Kingston C v Richmond E, Thames Valley League division X match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 17 November 2025
This match was in the balance right until the end when Nette Robinson, with Black against Michael Larby on board 3, blundered in a winning position, making Richmond the winners by 2.5-1-5. Rob Taylor lost to the accomplished Abhay Patil on board 1, but there were positives for Kingston on the other two boards: a fine victory for Anqi Yang against Aditya Patil on board 3 and an encouraging draw for Robert Chmiest against Richmond captain Karl Stand on board 4. Thanks as ever to captain Jon Eckert for putting the Kingston team together and overseeing proceedings.
Epsom 5 v Kingston 3, Surrey League division 4 match played at Epsom Christian Fellowship on 17 November 2025
This match was played in freezing conditions at Epsom’s church venue. Note to Epsom – that is really not fair to players and you will need to address these concerns as the winter progresses. But the Kingston players managed to rise above the temperature and put in a strong performance, marshalled as ever by the indefatigable Ed Mospan, winning 4-2.
Kingston newcomer Xavier Cowan won an important victory with Black on board 1 against Epsom veteran Michael Wickham, and Adam Nakar shared the point on board 2 with the dangerous Sammy Hedges. Promising junior Ethan Bogerd, who also plays for Kingston, got the better of Seth Warren on board 3, but the wins that took Kingston over the line came on boards 4 and 5, where the experienced Ye Kyaw and David Shalom got the better of their opponents. Fred Marthoz, though outrated by more than 250 points, ensured a clear margin of victory with an excellent draw on board 6. A terrific victory, appreciated by Ed and his team once they had thawed out.
The opening two rounds of the new 4NCL season, spread across two weekends in mid-October and early November, saw CSC/Kingston’s three teams make bold starts
As well as falling leaves, autumn sees the start of treks to Midlands hotels to play the opening rounds of the 4NCL season. CSC/Kingston 1 began with matches against Barbican and Cheddleton, played at the Copthorne Hotel in Dudley on 1/2 November. CSC/Kingston’s second and third teams had been in action a fortnight earlier at the same venue, which was being used by the league for the first time. All three teams performed superbly and, as we see below, are well placed after the first two rounds of the 11-round season.
CSC/Kingston 1 came a creditable seventh in division 1 last year and hope to do at least as well this season. There is a great deal of jeopardy in this very tough division – three of the 12 teams get relegated, a 25% churn. This is one too many in the view of this writer – two down would be fairer – but there is no question that it adds drama to the season.
The first team faced Barbican on Saturday. CSC/Kingston had a slight ratings edge but it promised to be very close, and the match seemed likely to set the tone for the rest of the season. The young Polish grandmaster Jakub Kosakowski, runner-up in last year’s Polish national championship, was making his debut for CSC/Kingston, supported by many of the regulars from last year’s successful campaign. Jakub had White against IM Alan Merry and, as the time control approached, the game became a comedy of errors and missed opportunities.
Barbican’s second IM, Sohum Lohia, came straight to Dudley from a very strong tournament in Coventry, where he had shared first prize with GM Vojtech Plat and IM Hao Wang. Clearly he was a player to be feared. But the CSC/Kingston board 2, FM Ulysse Bottazzi, playing Black, was able to neutralise the threat without undue alarms, and a draw was agreed after 36 moves.
CSC/Kingston’s board 3, Supratit Banerjee (pictured above), had White against FM Martin Taylor on board 3, and boldly gambited a pawn in the opening to get an initiative. For a long time the engine favoured Black, but in this position he erred and Supratit gradually got a stranglehold on the game:
David Maycock, with Black against Jonathan Rogers on board 4, had the advantage early on, but Rogers skilfully fought back and had the upper hand when David blundered a rook in time trouble. At that stage the match looked as if it could go either way, and seemed certain to be very close. But it was about to take a decisive turn.
Roland Bezuidenhout played a superb game in a complicated tactical struggle to win with White on board 5 against Stephen Dishman. Black’s key error comes in this position where he allows an exchange which gives White a powerful pawn centre.
