Kingston 1 v Epsom 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston, on 11 November 2024

This was the board 4 game in the crucial Kingston 1 v Epsom 1 Surrey League division 1 match. Mike’s win helped Kingston to an emphatic 6.5-1.5 victory and was memorable in its own right, characterised by what Mike likes to call “ultra-violence”, in this instance visited on a former team-mate who happily did not take the chess equivalent of GBH personally. This is the sort of game which only Mike can really play, as his use of the symbol ^ (explained in a footnote below) demonstrates. Prepare to be entertained, or, as Peter Andrews says in his match report, “Fasten your seatbelts!”.

It was great to have a proper fighting game with James after all these years, and I hope we see more of him over the board as he eases off the work. Certainly it was fun to play, and we both had smiles on our faces; the most shocking thing is the computer’s assessment – it only really objects to White’s first Rb4 lift. Not bad, for a crazed sac-happy human!

* In his annotation, Mike uses the symbol ^, inspired by Naom A Manella and Zeev Zohar’s book Play Unconventional Chess and Win in which it was coined, to indicate “challenging move”. “The symbol ^ does not represent the objective strength of a move (like ! or !!),” Mike explains, “but refers to the effect it has on the opponent. For this game, I think ^ is useful because while Rb4, Rd6 and Rg6 aren’t actually that good, they have a profound psychological effect and encourage James to go wrong.

Kingston B v Maidenhead B, Thames Valley division 2 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 4 November 2024

This was the board 6 game in the match between Kingston B and Maidenhead B in Thames Valley division 2. In many way, it was the pivotal game in the match. We were 2-1 down when it was reaching its conclusion, and Alicia’s opponent appeared to have reasonable drawing chances. But under time pressure she played superbly to convert the small advantage she had nursed for most of the game, drawing admiration from Peter Andrews, whose own board 3 game had just finished and who was watching intently as Alicia’s queen-and-knight mating net closed on her opponent. Her win tied the match at 2-2, and a win and a draw by Peter Hasson and David Rowson on boards 1 and 2 then saw us over the line for a 3.5-2.5 victory. A blessed relief after being 2-0 down earlier in the evening.

Streatham v Kingston, Alexander Cup first-round match played at St Thomas’s Church, Streatham, on 1 October 2024

Kingston ran out 6.5-3.5 winners against a spirited Streatham side, who were outrated on every board, in the tense first-round Alexander Cup match in which this impressive game was played. David Maycock (pictured above left) on board 2, playing his first rated game for four months, carried on where he left off last season with this victory over Streatham’s experienced Graham Keane.

World Senior Team Championships, round 5, Scotland v Wales, played on 6 July 2024 in Krakow, Poland

It always feels ironic to travel to a distant land only to play against someone local. This is what happened when I represented Scotland during the recent World Senior Team Championships held in Krakow, Poland. Scotland were paired with Wales in Round 5, and I found my opponent was Tony Hughes, three-times winner of the All Saints Blitz. This game was played at a less frenetic pace, which is more to my liking.

Fourth-round game played in the Wimbledon Congress (under-1700 section) at Hillside Church, Wimbledon on 25 May 2024

Archive photo by John Saunders

This was a crucial win by 12-year-old Kingston junior Jaden Mistry (pictured above playing in an outdoor event in Kingston) in his fourth of five games at the Wimbledon Congress in late May 2024. It was Jaden’s first Fide-rated classical tournament, and thanks to his triumph in this no-holds-barred game he managed to win the competition. Four players finished on 4/5, but Jaden took the spoils on tie-break. A great achievement by young Jaden, who really came of age in this tournament.

Kingston A v Richmond A, Thames Valley division 1 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston, on 20 May 2024

This was 10-year-old prodigy Supratit Banerjee’s (pictured) second game for Kingston and his second win. He shows tremendous maturity and positional control against Richmond’s Maks Gajowniczek, who is a very capable player. This may also be Supratit’s first ever self-annotated game, in which case it will be a historical document as the young man rises towards titled status, as we all hope he will.

Kingston A v Richmond A, Thames Valley division 1 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston, on 20 May 2024

This was an important win for Kingston’s board 1, David Maycock (pictured above), against IM Gavin Wall in the Kingston v Richmond match which decided the fate of the Thames Valley title for the 2023/24 season. Kingston’s 4-2 victory over Richmond meant that we won the league for the second season in a row, pipping Hammersmith. When he played this game, David was enjoying a superb run of form in which he won six games out of six, all against very strong opponents. This remarkable string of successes took him to a Fide rating of 2290 – tantalisingly close to the Fide master title.

Epsom v Kingston, board 1 in the Lauder Trophy final, played at the Adelaide pub, Teddington on 30 April 2024

David Maycock (pictured above) played this minor masterpiece against the rapidly improving Zain Patel. The game was played in the final of the Lauder Trophy. David departed from his usual king pawn opening and headed towards a simplified position out of the London System. His young opponent was tempted to grab some free pawns on the queenside. With Black’s queen hideously misplaced, David launched a vicious attack which proved decisive.

South Norwood 1 v Kingston 2, Surrey League division 2 match played at West Thornton Community Centre, Thornton Heath on 4 April 2024

My wins against players rated higher than me have been few and far between this season, so please indulge me by allowing this win against Oliver Weiss (ECF 1915) to be included in our annotated games list. My play on this evening when we had two teams playing at distant South Norwood was far from perfect – insipid opening, wrong-headed guess in a key middlegame position – and my opponent greatly helped me at the sudden denouement, but generally I thought I played OK and at least I had a few modestly creative ideas (albeit at times misguided ones). And I do need all the encouragement I can get after recent over-the-board setbacks.

The photograph above shows Kingston 4 player Leon Mellor-Sewell watching intently as he waits for his opponent to arrive. Kingston 4 beat South Norwood 3 by 4.5-1.5 in a Surrey division 5 match. Kingston 2, for whom I was on board 5, lost 5-2 to a highly motivated South Norwood 1 team. The threat of relegation from Surrey division 2 had encouraged them to get their strongest side out. We are also in the division 2 relegation mix and every game point counts, which was another reason I felt pleased by my much-needed win.