Category Archives: Games

John Foley (Surrey) v Colin Mackenzie (Middlesex)

Played at Cheam Parochial Hall on 2 March 2024 on board 2 in the SCCU under-2050 county match between Surrey and Middlesex

Surrey are doing well in the higher echelons of county chess. Its Open team qualified top of the Southern Counties league stage and its under-2050 team also qualified for the national finals by beating Middlesex in this crucial decider. Surrey needed to beat Middlesex to be sure of going through alongside Essex. Graham Alcock, the team manager, brought out his strongest team of the season so far, fortified by six juniors who performed admirably.

Middlesex’s Steven Coles (right) v Surrey’s Sebastian Galer on board 1

For each of the last three years I have played Colin McKenzie in this match. Our last game was rather short. This game was to be rather longer.

Dan Rosen (Wimbledon) v Luca Buanne (Kingston)

Wimbledon 1 v Kingston 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at St Winifride’s Church Hall, Wimbledon on 15 February 2024

Photo: Dan Rosen (left) v Luca Buanne after black’s move 53

This was the board 2 game in the crucial Surrey League division 1 match between Wimbledon 1 and Kingston 1 on 15 February 2024. Against the odds after suffering two late withdrawals, Kingston won the match 4.5-3.5, and this draw with Black by Kingston newcomer Luca Buanne against the vastly experienced Dan Rosen was vital in securing victory in the match.

Gordon Rennie (Wimbledon) v John Foley (Kingston)

Wimbledon 1 v Kingston 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at St Winifride’s Church Hall, Wimbledon on 15 February 2024

This was an important and convincing win by John Foley on board 4 of the crucial match between Wimbledon 1 and Kingston 1 in division 1 of the Surrey League. Kingston’s narrow victory in the match ended any fears of being drawn into a relegation dogfight and even gave us faint hopes of getting back into title contention in the unlikely event of leaders Epsom slipping up.

Edward Mospan (Kingston) v Alistair Mackenzie (Epsom)

Kingston 3 v Epsom 3, Surrey League division 4 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 12 February 2024

Ed Mospan has returned to Kingston this season and is enjoying his chess after taking a break for a couple of years. This game was played in the above drawn match. His opponent deployed the solid French Defence until one false step allowed Ed to play a nice tactic, turning the tables and leading to his opponent’s resignation a few moves later.

Roger de Coverly (Wessex A) v John Foley (CSC/Kingston 2)

Played in round 6 of the third division in the 4NCL at Warwick on 11 February 2024

Foreground: Roger de Coverly (left) and John Foley about to start (photo: Kate Cooke)

I was delighted to play against the man and the legend that is Roger de Coverly. Roger is the most prolific of the contributors to the English Chess Forum, a loosely moderated and often negative bulletin board which nonetheless serves to entertain and, very occasionally, inform those interested in the politics and happenings on the chess scene with no shortage of trivia and arcana. I dip into it infrequently as piranhas swim in those waters.

Roger is a model contributor who is generally well informed and polite even to his detractors, if indeed there are any. Roger has posted more than 21,000 comments and replies on the forum, usually supported by evidence and with a plausible argument. With an average of 3.68 posts per day, it is a wonder that Roger has any time left to play chess.

The game was played in the match between Wessex A and CSC/Kingston 2. The teams were evenly matched and we expected tough games. This game had several critical points. At one point I had a clear advantage and told myself not to relax – the bane of the Player with the Advantage. Alas, I failed to take my own advice and played a weak move which threw away my advantage. Roger then became the Player who Suddenly Gained the Advantage. He then fell into the trap of not adjusting his assessment, so that he played a defensive move when he could have taken full control of the game. This allowed the Player who Previously had the Advantage, Lost it and then Gained it Back to gratefully drive the game to a conclusion.