An important win for CSC/Kingston and now we could breathe a little easier. But the result which completely changed the complexion of the match was on board 7, where young George Zhao with Black had a much better position against CSC/Kingston’s Peter Lalić when he inexplicably failed to make his 40th move to reach the time control. He thus lost on time, a tragedy for the promising Barbican junior and an unexpected bonus for CSC/KIngston, who were now winning the match with ease.
Liwia Jarocka, with Black, secured an important draw with Peter Sowray on board 6, and Zain Patel battled magnificently with Black against Emma Hng to hold a rook and pawn endgame two pawns down which for a long time he looked destined to lose. That gave CSC/Kingston the match 5.5-2.5 and made the Saturday-evening dinner a very pleasant affair, but it was hard not to feel sympathy for George Zhao, who had played very well to secure a potentially winning advantage against Peter Lalić before his brain fade.
On Sunday, CSC/Kingston 1 faced Cheddleton, with their three GMs and three IMs. We were outrated by an average of 100 points a board. I did not expect us to win the match and thought 5-3 was a likely score. I would happily have settled for 4-4, which one spectator predicted after the match had been under way for a couple of hours. To win it by 6-2 was simply extraordinary, and I couldn’t help reminding people on the Kingston WhatsApp group that the average age of our team was 21. A group of very talented and highly motivated youngsters had walloped some of the cream of British chess.
Jakub Kosakowski was always pressing against David Eggleston on board 1 and duly converted. Cheddleton’s Mark Hebden equalised with a nice attacking game against Liwia Jarocka. Ulysse Bottazzi once again played solidly to draw with GM Simon Williams on board 2, and Supratit Banerjee defended superbly to hold a rook endgame against GM Nick Pert when two pawns down. Supratit’s was the last game to finish, and it is worth studying the endgame and marvelling at the 11-year-old’s mature and resourceful defence.
The other four games were all won: Zain Patel beat Nina Pert with a powerful attack with White on board 8; Peter Lalić performed one of his characteristic escape acts to convert a losing endgame into a winning one with Black on board 7; and on the critical middle boards David Maycock beat Richard Pert with White on board 4 in a rollercoaster game and Roland Bezuidenhout recorded his second victory of the weekend by beating IM Ezra Kirk, who played an ambitious knight sacrifice which proved to be unsound.
David’s game was a dizzying one which left both him and his rival exhausted. He had a winning plus as the 40-move time control approached, but then made a mistake which gave Black a potentially decisive advantage. To have blundered away his second game of the weekend would have been crushing, but he showed remarkable resilience to fight back and turn the game around. This is the position in which David went wrong:
David’s win and Supratit’s draw ensured a convincing 6-2 win for CSC/Kingston, a remarkable result given Cheddleton’s strength and experience.
These two wins left CSC/Kingston 1 sitting proudly on top of division 1 (see table below), jointly with Wood Green, who on paper are the strongest team in the division. We face Wood Green in round 4 on the weekend of 10/11 January, and happily the match will not be played on paper but on eight chess boards.
CSC/Kingston 2 also had a fantastic opening weekend in division 3 (knights) and also ended up on top of the table (see below), half a game point ahead of Sussex Martlets and Ashfield 1. It is very pleasing to see our neighbours Surbiton also going well.
Matches in divisions 3 and 4 comprise six boards, compared with eight in the top two divisions. CSC/Kingston 2 beat Warrington Mates 3.5-2.5 in a tight struggle on Saturday, with wins by the ever reliable Peter Finn on board 1, Ewan Wilson on board 4 and Adrian Wallace on board 6, and a crucial draw by Clive Frostick with Black on board 2.
Sunday’s victory against the self-deprecatingly named Poole Patzers was slightly more emphatic at 4-2, but could still have gone either way. There will be no easy matches in this highly competitive division and winning promotion to division 2 – two teams go up from each 12-team division 3 pool – will be far from simple. The success on Sunday came courtesy of wins by Peter Hasson, Giampiero Amato and Adrian Wallace, who had an excellent weekend with two victories, and top-board draws against two highly rated players by Peter Finn and Clive Frostick.
