Ashtead 1 v Kingston 2, Surrey League division 2 match played at the Peace Memorial Hall, Ashtead on 7 April 2026

The Surrey League Division 2 (Beaumont Cup) table showed in advance of this match that if Kingston 2 were defeated, Guildford 2, with two outstanding matches, could still catch us on match points. We had 12.5 more game points, so a defeat by no worse than 2-5 would ensure that even two 7-0 wins for Guildford would be insufficient to overhaul us.

I was confident that was within our scope, but with several regulars away for holiday or work reasons, David Rowson falling ill the day before the match, and Ashtead having several strong players who occasionally turn out for them, it was by no means a done deal. Those concerns were reinforced before the start. The familiar figure of Peter Lalić was hovering in the background, and he certainly wasn’t eligible to play for us. And of course, this being Division 2, I lost the toss, giving us four Blacks out of seven.

Quick draws for Jasper Tambini on board 2 against Phil Brooks and John Foley on board 3 against Dan Rosen, in both cases outrated by over 100 points, soon settled the nerves. Tom Mayers on board 6 took only slightly longer to draw with Bertie Barlow. Tom had had an edge from the opening, but the position soon became blocked and roughly equal, and he wisely took no risks.

My game with Peter Lalić was also fairly short but rather more exciting, in a bad way. In a similar line to our clash in the Thames Valley match between Kingston A and B early in the season, Peter had thrown his kingside pawns up the board, sacrificing one of them. The sacrifice was not strictly sound, but tempted me to try to hold the material rather than get castled, and in a difficult but in principle equal position I missed a game-ending shot.

At about the same time, Alan Scrimgour won on board 4 against Ian McLeod. This was one of those rare games where one player is able to build a winning advantage by positional means without an obvious major error on the other side. Such a smooth performance deserves coverage in the games department, so only the denouement is featured here.

Stephen Moss, who had kindly stepped up to play board 7 when David Rowson fell ill, had a much longer and more dramatic game with Adrian Waldock. An aggressive line against the English had given him a space advantage. White had countered on the kingside which had opened up, potentially embarrassing both kings, but by the time we join the action (and this was about the time spectators were moving over from the other games) it was clear that it was White’s king which was in trouble.

That left us 3.5-2.5 ahead, and, with at least one match point in the bag, fine calculations around game points became academic. As it turned out, Martyn Jones on board 5 was able to seal the win in an entertaining though unrecorded finish against Tom Barton.

Martyn, playing Black, had won a pawn and also had the better bishop by the early stages of the endgame, and seemed at one point to have a winning chance in hand-to-hand fighting between the central pawns. But the position became blocked, and White penetrated with a rook. Towards the end there seemed to be a risk that Martyn’s king would get mated mid-board, hemmed in by pawns.  With both players down to a minute or less, Martyn played Be8, defending all the threats but leaving the bishop en prise to a rook on e6. As he did so, he offered a draw. His opponent was equally unaware that he had just been presented with a game that he had been fighting to save for most of the evening, and accepted the draw, giving us a 4-3 win.

So we won the match and with it the Surrey League division 2 championship, only four seasons after Kingston 1 had won the same division. Whereas that was a logical stepping stone en route to contesting the summit of Surrey chess, this has been much more of a surprise (until this season we have regarded staying in the division as our objective) and therefore arguably a greater achievement by the players involved.

We were outrated in five of our 10 matches, according to the one-month-lagged ratings used by Surrey, and we lost the toss in eight of those 10 matches – significant when that means 4 Blacks and 3 Whites. In all the close finishes, of which there were many (two drawn matches, a 4-3 win, three 4.5-2.5 wins), someone seemed to pull out a result when it was needed.

Eighteen different people played during the season. Of the regulars, Alan Scrimgour (6/8) and David Rowson (5/7) had the best results. But the strength of this team was in depth, with for example Homayoon Froogh (4.5/5) and Martyn Jones (3.5/5) scoring heavily on the lower boards, increasing their ratings and moving up the order as the season went on, and Stephen Moss scoring 3 out of 4 in addition to his tireless driving.

Over the next few weeks I intend to consult the player pool as to whether we wish to have a crack at division 1 or whether, if we have the choice, we might be able to remain in what is already a highly challenging division. But for the moment Kingston 2 should enjoy their unexpected success in winning one of the few trophies which eluded the club in 2024-25.  

