Guildford 1 v Kingston 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at the Guildford Institute, Guildford on 31 March 2025

This match had looked for some months likely to be critical in our effort to regain the league title. A draw or win for Kingston would seal the deal. A loss would mean that Guildford would have the chance to catch us on match points when they visited Coulsdon in Easter week, although they would have to win both matches by large margins to catch us on game points.

Home advantage has been a major factor in Surrey League division 1 this season. This is probably not the effect of the “Ninth man” crowd support or pressure on referees or VAR officials, but the more pragmatic fact that all the clubs find it more difficult to field their strongest team when travel time and difficulty is involved. So although this looked likely to be our toughest match of the season, it was encouraging that we could field a fully representative side, with five players over ECF 2200, and all four of the regulars [Maycock, Large, Lalić, Healey] whose high scoring had carried us this far.

Much would depend on the strength of the side Guildford had available. We were relieved to see no Goldings; FM Alex, at close to 2400, is a handful for anyone. But they were solid enough to outrate us on the bottom three boards, even with captain James Toon resting himself.

Unless the spectator has a compendious knowledge of opening theory (and after all, if my knowledge was that extensive I would probably have been playing myself), it is often difficult to assess the early stages. The most obvious difference was on the clocks, where for example David Maycock and Guildford’s Gwilym Price had rattled off 14 moves each in the same time which Peter Lalić and Mark Josse had used for four.

The only position clear to me was on board 6, where Will Taylor had arrived a few minutes late after a difficult journey. He soon fell into a trap in the Jobava London System (in which White plays d4 and Bf4 as in the mainline London, but also an early Nc3), the viciousness of which belied the appearance of its junior author, Adam Sefton. White’s Nb5 threatened Nc7+, winning the rook on a8, and Will realised to his horror that Rc8 was no defence because Nd6+ would still win the exchange because his e-pawn was pinned. The only way to defend both threats was Kd7, after which it was difficult to develop and of course illegal to castle. Will wriggled stoically, but it wasn’t much fun to play or watch from a Kingston perspective and Guildford were on the scoreboard.

The first Kingston win came from board 1, where David Maycock had White against Gwilym Price.

Soon afterwards, Luca Buanne on board 5 gave us the lead by defeating the strong Guildford junior Zac Welling, known to several of us through his appearances for the Surrey U2050 team. Suffice it to say that this should be Zac’s last season of rating-limited county chess and we wish him well as he moves on to higher things.

From the early middle game, Luca had had a grip on the position and an extra pawn, and from that stage I had counted on the game as our most likely win (partly because Luca has been such a reliable performer once he gets on top). Superficially this looked like a smooth conversion, but, as you’ll see, appearances can be deceptive.   

Peter Lalić, with White against Mark Josse on board 3, extended the lead in what was from the Kingston side the game which flowed most continuously to its logical conclusion.

Unfortunately around this time Jasper Tambini, with White, went down on board 7 against Luke Nelson. Fortunes fluctuated, and both sides landed blows, until Jasper lost a piece to a skewer down the a1-h8 diagonal when a rook got stuck in mid-board. That defeat meant we were just 3-2 up.

With around 2½ hours gone, I found the other games hard to assess. On board 4 Mike Healey, with Black against Clive Frostick, looked a little worse, but he sacrificed a pawn for some activity. Clive was very short of time and offered a draw, which Mike, who has had no draws this season, declined. Julian Way on board 8, with Black against Matthew Dishman, had been a little cramped out of the opening, but then won material. Who would score the decisive point? In fact the two games finished simultaneously. We turn first to board 4.

On board 8, Julian Way had an initial space disadvantage but turned things round with tactics.

So 5-2 in front we had won the match and the league, and with no single individual having definitively scored the decisive point all could celebrate equally. But there was still a game going on, board 2, Nigel Povah (White) v Peter Large, who both played for England senior teams in their highly successful visit to Prague recently, but were now in combat.

Kingston were thus champions of the Surrey League, having won six out of eight matches, with two drawn. In the league table, the margin of victory looks convincing, but all the away matches were a struggle. There was a narrow 4.5-3.5 win at Ashtead, two 4-4 draws, and some of the time scrambles at Guildford could easily have gone wrong. At home we proved we were the strongest side.