It was a tremendous team performance across the weekend, with every player contributing. Peter Hasson, who was White on board 4 against Mark Collinson, has kindly supplied a detailed analysis of his fascinating king and pawn endgame.
CSC/Kingston 3 played in Dudley on the same weekend as the second team, 18/19 October, and also had a successful start to the season. We drew 3-3 against Oxford 3 on Saturday, with wins for Mike Cresswell and your correspondent, and then won 5-0 on Sunday against War and Piece B, one of whose players failed to show, leading to the deduction of a point.
These results left us joint seventh in the 29-team division 4, which is played as a Swiss tournament . The current table, showing the leading nine teams, is below.
Four teams are promoted from division 4, but there are some very strong outfits among the leading contenders and it is safe to assume that we will not be one of them. But this was nevertheless a pleasing beginning.
Well done to all three teams on their excellent starts; thanks to all the players who made the Great Trek to Dudley in north-west Birmingham; and thank you as ever to team captain Kate Cooke, who keeps the whole show on the road. We now have 43 CSC/Kingston squad members, and juggling that number of potential players and getting them to the various Midlands hotels we will play in during a long season is a complicated logistical undertaking.
Kingston 4 v Epsom 6, Surrey League division 5 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 10 November 2025
You have to hand it to Epsom – even their sixth (!) team plays a mean match. On paper this looked like a strong Kingston 4 team, playing in the Minor Trophy (effectively the fifth division of the Surrey League). But it wasn’t strong enough for the solid and experienced team Epsom brought to the Richard Mayo Centre, with the visitors prevailing 4-2.
First the positives. New Kingston members Martyn Jones and Alexander Chmelev recorded excellent wins on the top boards. They will no doubt soon be appearing in higher teams. Martyn was a strong junior who has recently returned to chess; Alex is a great enthusiast, a strong player and a qualified arbiter. Both are becoming important presences at the club.
Things did not go quite so well on the lower boards. On board 4, Jaden Mistry lost with Black to Sammy Hedges in a Queen’s Gambit Declined; on board 6, Sam Wilcox was defeated by the capable Robert Fairhall in a Danish Gambit; on board 3, Epsom veteran Michael Wickham had too much nous for promising Kingston youngster Ethan Kim; and on board 5 David Bickerstaff (pictured above, right) lost to Venkatash Subramoniam. Kingston captain Edward Mospan described the latter game as “ping-pong chess”, and said David had good chances before eventually succumbing.
Well done to Ed, who, as well as captaining Kingston in this match, ran a large number of rated friendlies and looked after the social chess while several of his regular co-organisers were playing in an away match at Hounslow. And congratulations to Epsom on running a large number of teams in the Surrey League and making them all so competitive. The sign of a very healthy and dynamic club.
Hounslow v Kingston, Thames Valley Knockout match played at the Royal British Legion, Hounslow on 10 November 2025
Photograph: Stephen Moss (right, seated) sets a puzzle for Leon Fincham, while David White (left) and Jasper Tambini (right) look on. David Rowson (centre) is keeping the club updated on WhatsApp
Even though Kingston did not field our strongest side, we still outrated Hounslow by an average of 160 elo per board. Hence the final result of 5-1 was no surprise. As holders of the Thames Valley Knockout Cup, Kingston had a solid launch to the 2025/26 campaign.
The first to finish was David Rowson with a nothing-much-happened draw with Black in the Italian. Next up was Jasper Tambini, who, with White against David J White, executed a classical queen sacrifice against the castled king.
Next to finish was Genc Tasbasi, who exchanged pieces to reach a drawn endgame. I got a neat attack against Vibhush Pusapadi and was well ahead on the clock. My opponent resigned in a hopeless position just before his flag fell. So 3-1 to Kingston with two games remaining. On board 1, Peter Large was squeezing Mateusz Dydak in the endgame such that Mateusz froze with indecision and lost on time, to make it 4-1.