Peter Andrews is Kingston 2 captain in Surrey League division 2

Hammersmith A v Kingston B, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at the London Mindsports Centre, 21 Dalling Rd, London W6 on 2 April 2026

Unexpectedly, for our players at least, the Candidates broadcasts had a rival last Thursday, as Hammersmith transmitted live on chess.com the games between their A team and our B team. While that may have exposed in real time our many inaccuracies to a global audience, it also allowed our fellow Kingstonians to follow every twist and turn of what proved to be some entertaining and possibly nerve-shredding games.

Several Kingston players had dropped out of the team originally selected due to illness or Easter holiday engagements, so as captain I was very grateful to Constantin Liesch and Genç Taşbaşı for making themselves available at short notice. Hammersmith were also without some of their usual A team players, but they still significantly outrated us.

It was the board 5 game which might have finished first, as Tom Townsend offered Constantin a draw, which the Kingston player had the spirit to refuse, even though at that point he only had a slight advantage. In fact, the first result came on board 3, where Jasper Tambini (pictured above) had played the Advance Variation against Maria-Alexandra Ciocan’s French Defence. In the following position the two players had equal chances:

This win was a fillip for the team and for those watching on Chess.com, and as the other games were still too close to call there was a flicker of hope that we could yet achieve a result against expectations.

On board 2, where I had Black against Luke Lau, I felt that I had equalised in the opening (an Italian Game), but both players were continually faced with difficult choices which had impacts on both sides of the board. After Luke’s 32. h4 this was the position:

The board 6 game began as a Sicilian Defence Alapin Variation, with a fairly level position up to this position:

On board 1 Peter Andrews had opened with his usual English. Stereotypes of this opening as one which generally steers clear of tactics were exposed as totally wide of the mark by the way the game went. Peter gained an extra pawn (on c5), but also exchanged his g2 bishop for Black’s c6 knight, commenting afterwards that “giving up the two bishops is a high price to pay”. Unusually, Ali Hill positioned his bishops on h4 and h5, and his control of the e-file gave him the advantage:

John Foley succinctly summed up both his journey to the venue and the way his game started as follows: “I was stuck in traffic, so bailed out and Limed it to Hammersmith 20 minutes late. I rattled off the trusty Caro-Kann and times were level after 19 moves.” There were many twists and turns in this game too, until the position simplified, if that is the appropriate word, into a queen and bishop ending where John had an extra pawn:

With five of the six games concluded, Kingston B had now lost the match, trailing 3.5-1.5, but on board 5 Constantin Liesch was still fighting to try to win a rook ending against his much higher-rated opponent. This nearly backfired when, in time trouble, he allowed his opponent the chance to advance his passed pawn to e2 at a moment when Constantin’s rook was not in a position to stop it queening. Fortunately for him, Tom Townsend overlooked this and the game was drawn, a very good result for Constantin. This gave a final match score of 4-2 to Hammersmith.

Not a bad result given the rating discrepancy, and I imagine we gave plenty of entertainment to the chess.com viewers. However, it’s been quite frustrating this season that we have put up good fights against Hammersmith, Ealing and Maidenhead (away – we beat them at home), but have fallen short in the end. We still have three matches in which to gain the points to stay in division 1.

David Rowson is Kingston B captain in Thames Valley division 1

Ashtead 2 v Kingston 3, Surrey League division 4 match played at the Peace Memorial Hall, Ashtead on 31 March 2026

As the season marches inexorably towards its conclusion, so too did six of Kingston’s finest march a step further towards the Centenary Trophy. Although the 4.5-1.5 scoreline left little room for doubt, the match at Ashtead was a nail-biter, with four games still unclear at 10.15pm. Many thanks to Ashtead for hosting us and congratulations to all the players on a robust and competitive performance.

Kingston third-and fourth-team captain Ed Mospan had one eye on the league standings when selecting the team; with just one further match against co-leaders Epsom 4 remaining, there was no room for error. We had a moderate rating advantage on the top 4 boards, widening out into a significant edge on boards 5 and 6, which is where our analysis begins – Ashtead’s Hugh Wylie v Kingston’s Seth Warren on board 5.

Fairly soon afterwards, Kingston’s Ye Kwaw also won with White on board 6 against Christopher Perks, leaving us 2-0 up. Surveying the remaining four boards, however, gave a very uncertain picture. As late as 10.15pm all four were still in play, with most players having less than 10 minutes on the clock, and three games still very double-edged.