The backbone of the championship success was the very high percentages logged by our most regular players: Peter Lalić 7 out of 8, Peter Large 5.5/7, Mike Healey 6/6 and David Maycock 4.5/6, a result taking him in the ECF April rating list to 2400 for the first time – many congratulations. They enabled others coming in on the lower boards to play without too much pressure to score heavily. Several of these players achieved strong results: Julian Way 3.5/4, Luca Buanne 3 out of 4, and I was pleased with my own 2.5/3.

This is not, of course, the end of the Surrey season. There remain the Alexander Cup and Lauder Trophy finals, against Guildford and Coulsdon respectively, both of which will be played at Ashtead Chess Club on Tuesday 29 April. Then perhaps we can have a rest.

Peter Andrews, Kingston captain in Surrey League division 1

Kingston 3 v Guildford 4, Surrey League division 4 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 31 March 2025

This was an immensely impressive win by Kingston 3 against a very experienced Guildford team. The hero of the hour was Kingston newbie Seth Warren, who defeated Guildford veteran Trevor Jones in a ding-dong game (pictured above, Seth Warren on right) that saw each player carefully watching results on other boards to see if they should push for a win. In the end Trevor overpressed and paid the penalty, losing on time.

Elsewhere, Jon Eckert had an excellent win on board 1 against Richard Duncalfe; Jaden Mistry, who is on a terrific run, beat Mike Gunn, another Guildford stalwart; and Alan Charevicius got a crucial half-point in his first ever league game for Kingston.

Adam Nakar’s recent winning streak came to an end against Anthony Garrood, but he wasn’t too downhearted, attributing the loss to attacking over-exuberance. Also, the defeat came too late to affect his April ECF rating, which has gone above 1700. Paul Seymour lost to Peter Horlock – yet another Guildford lifer – making the final score 3.5-2.5 to Kingston. A memorable win for Ed Mospan’s team.

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain

Guildford 2 v Kingston 2, Surrey League division 2 match played at the Guildford Institute, Guildford on 24 March 2025

Perhaps this was a match too far for Kingston 2 in the Surrey League. We were safe from relegation in division 2, had little but pride to play for and were up against a strong team still vying with Wimbledon 1 for promotion to the top flight. We were outrated but, in truth, we should have done better than losing 5-2. We did well to draw on boards 1 to 3, and on 7, but were outgunned in the middle order.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. Zubair Froogh, who is a doctor, had been working nights. He was knackered frankly, hallucinated in an opening line he knew well, and dropped a piece with Black on board 5 against Guildford captain Malcolm Twigger-Ross. He fought on, playing quickly and seeking counterplay, but in vain. One of those nights.

Jon Eckert fought valiantly with White against Anton Barysenka, sac-ing a pawn for an attack. But Black neutralised the assault and that extra pawn then became critical in a rook and pawn endgame, especially once the rooks had come off, with Black expertly converting. Not all rook and pawn endgames are drawn!

John Bussmann has had a terrific season, but this was not to be his night either and he was disappointed with his play with White against the youthful Sebastian Twisk, who is fast homing in on an ECF rating of 2000. John thought the game was lost in the opening when he played too passively against his opponent’s Slav Defence. He was forced to sac the exchange and reached this unpleasant position after 26 moves:

John battled on for another 30 moves, but to no avail. A joyless way to spend an evening, trying to conjure counterplay out of a position like this.

The disasters on boards 4 to 6 were offset by significant pluses elsewhere. On board 7, Homayoon Froogh, an excellent recent recruit to the club along with his son Zubair, drew with Black against the solid Ian Deswarte. The game was very enterprising on both sides, but once the queens and a pair of rooks had been exchanged, it all became very blocked and peace was declared in the position below after much shuffling of white rook and black knight and bishop.

Alan Scrimgour also drew with Black on board 3 against Guildford veteran Julian Shepley, and on board 2 Julian Way, with the white pieces, halved with the dangerous Matthew Dishman, agreeing a draw in the level endgame shown below.

The main excitement was on board 1, where Peter Andrews had Black against the up-and-coming Luke Nelson. Peter has kindly supplied some thoughts on the game, starting with what he considered a fascinating position on move 29.

