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.
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.
Kingston A v Ealing A, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 12 May 2025
After contesting 11 matches crammed into just five months of play, we arrived at our final Thames Valley division 1 encounter on Monday 12 May. I say “we arrived”, but I was actually abroad for this last match and was grateful to Peter Large for taking on the captaincy duties.
Kingston effectively made a winning start before any of the players had sat down, as Ealing’s captain, Andrew Harley, considerately informed us in advance that their board 6 had had to drop out due to pressure of work.
The first game to finish was that on board 3, where Jonathan White had moved 1. f4, Bird’s Opening, against Vladimir Li. A complicated set of exchanges took place in the centre of the board, leading, eventually, to a level position. Despite the players still having four pieces and six pawns each, neither of them saw a reason to continue.
In Vladimir’s case this was probably partly due to his disappointment at not having taken some chances to gain an advantage earlier. Vladimir has played little recently and he said afterwards, with typical self-criticism, “I think I am simply in bad form for a variety of reasons. The main one is being rusty.” To the average observer the chances not taken were far from obvious. In the position below White has just played 11. Qa4? attacking two pawns but potentially reducing the co-ordination of his pieces.
The board 4 game opened with Peter Lalić, with White, choosing the Austrian Attack against Tony Wells’s Modern Defence. His opponent advanced his kingside pawns but neglected his piece development. This was the position after White’s 13th move:
This game is a good example of the perils of underdevelopment. Tony Wells only brought out his king’s knight on the 34th move, upon which Peter immediately chopped it off.
Board 5 saw Ealing’s Xavier Cowan, with White, opting for the Sämisch Variation against Ash Stewart’s King’s Indian Defence. After the queens were exchanged a position with asymmetrical pawn structures was reached, in which chances were roughly even, but Black had to keep an eye on White’s c4 and d5 pawn pair:
On board 2, against Alan Perkins’ Sicilian Defence Peter Large played a kind of Closed line with Bb5. His bishops were soon pointing menacingly at Black’s king’s position:
The remaining game saw the debut of Supratit Banerjee (pictured above) on board 1 for Kingston, an acknowledgement of the remarkable fact that at just 11 years of age he has reached an ECF rating of 2401. With Supratit Black, the opening was a classical French Defence (1.e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4). White won a pawn on the queenside, but Supratit played resourcefully to set his opponent problems. This was the position after White’s move 26:
Thus Kingston not only won the match 4.5-1.5, but also completed an historic 100%-winning Thames Valley division 1 season (see final table below). As captain, I want to thank all our players for making our progress so smooth and relatively undramatic. We have an incredibly strong squad, but results don’t always follow ratings, and what was impressive was the determination and consistency with which our top players won game after game.
Special mention must be made of Peter Lalić’s remarkable record of 10 wins and one draw from 11 games, and also the fact that both Peter Large and David Maycock had ECF rating performances of 2441 for their Thames Valley League seasons. John Hawksworth and Ash Stewart were great additions to the squad, and our very talented young players Supratit Banerjee and Luca Buanne made significant contributions. At different times different clubs looked capable of challenging us, but none of them managed to maintain such a level of consistency.
Thanks are also due to Peter Andrews and Peter Large for stepping in to captain in my absence, to Stephen Moss for all his support and advice, and to Greg Heath and Ed Mospan for unfailingly being available to set things up in the Willoughby.
That makes it three Thames Valley League titles in a row. Can we do it again next season?
David Rowson, Kingston A captain in Thames Valley League division 1
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.
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.
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.
Kingston v Guildford, final of the Alexander Cup, played at the Peace Memorial Hall, Ashtead on 29 April 2025
From left: Ameet Ghasi, David Maycock, Vladimir Li, Luca Buanne, John Hawksworth, Peter Large, Michael Healey, Silverio Abasolo, Peter Lalić, Ash Stewart (photograph: John Foley)
The all-conquering Kingston team comfortably retained the Alexander Cup by winning the final at Ashtead against Guildford. The Alexander Cup is the 10-board Surrey teams open knockout championship. In reaching the final, Kingston defeated Streatham in the quarter-final 6.5-3.5 and Epsom in the semi-final 8.5-1.5 and so were odds-on favourites. However, Guildford should never be underestimated as they have a large pool of players to call upon and were the holders prior to the present Kingston run.
The Kingston team had a grandmaster on top board and an international master on bottom board. This team could acquit itself well in any English team event, including the 4NCL where several of these players are active in the first division.
The titled top boards, Kingston players facing: (from right): GM Ghasi, CM Maycock, IM Large and FM Li
The match was played at Ashtead as a neutral venue. We are grateful to Bertie Barlow and Ashtead Chess Club for facilitating the event. To add to the drama, Kingston was also playing another final in the same venue – the Lauder Trophy, which is the ratings-limited six-board Surrey team knockout tournament. We had got through to both finals. A report on the Lauder Trophy is published separately. John Foley was captain of the Alexander Cup team and Stephen Moss captain of the Lauder Trophy team. Graham Alcock, the Surrey inter-club tournament director, also attended and made the presentations to the winners.