Xavier Cowan (pictured above, right) had arrived late after an unexpectedly adventurous cycle journey. He had conceded a lot of time to his opponent, Patrick O’Mara, and had the black pieces, but his play proved to be as free-wheeling as his cycling, and he built up a kingside attack which eventually proved to be irresistible. Dormie 3, as golfers say. The match could not now be lost.

Indeed, it was there to be won. Thivan Gunawardana was in trouble against Ashley Wilson on board 4, but Alex Chmelev looked to have a nailed-on draw against Ashtead stalwart Bertie Barlow on board 2 and Tom Mayers, with Black on board 3, was starting to make progress against the experienced Adrian Waldock.

The three games finished in rapid succession, with time playing its part in two of them. Alex duly secured the match-winning draw on board 2; Thivan, in desperate time trouble and also under severe pressure on the board, succumbed to give Ashtead a consolation win; and Tom won on time – an excellent scalp for the young man – to make the final score 4.5-1.5. Kingston 3 now face a tough away match against Epsom 4 which will decide who wins the Surrey League division 4 (Centenary Trophy) title.

Seth Warren is Kingston fixtures secretary and was acting captain in the match at Ashtead

Epsom 1 v Kingston 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at Epsom Christian Fellowship, 22 West Hill, Epsom on 30 March 2026

Matches against Epsom always have an extra edge – in a good way – and this had more than most. If we had lost here, Guildford 1 would have maintained a 1.5 point lead in Surrey League division 1. We could still have caught them, but it would have been much tougher. As it was, a 6-2 victory over Epsom allowed us to close to within half a point and the decider will now be Kingston 1’s home match with Guildford on 13 April. Those two clubs will also contest the final of the Alexander Cup at Ashtead on 26 May, confirming that they have been the dominant teams in Surrey this season.

We had a strong team out at Epsom and slightly shaded it on ratings. But Peter Lalić was in trouble from an early stage with White on board 1 against IM Graeme Buckley, so nothing could be taken for granted. Epsom’s Chris Russell was playing aggressively against David Maycock on board 2; Peter Andrews and Robin Haldane were having a (metaphorical) punch-up on board 6; Jasper Tambini was facing former British champion Peter Lee (pictured above) on board 7; and on board 8 Kingston president John Foley was up against Sachin Kumar, the junior who had beaten him in a Kingston 2 match in January. Anything could happen.

David Maycock (pictured above, left) opened the scoring for Kingston with a win with Black over Christopher Russell, though David was mad at himself for one error which could have cost him the game. Russell played an aggressive opening and when I looked at the position below, I thought he had given himself a good chance of breaking through with the early g4. Full marks for ambition anyway.

On board 4 John Hawksworth secured an important draw with Black against James Allison, who has been a thorn in Kingston’s side this season. The game, which started as a Nimzo-Indian, was nip and tuck throughout. “I spent much too long on the opening and, although I got an acceptable position, I was behind on the clock throughout the game,” John said afterwards. He thought his opponent had a sniff of a chance in the position below.

Peter Hasson, as so often this season, calmed nerves further with an assured win with White over Arnav Kumar, elder brother of Sachin, on board 5. “Arnav was confused by my speculative pawn sac.” Peter said after the game. “The final position has some pretty mates if he plays on.” We join the game on White’s 12th move, when Peter decides to try to exploit Black’s cramped set-up.

Kingston were 2.5-0.5 up, but Epsom quickly hit back, IM Graeme Buckley beating Peter Lalić with Black on board 1 – a very good result for Graeme which ended Peter’s sequence of 41 undefeated classical games. Peter played a bold version of the Smith-Morra, but only succeeded in giving up two pawns for not very much. Graeme had no difficulty defusing any hopes of counterplay, and Peter resigned in the position below.

John Foley’s game against Sachin Kumar was very similar to their earlier encounter. John built up a hefty time advantage and they entered an endgame – with rooks on this occasion rather than bishops as previously. John was pressing, but Sachin defended well on the increment and peace was eventually declared. That made it 3-2 to KIngston.

IMs Peter Large and Susan Lalić played a vigorous game on board 3, with both sides looking to grab the initiative and attack. Peter had White, but was well into the middlegame before he could establish any sort of advantage. In the position below, Stockfish gives White a small plus, but Black’s command of the c-file looks promising.

Jasper Tambini’s win over Peter Lee was a thriller, with tactics galore. A French Advance led to this position in which White is already much better thanks to Black’s kingside weaknesses.