Vladimir Li (Kingston) v Supratit Banerjee (Coulsdon)

Alexander Cup semi-final played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 25 January 2024

This was the board 2 match-up in the Alexander Cup semi-final played at Kingston on 25 January, in which after a tough struggle side the home ran out 6-4 winners to reach the final against Wimbledon. Kingston star FM Vladimir Li had White against the Coulsdon prodigy Supratit Banerjee, one of the world’s strongest nine-year-olds. Vladimir built up a healthy advantage, but then things started to get a little tricky.

FM Vladimir Li and the prodigious Supratit Banerjee prepare to do battle. Photograph: John Saunders

Jonathan Eckert (Kingston) v Venerando Bermudez (Coulsdon)

Alexander Cup semi-final played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 25 January 2024

This was the board 10 game in the semi-final of the Alexander Cup played at Kingston on 25 January 2024. At one point we were chalking this up as a sure-fire win for Kingston’s Jon Eckert, but then it all got seriously out of control and the Coulsdon player launched a sudden and overwhelming attack. Kingston hearts were broken and we feared the worst in the match, but the team struck back and eventually came out winners by 6-4. Phew!

Mark Gray (Coulsdon) v David Maycock (Kingston)

Alexander Cup semi-final played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 25 January 2024

Maycock (left) and Gray (centre) prepare for battle as Supratit Banerjee looks on. Photograph: John Saunders

This was the board 1 match-up in the Alexander Cup semi-final played at Kingston on 25 January, which the home side won 6-4. For a long period, onlookers assumed Mark Gray was winning this game as he had a big material plus, but, as John Saunders’ brilliant annotation shows, converting such an advantage when your pieces are uncoordinated is far from easy. Engines keep telling us a player has a “won” position, but chess is played by humans and the numbers don’t mean much. John enjoyed watching this game in real time, standing close to the players. Retired from competitive play for a decade or so, it brought back to him the full wonder – and anxiety – of playing chess, as well as the vast gulf between faltering human play and silicon certainties.

David Maycock (Kingston) v Supratit Banerjee (Coulsdon)

Coulsdon 1 v Kingston 1, Surrey League division 1, Coulsdon, 15 January 2024

The match was a curtain-raiser to the forthcoming semi-final in the Alexander Cup. Coulsdon brought along four juniors, with the talented Supratit Banerjee moving up to board 1 where he faced Kingston’s regular top board David Maycock. Supratit had done well at Hastings, where he drew with Kingston’s new signing Ameet Ghasi in the first round (see their game in the footnote). Ameet, who came a commendable third at Hastings, was full of praise for the youngster.

In the pre-match preparation, we identified the endgame as Supratit’s relative weak point. In a league match earlier in the year, John Foley had beaten Supratit from a level position in the endgame. David Maycock followed the plan and reached a theoretically level endgame position, which he then proceeded to win. This required some careful play, but when you know what you are doing chess can feel easy.

The first-round game at Hastings 23/24: Banerjee v Ghasi

Paul Dupré (South Norwood) v John Foley (Kingston)

Kingston 2 v South Norwood 1, Surrey League division 2, Willoughby Arms, Kingston, 4 December 2023

This was the final game to finish in Kingston second team’s 6-1 victory over South Norwood 1 – a result which encourages us to believe we can survive in this testing division (we were close to being relegated last year). John Foley came into this game off the back of two uncharacteristic defeats, and winning this thrilling encounter was a great restorative. Paul Dupré plays his part with some bravura attacking chess. A memorable meeting between two stalwarts of the game, and with a nice gloss on a game played in Surrey more than a century ago.


Creassey Tattersall v Henry Stephens Barlow (Surrey Championship, 1904) was played in Thornton Heath, south London. The game moves are incomplete but we have the attacking opening. With such a wonderful name, I had to check him out. Creassey went on to become an expert on Persian rugs. Barlow worked at the Admiralty. In 1900, Tattersall defeated Frederick Soddy in the Varsity Match. Soddy went on the win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1921 for his work on radioactive isotopes.