Considerable effort went into the logistics of the event. Each player’s travel arrangements were checked and double-checked. There is little that can be done about a seven-car pile-up on the A3, so some of us arrived only just in time for the 7.40pm start. Kingston took our own chess equipment (thanks to Stephen Moss) so as not to impose on Ashtead. We were joined by two supporters – David Rowson, captain of Kingston’s Thames Valley first team, who would normally be playing, and Robert Waller, whose playing days are behind him but who enjoys attending matches. It was the hottest day of the year so far and temperatures were in the mid-20Cs. We picked up packs of bottled water from the local Co-op.
The tension in the room became palpable as the games approached their conclusion
The room got warmer as the evening progressed and the tension mounted. Kingston never looked in trouble from the moment of the first point – a quick win on board 9 by Luca Buanne, who could then switch to doing his homework.
Kingston obtained seven wins and two draws. In this match report we look at three games. We hope to publish some of the remaining games in our Games section. The most spectacular game which caught the attention of those present was between Silverio Abasolo and James Toon. As one spectator asked Alan Scrimgour, “How can Silverio have nearly all his pieces under attack?” to which the reply was “Well, his opponent can only take one piece at a time!”
Silverio Abasolo v James Toon after White’s 32nd move
Board 7
In Silverio’s game, each side landed blows on the other and we could not guess what was going to happen. The outcome of Peter Lalić’s game was unpredictable because it depended upon whether he had enough compensation for his Smith-Morra gambit. He gave up one pawn, another pawn and then the exchange. However, Peter was thinking at a deeper level than the spectators, and eventually his strategy of tight control proved victorious.
Board 5
Board 3
Meanwhile on Board 3, there was no uncertainty. Peter Large dispatched Nigel Povah efficiently with a neat queen sacrifice.
John Foley receiving the Alexander Cup from Graham Alcock
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.”
Top two boards : Peter Andrews (left) v Timur Kuzhelev and Alan Scrimgour v Ian Calvert. Photograph: John Foley
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 (left) receives the Lauder Trophy from Surrey tournament director Graham Alcock
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:
Wimbledon A v Kingston A, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at St Winefride’s Church Hall, Wimbledon on 17 April 2025
Our penultimate Thames Valley League division 1 match of the season found us away to Wimbledon, playing in the kindergarten surroundings of St Winefride’s Church Hall. On arrival I showed the Wimbledon captain, Ian Heppell, our team’s line-up, and he commented drily, “You didn’t need to bring such a strong team.” This was because Wimbledon were missing all their top players and the rating differences between the two teams made the contest look as if it would be a huge mismatch. Little did either Ian or I suspect how the evening would go.
The first game to finish was my own, a damp squib on my part. I had White and the positional advantage I thought I might have achieved from my Italian Game, intangible at best, was easily annulled by Stephen Carpenter, who was probably a little better in the position where we agreed a draw (White to play):
On board 2 Luca Buanne had White against Marcus Baker, and Luca’s Ruy Lopez was challenged by Marcus with the Marshall Attack, gambiting a pawn. In this standard position Luca opted for an unusual continuation:
Thus Kingston were a game down, with the position on board 6 also starting to look ominous for us. As Stephen Moss commented pessimistically on the club WhatsApp group, “The unfolding drama … Nightmare at the Nursery.” Fortunately, soon afterwards Peter Large struck back on top board.
Peter, with White against Neil Cannon, began with the Trompowsky Attack, but was critical afterwards of the way both players handled this tricky opening. This was the position after 11…0-0:
Kingstonian relief at levelling the match score was short-lived as Will Taylor lost soon afterwards on board 6 against Georgi Velikov. Will’s ambitious queenside play from the Black side of a Ruy Lopez had led to his losing a pawn, and then, in a difficult position, the exchange. In time trouble Will continued to fight, but his opponent played accurately and forced resignation when threatening unavoidable mate. So the score was 2.5-1.5 to Wimbledon with boards 2 and 4 still in play. It seemed that the Kingston players were slightly better in both games, but neither was completely clear. Were we about to lose our proud 100% TVL division 1 record?
The board 4 game between Wimbledon’s Gordon Rennie, with White, and Kingston’s John Hawksworth had opened with a Sicilian Defence, Taimanov Variation, leading to a position with contrasting pawn structures:
This result levelled the score at 2.5-2.5. As has often happened this season, Peter Lalić’s game, playing Black against Wimbledon newcomer Stephen McLoughlin, was the last to finish and the one which would decide the match. The game started as an Albin Counter-Gambit, but multiple exchanges led to a position in which Black’s queen and knight were superior to White’s queen and bishop, especially as the dark-squared bishop was handicapped by pawns on the same colour. Here White made a mistake which led to the loss of a pawn:
Over the next 20 moves or so, with both players in time trouble (although quite possibly Peter doesn’t see playing on the increment as time trouble), Peter manoeuvred to get his pawns on to white squares, safe from the bishop. He was then helped by Stephen McLoughlin’s moving his queen away from his king’s defence, so that when this position was reached he had to go in for an unfavourable exchange of queens in order to save his f-pawn:
Kingston had thus won the match by the narrowest margin, 3.5-2.5, and great credit must go to the Wimbledon players for giving us such a scare. This was our closest match result so far this season, of which only one contest remains, against Ealing on 12 May. Can we finish with a 100% winning record?
David Rowson, Kingston A captain in Thames Valley League division 1