The wins by Peter Large and Jasper Tambini gave Kingston an unassailable 5-2 lead. Now could the Kingston captain, Peter Andrews, put the icing on the cake? We join the game with Peter about to play his tenth move. The commentary is by Peter, who sums up the game by saying: “We both attacked, mainly out of desperation when we felt we were getting into trouble.”

“Robin was kind enough to say that he had enjoyed the game very much despite the result, hence playing on to mate, said Peter afterwards. “And of course unlike Gordon Rennie the previous week, Robin was safe from any flying pieces because my mating attack comprised backwards moves.”

Thus Kingston enjoyed a very satisfying – and perhaps slightly flattering – 6-2 victory. Now the deciding match against league leaders on 13 April Guildford awaits. It promises to be an epic encounter.

Stephen Moss is Kingston Chess Club captain

Surbiton A v Kingston A, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at Fircroft, Surbiton on 25 March 2026

After our close, tense and controversial match against Hammersmith, I was hoping and expecting a simple and stress-free evening out on our trip away to Surbiton, especially as they put out a team missing Mark Josse, their best player. But things did not turn out quite as I planned.

The first game to finish was the board 1 clash between David Maycock and Altaf Chaudhry. This was another crushing win by David, essentially decided by an opening error by Black:

Another crisp game by Maycock. His handling of the white pieces in the Sicilian Defence is both an object lesson and a standing reproach to all those club players who wheel out their tired Alapins, their pusillanimous Bb5s and their lame Morras “to avoid the theory”. Play the main lines for God’s sake.

The next game to finish was on board 4, where John Hawksworth had the black pieces against David Scott. Readers who have been following John’s progress as he returns to the fray will not be surprised to learn that the game ended in a draw – he is difficult to beat. He played (my favourite) Hedgehog Defence, and it seemed to me he went wrong at one point in the opening. But he recovered to reach equality, and the game ended in an almost-forced threefold repetition on move 28.

On board 6 Peter Andrews had very kindly stepped in at late notice to replace an unwell Julian Way. His reward was to get Black against Nick Faulks, a frequent opponent. On Peter’s own account he was surprised in the opening, when Faulks played:

That made it 1.5-1.5 – not the score I had been hoping for. And it got worse. On board 2, Peter Lalić was Black against Joseph Morrison. Peter’s latest opening nonsense involves advancing all the pawns in front of his own king, so as to create weaknesses. The flaw in this strategy is that the weaknesses are in his own position. Morrison reacted to the provocation quite sensibly, and in fact missed a chance to obtain an advantage in the early middlegame. The game was agreed a draw on move 32 in a blocked position in which neither side could make much progress. 2-2.

On board 3 I was playing the up-and-coming Joshua Pirgon. I obtained no advantage with White against his unusual line in the French, and after 19 moves we reached the following equal position:

That made the score 3-2, but with one game remaining we still hadn’t won the match. Fortunately the one game remaining was Peter Hasson v Liam Bayly on board 5. Peter is extremely strong with White, and this was a beautiful positional game.

So we scraped a 4-2 win. It means we have put some clear blue water between ourselves and our rivals in Thames Valley division 1, but the narrow margin of victory against the team currently sitting at the bottom of the league table shows that there is still no room for smug complacency.

Peter Large is Kingston captain in Thames Valley division 1

Staines B v Kingston C, Thames Valley League division X match played at The Literary Institute, 51 High Street, Egham on 26 March 2026

We don’t often visit Staines – one of the trickier journeys we face for away matches – so well done to this intrepid foursome for getting there. Rob Taylor was the star of the show. He captained in Jon Eckert’s absence and enjoyed a good win. His three team-mates were less successful as Kingston C went down to a 3-1 defeat, but it was pleasing to see Aytek Koyun making his league debut for the club on board 1.

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain

Kingston 2 v Wimbledon 2, Surrey League division 2 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 23 March 2026

As in the away fixture a few weeks earlier, Kingston 2 had a big rating advantage against a Wimbledon 2 team depleted by nominations calls by their first team. So despite losing the toss we were confident of the win which would seal the Surrey League division 2 title barring a remarkable finish by Guildford 2. But expectation brings its own pressure.

Jasper Tambini had the first point on the board in half an hour when Wimbledon’s board 3 failed to appear. Tom Mayers, with White on board 6, followed with a nice finish against Malcolm Lowry.