So a disappointing result despite four good draws, but the positives have certainly outweighed the negatives in Surrey division 2 this season. We have a tough match left – against Surbiton 1 in a couple of weeks – but for once we can enjoy it and not worry about the spectre of relegation, which has hung over us for the past three seasons. This year, despite this blip at Guildford, we have proved we can hold our own in Surrey division 2. Long may that continue to be the case. The club needs a strong second team.

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain

Kingston C v Surbiton D, Thames Valley League division X match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 24 March 2025

Kingston fielded an all-junior team in the final TVX match of the season and were rewarded with a 2-2 draw against a more experienced Surbiton team. Anqi Yang beat Harry Roberts on board 2; Zhixing Bai fought hard before succumbing to Surbiton captain Phil Goodings on board 1; and the Chmiest twins, Piotr and Robert, made encouraging debuts on boards 3 and 4, Piotr beating Surbiton junior Dominic Tang on 3 and Robert losing to the wily Kim Cross on 4.

Well done to the team. Thanks to Ed Mospan for captaining on the night, while regular skipper Jon Eckert was with the second team in Guildford. Ed also organised half a dozen internal rated games, which ran alongside the match (see photograph of playing room above showing both match and rated games). Thanks of course to Jon for steering his team through the season, helping Kingston’s newer players get experience of classical controls and the rigours of playing league matches.

We ended the TVX season in mid-table (see below), with four wins, three losses and a draw. This is a training division and what matters is the chance to compete, but it is also good that our young and relatively inexperienced players demonstrated they can win matches. It bodes well for the seasons ahead as the new generation get match-fit.

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain

Kingston entered three teams in the Thorp Trophy and the A team came up trumps, lifting the prize ahead of Epsom and Richmond at Cheam on 22 March 2025

The Thorp Trophy – a four-board team rapidplay played on a single afternoon – hasn’t been held for 20 years, but this season the Surrey Association enterprisingly revived it, and last weekend 16 teams from across Surrey gathered at the Parochial Hall in Cheam to do battle for the trophy. (Well, the trophy has actually been lost, so let’s say for the honour of being the first Thorp champions since South Norwood in the 2003/04 season.)

To my great pleasure and surprise, the Kingston A team (comprising Peter Large, Peter Lalić, Homayoon Froogh and Ye Kyaw – pictured above) came first with 12 game points across the four rounds. The games were played at a time control of 20 minutes plus a five-second increment, with total game points rather than match points determining the winners. All four of the A team scored well, but special mention should be made of Ye Kyaw, who chalked up a perfect 4/4 on board 4.

What makes the tournament distinctive is that two of the players in each four-person team must have an ECF rapid rating of less than 1750, which makes putting teams together tricky. Players must follow strict rating order. The great plus of the competition is that, unusually, first-team players such as the two Peters are competing alongside players from lower teams, which is great for fostering club spirit.

The B team (David Maycock, Jasper Tambini, Aziz Sannie and Jaden Mistry) came fourth, and crucially in the final round got a 2-2 draw with leaders Epsom A, allowing Kingston A to leapfrog Epsom with a 4-0 victory over Richmond A. Good squad-work! Kingston C (the venerable team of John Foley, Stephen Moss, Ed Mospan and Rob Taylor) came a creditable joint tenth. Full scores with the results of individual match-ups can be found on the Surrey Association website on the Competitions page under Thorp Trophy. https://www.scca.co.uk/comps/comps_index.html

This is Peter Lalić’s first-round game against Streatham’s Robin Haldane. Peter is proud of having achieved a 98% accuracy rating in this game.

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain

Final table

Richmond A v Kingston A, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at The Adelaide, Teddington on 18 March 2025

Those of us who fancy ourselves as arithmeticians had worked out, prior to this match, that a win or even a draw would be enough to give us the Thames Valley Division 1 title. However, we were missing several of our leading players, so we anticipated a close match. In general, this season we’ve been fortunate enough to field very strong teams, thanks to the willingness of our top players, and have often found that opposing clubs, in contrast, have not been at full strength. This was indeed the case at Richmond, as they were missing both Gavin Wall and Mike Healey.

