby pub. Dominic Fogg helped set up the sets and put them away, as well as playing all-comers. Correr Chen looked after the stalls and members of the public as well as dressing as a Saxon to take part in the parade and the Saxon dancing. Leila Raivio brought the equipment, including the water-weights which secured the gazebos from being blown away. Mark Sheridan fitted in a serious game of chess with his daughter. Miles O’Brien played his heart out, as well as teaching some beginners.
Esslinger v Ghasi
Grandmaster Ameet Ghasi kindly dropped by and played some enthusiastic kids including eight-year-old Louis Esslinger, who nearly beat David Rowson. Robin Haldane from Streatham chess club played floor chess. He doubts he will repeat the position at the All Saints Blitz.
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 FM David Maycock scored 14/16 in an entertaining simul at the United Reformed Church on 22 June 2026, but was bested by Ye Kwaw in a rollercoaster game
The latest event in Kingston Chess Club’s summer programme was a simultaneous display by FM David Maycock. This is an event in which a titled or strong player plays games against a large number of opponents at once, in effect with a fraction of their thinking time for each move. David was Kingston’s most successful player in league chess in the 2025-26 season, with a win over GM Matthew Wadsworth among many others, and on occasions played some spectacular games.
The event is harder for the display-giver the more players there are, the stronger they are, and the more complicated are the games. Monday’s event took place over 16 boards. The opposition included club secretary Alan Scrimgour, known for achieving solid results against titled players on level terms when he represents Scotland in seniors events, club captain Stephen Moss, and a mixture of club regulars, some younger players and some welcome guests.
True to his principles, David played attacking chess and critical lines on every board, and took 14 points from the 16 possible, including a fine sacrificial effort against the hapless Moss. David conceded two draws. He had a fluctuating struggle with Alan, who won a pawn and then sacrificed the exchange winning a second pawn in the process, leading to a late middle game in which it was hard for either side to make progress. And there was a wild game with Eion Fox, in which David sacrificed four pawns for a dangerous attack, Eion managed to find his way through the complications and exchange queens, but in the two-pawns-down ending David retained just enough initiative to rescue the draw.
The only winner among the participants was Ye Kyaw, who was under heavy pressure but then, as we see below, spotted an opportunity to turn the tables just before David could mate him. A reminder that in any game of chess a single mistake can turn the whole game, and even the very strongest players can make them, so do not despair.
Prizewinners: Alan Scrimgour (left), Ye Kyaw (centre) and Eion Fox
The latest event in Kingston Chess Club’s summer series was a five-round rapid tournament, 10 minutes for all moves with five-second increments. Thirty two players took part, among which we were happy to welcome 12 visitors, including a few new faces as well as returning friends such as Alex Park.
It was a very international affair, with a few conversations in Russian in the foyer. Some of our newcomers visited the analysis room when their games finished early to enjoy fragments of the three-handed blitz marathon between Messrs Lalić, Li and Maycock – stellar stuff for a suburban club night. There were several juniors, with alarmingly quick reflexes to these old eyes. All part of the chess buzz in Kingston on a Monday.
The winner was Julian Ward, pictured above (right) receiving his prize from club president John Foley. Julian won his first four games, including a critical clash with Jasper Tambini in round 3, and then halved with Black against Alex Park. Alex and Jasper tied on 4, with Alex nicking second on tie-break. Julian and Jasper may be building up chocolate inventories after successes in earlier weeks. Ethan Bogerd was the other player to reach 4, and took the junior prize, wisely escaping with his chocolate, probably to prepare for school but possibly to escape being inflicted with a book prize.
Yuriy Isaev, who is staying locally for the summer and had found us via the website, was an early leader and finished on 3.5, with the seasoned veterans Foley and Roche and last week’s winner Martyn Jones. Masters (well, in a few years) Bunbich, Tang and Palmer Curiel from the youngest generation were among those on 3.
Many thanks to Genc Tasbasi, who organised the event and thereby allowed Ed Mospan an evening of play.
Peter Andrews is chair of Kingston Chess Club
We’re becoming more organised: Genc Tasbasi at the tech-and-biscuits console
The latest event in Kingston Chess Club’s summer programme was a “Fischer Random“ tournament – so called because the late world champion, like Magnus Carlsen in more recent times, advocated the variant, in which the starting line-up of the pieces for each game is more or less randomised1, as a means of getting away from opening preparation. It is also known as Freestyle, or Chess960 (from the number of possible starting positions).
The event was played as a seven-round blitz, with a different starting position for each round, so that those unfamiliar with the variant had plenty of opportunity to learn as they went along.
The event soon crystallised into a three-horse race. As might have been expected, Josh Pirgon and Julian Ward, who had led the previous week’s blitz, were well to the fore again. But in the end it was Kingston’s own Martyn Jones (pictured above, right) who triumphed with a final score of 6/7, half a point ahead of his two closest rivals. His win over Josh was critical, while Julian, who had beaten Martyn early on, lost a vital game to Robin Haldane. The best score for a lower-rated player was 4, achieved by David Shalom, Colin Lyle and Jimmy Kew, while the best-placed junior was Eoin Fox with 3.
Many thanks to Ed Mospan, whose experience handling the software which generates the positions as well as dealing with the results and pairings is invaluable for an event like this. Very modestly, Ed just played one game himself, when late arrivals meant there was an odd number of players, but his efforts made 18 others happy.
Peter Andrews is chair of Kingston Chess Club
1 There are two exceptions – the two bishops on each side start on different colour squares, and each side has one rook on each side of the king, to enable castling either way.