Either side of Tom, Homayoon Froogh on board 5 and Thivan Gunawardana on board 7 showcased the Caro-Kann defence. Homayoon’s opponent, John Deacon, threw his kingside pawns up the board, gaining space but leaving his king with nowhere to go, and once the queens came off Homayoon was able to exploit the weakness of White’s pawns. Thivan’s game (below) was different – he was the one who gained the space advantage against Omar Selim, and he then won material when White tried to break out.

Martyn Jones, who has won a lot of games lately, added a mysterious one to the list with White against Stephen Carpenter on board 4. When the players stopped recording because they both had fewer than five minutes on the clock, they had reached a position which they both thought was about level – Martyn had just declined a draw. But Stockfish thinks White is losing here – evaluation worse than minus 2 – presumably based of White’s broken pawns, although with the black king so open White must have practical chances.

Martyn has not been able to reconstruct the rest of the game in detail, but he was able to play rook to d4 and b4 check, driving the black king to c8. Black then chased white kingside pawns and allowed the queen on c3 to h8, mating in two. In an open position and a time scramble, errors can easily overturn pre-existing advantages.

No such luck for David Rowson, who ran into tough resistance from Sam Hall on board 2. This was a slow burner for the first 20 moves or so, and then the advantage swung both ways, as usual with time running short.

My own game with Black against Gordon Rennie on board 1 finished around the same time. Gordon has had to carry the management challenge posed by the loss of players and play higher-rated opponents in every match for Wimbledon, and he certainly makes a fight of it. This was the game with the most mutual jeopardy, judging by the spectators around the board towards the end (see photograph above) and the whisky I needed to sleep once I got home. Time trouble was of course a factor, but most of the critical phase of the game was recorded.

The result means that Kingston 2 cannot be overhauled on match points in division 2. Guildford 2 can catch us if we lose at Ashtead on 7 April and they win all their remaining matches, but to catch us on game points as well they would need something like three 6-1 wins, which in such a tight division is unlikely. We should not take the Ashtead match lightly – the day after our win against Wimbledon 2, they turned out a team with 2100+ rated Dan Rosen on board 4 – but it does look as though perhaps the most remarkable of our likely trophy successes this season is almost in the bag.

Peter Andrews is club chair and captain of Kingston 1 and Kingston 2 in the Surrey League

Kingston 4 v Surbiton 3, Surrey League division 5 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 23 March 2026

This was a well-contested local derby – Kingston and Surbiton are about three miles apart – between two very solid teams. Surbiton proved too strong on the bottom boards, with the canny Paul McCauley beating Rob Taylor (pictured, above left) with White on board 5 and Nikolai Mantaev getting the better of Nette Robinson with Black on 6. But it was a different story on the top boards.

Seth Warren had a fine victory over Surbiton veteran Malcolm Groom with Black on board 1, Ye Kyaw won against Oleksiy Podolyan on 3, and Genc Tasbasi ground out a crucial success against Surbiton captain Phil Goodings on 5. The vital half-point in a 3.5-2.5 win was supplied by Adam Nakar, who drew against the dangerous and tactically inclined Alexey Markov on board 2. This was a very good result for Adam, who hasn’t had a chance to play many games this season, and was enough for Kingston 4 to claim local bragging rights.

Stephen Moss is Kingston club captain

Richmond A v Kingston B, Thames Valley League division 2 match played at the Adelaide pub Teddington on 17 March 2025

Like Kingston B’s previous fixture, a narrow win against Surbiton A, this match at Richmond was a relegation clash. The two teams were quite similar in terms of average ratings, but Richmond were strong on the top two boards. In view of my recent poor form, Alan Scrimgour kindly agreed to take board 1 against Mike Healey.

I was also grateful to John Foley for stepping in to play at short notice, and it was John who secured the first half-point for us. He commented on an amusing aspect of his encounter: “I played an uneventful Caro-Kann, with an early draw. I thought at first it was Chris Baker IM. I was confused because I played CBIM previously and this person looked different.”

The evening’s other draw was that on board 5. Raghu Kamath played the Dutch Defence and had pressure on the half-open f-file, but Homayoon Froogh defended stoutly. In the following position, Black could have opened a second front on the queenside and centre by playing his pawns to b6 and c5.

The board 1 game between Alan Scrimgour, with White, and Mike Healey began as a Sicilian Defence, c3 variation (1. e4 c5 3. c3). It was level until this position was reached:

Kingston soon equalised the score thanks to Stephen Lovell’s win with White on board 3. Here his opponent, John Burke, has just played 17…N(f6)xNd5. Stephen (pictured above, left) had to decide how to recapture, and had three choices.