This left Stephen Moss, who had carelessly lost a pawn in the opening – he would argue it was an intuitive gambit – after which he played dynamically and rudely threw away another couple of pawns against Leon Fincham. In the crucial position below, Leon’s queen is under attack and he decided to capture the e3 bishop counter-attacking White’s queen (the counter-intuitive Qb6 is the best move). However, after the rook recaptured, not only was the queen still under attack but so was the bishop on e5, so Black had to lose a piece. The resultant complications ended in yet another frozen-by-indecision flag fall, though Black was lost on the board when his time ran out. That made the score a convincing 5-1.
We look forward to the next round, but discovered that this may not be played until next summer because Richmond and Harrow have busy schedules. Surely a league knockout should be held during the main season. We await developments, with our fixtures secretary on standby.
Wallington v Kingston, Lauder Trophy quarter-final match played at Wallington United Reformed Church on 5 November 2025
There was a scary moment before the start of this match when the Kingston players entered the playing room and found our very own Peter Lalić chilling with the Wallington players. Fortunately – for me at least – he was only there to watch the opening stages at his most local club. For Kingston second-team players to face him for a fourth time in six weeks would have been tough. There would have been room for him within the rating limit of 10,500 for the Wallington team, which had no one over 1700.
Jon Eckert, Rob Taylor and Robin Kerremans on boards 4 to 6 all won fairly quickly. Jon soon went a piece up, and Rob’s classical play with Black squashed his opponent with a big centre which left no room for the white knights to get out of the way of the rest of the army. Robin Kerremans played the English, despite which his opponent had a slight edge for a while. But Black’s advantage was short-lived, and Robin quickly turned the tables to win the black queen in the course of a mating attack.
John Foley (pictured above) had sacrificed an exchange in the style of Tigran Petrosian in Monday’s league game against Ashtead 1, and now sacrificed another one, this time in the style of Paul Morphy in the famous Opera House game against the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard.
I had a much less clear-cut game with Black against Robert Davies on board 1. I had a slight edge almost throughout, but the engine reveals that the advantage was much less than I had thought until my opponent slipped up in the tactics.
Xavier Cowan, who made his Kingston debut only on Monday, was last to finish, with Black against Daniel Luck on board 3. Daniel must be one of the younger club officials in the Surrey League, and is already the Wallington fixture secretary and their match captain for the Lauder and two Surrey league teams, so he has taken on a lot and we wish him well. Xavier has not taken long to figure out that exchange sacrifices are the club trademark.
So the result was what tennis followers would call a bagel (6-0), not surprising given the rating difference, but we have already seen this season, for instance in the recent first-team match against Wimbledon, that in games with a high tactical element almost anyone can go wrong. The Lauder Trophy semi-final will be an away match against the winner of Chessington v Epsom, and must be played by the end of February.
Peter Andrews is Kingston captain in the Lauder Trophy
Kingston 2 v Ashtead 1, Surrey League division 2 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 3 November 2025
Ashtead are the “yo-yo team” in division 2 of the Surrey League, having been relegated from division 1 last season and promoted the season before. So on paper this was one of our toughest matches. Ashtead substantially outrated us on boards 1 to 3, thanks to Kingston’s own Peter Lalić making his third appearance of the season against the second-team squad (the other two in the Thames Valley League for our own first team). However, Ashtead were missing some of their middle-order batting, so we had the rating advantage on the lower boards.
First to finish was David Rowson on board 5. David has previously had several draws with White against Bertie Barlow, so he was pleased to outplay him with Black from a level position.
David’s win enabled me to agree a draw with White against Phil Brooks on board 2 in a position where there was still plenty of play but which was unclear and where we were both a little uncomfortable. And soon afterwards Jasper Tambini drew with Black on board 3 against Dan Rosen in a game that had more clearly run its course. He was never worse, and indeed had had a fleeting opportunity to be better – a solid effort.