Another surprise was Richmond’s time control of 65 minutes plus 10 second increments, making for a shorter evening than usual. This seemed to disadvantage their own players, as some of them quite quickly found themselves in time trouble.

My own game was the first to finish. I had got a bind as White in the Italian Game, and in this position Chris Baker clearly decided that he wasn’t going to die wondering:

We had been fortunate that Stephen Lovell and John Bussmann both stepped in to play when some of our usual squad were unavailable. John’s opening against George Milligan was reminiscent of Peter Lalić’s favoured defence, with Black forgoing castling for a queenless middlegame in which he hoped to outplay his opponent. In this position White should keep his bishop pair, but he exchanged off, giving Black play on the open g-file:

If the two games described above were relatively smooth wins for Kingston, the John Burke v David Maycock encounter on board 2 (pictured above) was anything but. White started with 1. d4, but the opening transposed into the Exchange Variation of the Caro-Kann. In this position David went wrong, as he admitted afterwards:

Alan Scrimgour has had an excellent season so far for Kingston, but things did not go right for him in his game with Black on board 4 against Richmond captain Maks Gajowniczek. (Maks has produced his own report on the match and his victory.) He played the double-edged Benoni Defence and commented afterwards, “It’s bad enough losing your first Kingston game of the season but worse when you make a mistake as early as move 10 in an opening you think you know. Another bad choice a few moves later lost an exchange and left my opponent in a dominating position. I managed to stay in the game, but also fell behind on the clock. In the end I couldn’t stop his passed a-pawn and resigned on move 42.”

The board 5 game between Stephen Lovell, with White, and Victor Bluett had started as an English Opening. When the queens were exchanged, Stephen commented: “I thought I emerged with a pleasant positional advantage (two bishops, chances of a minority attack). I grouped my pieces on the queenside in what seemed the right way and was looking for the right time for the b5 break.” As Stephen said, the position after move 24 could have been a good moment for this:

The board 1 game was a quiet positional Sicilian Defence, in which play was level until a time scramble put pressure on the players. Peter Large, with White, had an outside passed pawn while Maxim Dunn had an extra pawn in the centre:

Thus Kingston A have won the Thames Valley Division 1 title with three matches to spare. Following our victories in 2023 and 2024, this is the first time in our history that Kingston have won three TVL titles in a row. As Kingston club captain Stephen Moss reported, “We won it in 1949 and again in 1950, so twice in a row, and recorded single wins in 1978 and 1984. Pinner did the treble in 1993, 1994 and 1995. Richmond have, remarkably, done the treble five times and the quadruple once (1974, 1975, 1976, 1977).” So there is our next target! Meanwhile, I wish to thank all the players who have contributed so much to this historic achievement, and to Stephen, Peter Andrews, Greg Heath, Ed Mospan and others for their hard work in supporting the team.

David Rowson, Kingston captain in Thames Valley League division 1

Kingston v Epsom, Thames Valley Knockout semi-final played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 17 March 2025

Epsom are always challenging opponents, and so it proved in this Thames Valley Knockout semi-final match. Kingston had a sizeable rating advantage and the victory, by 4-2, looks reasonably comfortable on paper, but it never felt straightforward and we were especially wary of the talented young Kumar brothers on boards 4 and 5.

The board 2 game between David Maycock, with White, and Epsom’s president Marcus Gosling, who recently celebrated passing 2000 in the ECF ratings list (an admirable achievement given his heavy administrative burdens at the club), was entertaining. Does David ever play a dull game? No seems to be the answer. He played an aggressive line against Marcus’s Caro-Kann and established an early advantage, The sequence below more or less decided the game:

Alan Scrimgour had White and a rating advantage on board 6, so we hoped this was a banker, but his opponent Chris Rigby had other ideas and played a combative French Defence in which he sought to create a pawn swarm on the kingside. “Playing against the French,” said Alan afterwards, “I carelessly allowed my opponent the chance to close the queenside. However, when he tried the same on the kingside my 13. exf followed by 14. f5! gave me a bind and several targets to attack. I thought Black should have castled queenside instead of his risky 19…c3.” That critical sequence is shown below.