This left the match all square with two games outstanding – boards 2 and 6. Both these games seemed hard to call for one side or the other, but in the case of the board 2 game this was because the position might be described as on a knife edge, while on board 6 the game looked to be heading for a draw. One Interesting aspect of Gajowniczek v Jones on board 6 was that Martyn had played the Grunfeld Defence, which in my experience is rarely seen in club chess, though I don’t know why.

The action in my game was all on the queenside, as Casper Bates had a passed pawn on the b-file and I had one on the a-file. As we entered time trouble the question was whether either of us could win the opposition’s pawn or force a weakening in his position. Unfortunately, I played too quickly, without sufficient calculation, as is often my problem when in time trouble, and allowed Casper’s queen and knight to enter the heart of the position and give mate.

Disappointed, I looked at the match sheet and saw that someone had scored the board 6 game as a draw, which would have meant that we had also lost the match. However, it turned out that whoever had assumed a draw in that game had jumped the gun: the two players were still fighting it out, although the opposite-coloured bishop ending did appear dead drawn. Martyn, who thought I was either winning or drawing my game, had offered a draw, which Maks had rejected. Sadly for the Richmond player, moments later he lost on time, still in a theoretically drawn position. So Kingston B had very fortuitously drawn the match 3-3.

This result still leaves the relegation issue very much undecided. Richmond have 8 points, but only two matches left, and those are against Kingston A and Hammersmith A. Ealing and Kingston B both have 6 points, but we have an extra match in hand. At the bottom are Surbiton with 5 points, but they have played a match less than us. So it’s all to play for.

David Rowson is Kingston B captain in Thames Valley League division 1

Kingston v Epsom, Lauder Trophy semi-final played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 16 March 2026

The Lauder Trophy is a knockout competition in which the total rating of the six-board team cannot exceed 10,500, ie an average of 1750 per board. The rating limit makes it likely that the matches are close, although it gives a small advantage to clubs with large player pools, giving them the best chance of getting as close as possible to the rating limit without exceeding it, and those with plenty of underrated players, especially fast- rising juniors, so as to get the biggest strength bang for the rating buck. This semi-final illustrated the point well: Kingston total rating 10,489, Epsom 10,479, but the latter had several juniors and no one older than their [to my elderly eyes] still youthful president, Marcus Gosling.

Kingston had White on the odd boards, and all the games were indeed well-contested. Epsom struck the first blow on board 6, where KIngston’s Rob Taylor got an advantage in the opening against Arjun Chaturvedi but lost the exchange when trying to regroup his attack. His position was good enough to prevent much progress, but White was eventually able to return the exchange for a pawn and win the bishop ending a pawn up.

Around the same time, Tom Mayers went down to Ethan Bogerd on board 3. Tom had won a pawn in the opening, for which Ethan had some initiative but probably not enough. Tom got active while retaining the pawn, and I was optimistic for a while, but an exchange went missing in the complications and Ethan finished off ruthlessly. Ethan had also won both his games against Kingston in the Thorpe Trophy two days earlier. Advantage Epsom, but the very promising Kingston newcomer Constantin Liesch then struck back on board 5.

On board 4, Seth Warren with Black against Toby Eaves had been slightly better in the early middle game. He then dropped a pawn but reached an ending with bishops of opposite colours which was objectively drawn. However, we have learned from one of our top players that positions in which only one side has winning chances, however slight, and can maintain them without risk can be humanly difficult to defend.

That left boards 1 and 2 in play, on both of which we were substantially outrated. Earlier on, I had not been optimistic about either. On board 1, Stephen Lovell (pictured above, left foreground) became a little cramped with White against James Allison, and although the position was sufficiently blocked that it was hard for Black to make progress, Allison eventually made a breakthrough on the queenside to win material, and found a trick to rebut Stephen’s attempted kingside counter. In the end Stephen lost on time, but the game was gone anyway.

On board 2, I was worried that Xavier Cowan’s knight on e4 had no obvious escape route and that Xavier would need tactics to prevent Marcus Gosling from eventually playing f3 to win it. That created tension, and characteristically caused Xavier to burn all his time, so that by the time the game exploded he was more or less on the increment. But with no time to think he produced a fireworks display.

A shame that however crushing a win may be it only counts one point, but nevertheless a nice way to end our involvement in this year’s competition. Well done to Epsom on their 4-2 victory. They now face Dorking in the final.

Peter Andrews is Kingston captain in the Lauder Trophy and chair of the club