Xavier Cowan was making his debut for Kingston, although he is a familiar opponent for several of us in the Thames Valley League, where he captains the Ealing second team. With Black against Platon Razis on board 7, Xavier had a strange-looking pawn structure more reminiscent of a rugby scrum than a free-flowing set of threequarters, but as so often it was piece activity which was decisive.
Alan Scrimgour agreed a draw with White against Chris Perks on board 6, standing better but short of time, which ensured that we could not lose the match. And John Foley (pictured above, left) brought home the bacon with a win with White against Tom Barton on board 4 which reminded us of former world champion Tigran Petrosian.
Meanwhile, on board 1 Julian Way with Black had fended off Peter Lalić’s initiative to reach an equal late middle game in which one slip under mutual time pressure cost the game.
Disappointing for Julian, but a good effort against a player who is currently in excellent form and moving through the 2300s in the ECF rating list.
So after two matches Kingston 2 are top of the division 2 table. We are unlikely to be able to turn out teams regularly as strong as we have for these early matches, but it is very encouraging that already the usual struggle against relegation seems unlikely to materialise. And longer-standing members will remember that it is only a few years since we were pleased when Kingston 1 seemed secure in Surrey division 2.
Peter Andrews captains Kingston’s first and second teams in the Surrey League
Kingston 1 v Wimbledon 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 27 October 2025
David Rowson was kind enough to captain this match, as I was returning from Paris and could not guarantee reaching the venue before the start time. Happily Eurostar was on time, and I was able to attend. Indeed, with David Maycock struggling to arrive before the default time, I was nearly required to substitute on board 1. Had I done so, I would have outrated the Wimbledon board 1, an illustration of the huge disparity between the ratings of the two teams, an average of over 300 points a board. The story of the night was that Wimbledon, depleted by the absence of several players at a tournament in Guernsey, nearly overcame that difference.
The early skirmishes favoured Kingston. On board 1, David Maycock with White overcame his initial deficit on the clock to win decisive material on move 17, upon which Marcus Baker immediately resigned. Then Zain Patel, also with White on board 3, exploited Tony Hughes’ inaccurate implementation of a correct idea.
Then things went off track. Stephen Carpenter sacrificed a piece unsoundly against Jasper Tambini, who had Black, on board 6, but Jasper moved his king to the wrong square allowing the white queen a crucial check, depriving the defence of a critical tempo and leading to mate. Next, Peter Hasson, with Black on board 4, chose the wrong capture in complications against Gordon Rennie and lost a piece.
Meanwhile, John Foley was in increasing difficulty with White on board 7. When the match line-ups were circulated, George Lin had warned on WhatsaApp that Djan Sennaroglu was a dangerous junior, having been one of William Lin’s main rivals for the recent British Under-10 championship – they had drawn their individual game. But by then John had switched off his phone, and perhaps underestimated an opponent ostensibly 300 rating points below him. The youngster had an edge from early on, despite apparently not needing to spend much time at the board. He eventually reached a minor piece ending two pawns up and duly converted it. The match was decidedly not going according to plan.
On board 8, David Rowson with Black faced Omar Selim’s drawish Scotch, but David got on top after the queens were exchanged:
That made the score 3-3. Both board 2 (Neil Cannon v Peter Lalić, who had Black) and board 5 (Julian Way with White against John Polanyk) looked around equal, although unbalanced. Could at least one of our players make their higher ratings count? In the event, they both did. With both players running short of time, Neil Cannon made several slips which allowed Peter to win material, eventually a queen. So a draw from Julian would be sufficient. He is a highly experienced endgame player, and duly delivered, although we have no record of the last 20-plus moves.
So we had won after all, albeit with a sharp reminder that it may take only one mistake to lose a game, even if one is the higher-rated player. Wimbledon should be applauded for a gutsy effort despite being below strength, and clearly Djan is an extremely promising junior who will appear on higher boards in future seasons. Wimbledon captain Gordon Rennie claimed a “moral” victory, and we grant him that. Happily we take the actual victory, though it was a worrisome evening.