On boards 4 and 5, Epsom’s young stars Arnav and Sachin Kumar were up against Kingston stalwarts David Rowson and John Foley. Believing we should have the edge elsewhere, we decided neutralisation was the best policy. One never quite trusts the ratings of juniors, and the Kumars are clearly talented. David described his game, with White against Arnav, as “uneventful and reasonably accurately played by us both”, but he says he did have one chance to get an advantage in the position below:

Neutralisation was also the name of the game on board 5, where John Foley had Black against Sachin Kumar. The game was not without its alarms for the Kingston president; Sachin had a chance to win the exchange but fortunately for us missed it. There followed a good deal of expert shuffling and eventually a draw was agreed. That made the score 3-1 to Kingston and now our two Peters, both playing Black, had to finish the job.

Board 1 was a heavyweight match-up between IMs Peter Large (Kingston) and Graeme Buckley (Epsom), former team-mates who know each other’s styles inside out. They reached the position below when Peter stopped scoring under the five-minute rule (ie he had only five minutes plus a 10-second increment left for all his remaining moves):

White is about +1.2 here. By no means decisive, but he is calling the shots and has a much easier game. Peter is very resilient and played many moves on the increment, but eventually – with more time and a better position on the board – Graeme prevailed to get a point back for Epsom and make the match score 3-2 to Kingston.

That meant the board 3 encounter between Chris Wright, with White, and Peter Lalić would decide the match. If Chris won, the match would be drawn and Epsom would got through on board count – high boards scoring more points in the event of the tie, making a victory on board 1 critical. But Peter Lalić is a great player to have on your side in a crisis, and facing an English Opening he sought a positional bind. This proved very successful, restricting all his opponent’s pieces, and afterwards Peter said he considered this one of his best games. He is already winning in the position below:

Peter’s victory secured the match by 4-2. We now face a very strong Harrow side in the final. AWAY! We will start the logistical planning immediately. Past trips to Harrow have proved a little, well, harrowing. A tortuous evening on the A312 beckons.

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain

Kingston B v Hounslow B, Thames Valley League division 2 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 17 March 2025

Kingston B have been going surprisingly well in Thames Valley division 2, winning seven and drawing one of their eight matches before this encounter. Helped by a Hounslow default on bottom board, they kept their unbeaten record with a 5-1 victory and now have a very good chance of being promoted, which would give Kingston two teams in Thames Valley division 1.

Seth Warren was making his second-team debut for Kingston and won a hard-fought game with Black against Steve Hall. This was the sequence which paved the way for Seth’s win:

Alicia Mason kept up her great season with a win with White on board 4 against Ritesh Tendulkar. It was a Sicilian Dragon in which Black decided on an imaginative – but ultimately fruitless – piece-for-two-pawns sac in the position below:

Black plays Bxg4 here, reckoning that after fxg4 and recapture by one of the knights, the pair of knights will make merry. It’s not the worst idea in the world, but just too optimistic. Black did almost get back into the game when White’s e-pawn fell, but a further piece-winning tactic quickly quashed the revival and that was that, though Black played on and on hoping for a miracle.

John Bussmann on board 1 and Jon Eckert on 3 both had draws, while Zubair Froogh, who is also having an immensely promising debut season for Kingston, won in good style with White against the very capable JJ Padam on board 2. Zubair’s win completed an emphatic victory which keeps Kingston B on top of Thames Valley division 2, though with five matches still to play in a protracted season which will last into June.

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain

Kingston 1 v Ashtead 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 10 March 2025

Going into this match, Kingston knew that a win here and a draw at Guildford at the end of the month would win the Surrey Trophy. But a loss at Guildford, who have turned out some very strong sides at home, where they are unbeaten, would mean that they could catch us on match points. So it was important to achieve a big win against Ashtead, in case the season’s honours are decided on game points.

That incentivised us to field a stronger team than would normally be necessary against the bottom club, while it was clear when team sheets were exchanged that Ashtead had struggled to raise a team. There were rating differences of over 500 points on some of the boards, suggesting that a big win should be achievable. Nevertheless, several of the games went the distance, with the visitors showing their fighting spirit.  