Peter Andrews captains Kingston’s first and second teams in the Surrey League
Guildford 2 v Kingston 2, Surrey League division 2 match played at the Guildford Institute on 20 October 2025
Two very solid-looking teams lined up for this one, with Guildford 2 having the rating advantage on the top four boards and Kingston 2 on boards 5 to 7. I lost the toss, a significant advantage for Guildford in a closely balanced match with an odd number of boards.
Most of the games were long battles, so the outcome was unclear until Guildford’s impressive crop of juniors had gone home. The relatively early finishes were draws. On board 5, David Rowson (with Black) and his opponent Malcolm Twigger-Ross both missed a tactic which would have won a pawn for White, but David was soon able to stabilise for a draw. On board 4, the game between John Foley, who had White, and Adrian Wallace lacked the mistakes that make for excitement, and soon reached a drawn rook and pawn ending.
On board 1, Peter Hasson and Clive Frostick have faced each other several times before, and were perhaps drained after their successful efforts for Kingston/CSC’s second team at the 4NCL over the weekend. Peter lost a pawn but got some major piece activity and the white advantage dwindled away in time trouble to a drawn rook ending.
The first decisive result came on board 2, where Guildford’s Tim Foster made several aggressive decisions and I was conscious of needing to use the white pieces even though a draw would have been a useful result judging from the ratings. The outcome was a slugfest which did not lack the mistakes which make for excitement.
One up with three to play was looking good. Stephen Moss on board 7, with Black against Anton Barysenka, had struggled to find a plan in a game where he had the worst of the minor pieces, a bishop on b7 whose only role in life was to defend isolated pawns on d5 and a6. Understandably he fell short of time, and to add to the psychological pressure, his board was nearest to the café, where the post-mortems were sufficiently loud to impinge on the playing area. But after he relieved his feelings on the chess pathologists, and finding that losing a pawn resulted in the exchange of the bad bishop, he was able to simplify to a draw with a neat little tactic.
Soon after this, Alan Scrimgour on board 6, with White against Ian Deswarte, notched the decisive point by converting an advantage which had evolved from positional superiority out of the opening to material superiority in the endgame. There was just one moment when this progression could have come unstuck.
With Jasper Tambini on board 3 having come through a turbulent middle game with Black against Matthew Dishman to go into a much better endgame, a Whatsapp message informed our distant fans that we were going to win 5-2. That turned out to be an overstatement.
And after the excitement, Black has a much better endgame, a pawn up and with White having three isolated pawns to worry about. This, though, was not the end of the story and the resourceful Guildford player was not going to make it easy for Jasper.
Nevertheless a draw with Black against Matthew Dishman is a good result, and 4.5-2.5, with everyone contributing, an excellent win in a match we lost comfortably last season. Our morale survived even the frustration of the night closures on the A3 on the consequently prolonged return journey.
Peter Andrews captains Kingston’s first and second teams in the Surrey League
Kingston C v Hounslow C, Thames Valley League division X match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 20 October 2025
Kingston C were outrated by Hounslow C in their opening Div X match of the season, so to emerge as 3-1 victors was quite an achievement. The team had been assembled by Jon Eckert, but was captained on the night by Genc Tasbasi, as Jon had to leave once the preliminaries had been conducted.
Genc (pictured above), who has had a tremendous start to the season after returning to chess earlier this year, defeated the veteran David White on board 1. Genc was a pawn down and under pressure early in the game, but he stayed calm and, with time trouble in this 65+10 game starting to kick in, he turned it round to beat his very capable opponent. The fact he had Black, in line with the rule that the away team in Thames Valley matches always take White on board 1, made the victory all the sweeter.
On board 2, Rob Taylor, with White, downed his higher-rated opponent Steve Hall. Anqi Yang lost on board 3 to another Hounslow veteran, Barry Fraser, whose Ruy Lopez prevailed against Anqi’s stern resistance. But on board 4 Nette Robinson made sure Kingston took the spoils with victory against Andrew Cleminson. A top-notch start to the season for Jon Eckert’s team.