First to finish was Mike Healey (pictured above right, sitting beside Peter Lalić). Mike had Black on board 4 against Ashtead captain Bertie Barlow, and the game crystallised with White objectively holding but in practice under some pressure.

Board 7, where Jasper Tambini had White against young (and probably significantly underrated) Tom Vinall, was less straightforward. Jasper tried a gambit against the Caro-Kann, and at one stage I relayed to the crowds in the bar anxiously waiting for news that it looked dodgy. A few minutes later I returned to the arena to find that Jasper had won!

Board 8 was more relaxing for the captain, although no doubt less exciting for other viewers. Julian Way, with Black against Peter Grabaskey, accumulated material and won risklessly.

John Hawksworth’s win with Black against Chris Perks on board 6 was similar: advantages accumulated, and then some classy play to force the decision.

On board 5 Ash Stewart, with White, had to decide what to do with a big advantage in space against Daniel Richmond.

So we had a clean sweep of boards 4 to 8. But boards 1 to 3 were still in progress with time running short.  On board 3, playing Black against Tom Barton, David Maycock was in the uncharacteristic role of sacrifice acceptor.

Then came our first frustration. On board 1 Peter Large, with White, and Phil Brooks played an accurate – 98% on each side, according to Stockfish – but uneventful game in which the evaluation never reached 0.5 in either direction.  We give the concluding position.

A draw was agreed here. It is not clear why now rather than on move 39, when the last chance for a pawn break or king penetration disappeared. Perhaps it was influenced by the decision to limit the new Kingston Chess Club scoresheets to 50 moves; neither side wanted to consume a second sheet unnecessarily.

On board 3 Peter Lalić, with White, had a winning kingside attack for a long time, but his opponent was difficult to nail down.

The game continued, with Peter steadily developing his advantage. He was, though, very short of time by now, so built time with a little shuffling in order to visualise the winning idea.

Thus the match finished 7.5-0.5. A 4-4 draw at Guildford would seal the Surrey title for us, and a narrow defeat would set them a very demanding target when they play at Coulsdon before Easter. Not that we can afford to go to Guildford envisaging a narrow defeat. We go there hoping to overturn their proud home record this season.

Peter Andrews, Kingston captain in Surrey League division 1

Epsom 4 v Kingston 3, Surrey League division 4 match played at Epsom Christian Fellowship, Epsom on 10 March 2025

This was another great result for Kingston 3, led by Ed Mospan. Epsom were seriously strong for a fourth team – what great strength in depth they have – but Kingston countered everything Epsom threw at them and came away with a deserved 3-3 draw.

I wasn’t at the match, so rely on the summary provided by Epsom’s non-playing captain, Alistair Mackenzie. “This was Epsom 4’s strongest team,” Alistair emailed Ed after the match, “so your team did fantastically well. I was confident of victory, but in reality we were very lucky to get a draw, as we could have been well beaten.”

Alistair said that Oliver Kuzmanoski was fortunate to get a draw on board 6, and that Lev Razhnou had to show good technique to save the game against new Kingston recruit Seth Warren on board 1 – a promising result for Seth with Black against a highly rated player.

“I didn’t understand the game between Maya Keen and David Shalom,” added Alistair. “Maya was behind in material but had pressure, and David slipped up with a simple error. David Bickerstaff, with White on board 4, was comfortable for the whole game. James [Pooler] managed to close the gap somehow, but it was not enough. It was a great win for Adam [Nakar], pulling those moves off at the end – he is always good fun to watch.” Adam, who was ecstatic with his victory, is on a tremendous run, and his live rating is climbing fast.

Aziz Sannie had the better of the early exchanges against Epsom veteran Michael Wickham (see Marcus Gosling’s photograph of their encounter above), but the latter was able to turn the game around and grab the point that ensured the two teams would share the spoils. All four decisive games in the match ended with a win for White. It really does make a difference, you know.

Ed took an additional four players along to Epsom to play rated friendlies – a great innovation this season at Kingston, where we are trying to offer rated chess outside the traditional league structure so more players get games. This has been a terrific innovation by Ed, who has made a huge difference since returning as a team captain and club officer, and we hope it will be a template for the club’s development.

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain