In what may be a first for the Thames Valley League, Kingston have been crowned champions of the knockout cup without having to take on a rival in the final. Harrow and Richmond had been due to contest a semi-final to determine who would meet us in the final, but communications seem to have broken down between the clubs and the match never took place.

The Thames Valley season has now been concluded, leaving no time for their semi, let alone a final against Kingston, and the league has decided to award Kingston the trophy. Congratulations to Kingston’s successful TVKO captain Alan Scrimgour (pictured), though naturally he would have preferred to get his hands on the silverware after a proper contest.

The win by default means that Kingston have completed (for the third time in four seasons) a clean sweep of all four major Surrey League and Thames Valley League titles – the Surrey Trophy (Surrey League Div 1), the Alexander Cup (Surrey League 10-board knockout), Thames Valley Div 1 and the Thames Valley knockout.

It has been a period of extraordinary domination by Kingston in the local leagues. We also won the Thorpe Trophy (Surrey team rapidplay) and the Beaumont Cup (Surrey League Div 2) this season, and our 4NCL partnership with CSC saw our first team finish second in the top division – another mighty performance.

There were too many fine individual performances by Kingston players to enumerate them all, but we must note the showing of some of our more senior members in the John Hawson Trophy, the Surrey League competition for over-60s awarded on the basis of best percentage score in Surrey league and cup matches. The trophy was shared by two revered Kingston players, Peter Large and Alan Scrimgour, with a 75% record, and, as the list below shows, there were three other Kingston players in the top six. Quite extraordinary. Even your own aged correspondent managed to break 50%. A memorable season all round. Let’s do it all again next year – if we still have the strength.

Stephen Moss is Kingston club captain

* To win the John Hawson Trophy, players must play a minimum of five Surrey games. The players marked in red in the list above all played at least five games.

Kingston B v Ealing A, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 18 May 2026

This, the last match of Kingston B’s TVL season, coincided with Kingston A playing Maidenhead A, also at home. As a result of the extra demand on the pool of players, and with some people unavailable for either team, I was grateful to Tom Mayers and Seth Warren for agreeing to play. Kingston B were already safe from relegation, but the match was crucial for Ealing A, who needed to win to avoid last place and the drop to Division 2.

Board 1 was one of two boards where the Kingston player’s opponent significantly outrated him. Not only that, but Peter Andrews with Black found himself confronting FM Andrew Harley’s expertise in the c3 (Alapin) line against his Sicilian Defence. Andrew has co-authored (with GM Eduardas Rozantalis) a book about this line, Play the 2.c3 Sicilian. Peter did well to find a move early on which, unbeknownst to him, had previously been played by a grandmaster to equalise. After the queens were exchanged, this position was reached:

Here Peter comments, “Black’s pawn weakness on the queenside is only notional. The two pawns and the black pieces hold the white majority, and the king is close enough to the queenside to be an extra defender.” His judgement was proved right a few moves later when, realising that he did not have serious chances of pushing for a win, Andrew Harley agreed to a draw. A good start for Kingston.

Not long after, I also agreed to a draw on board 2, in a position where I could perhaps have tried for more:

Black had just played 21…Qe6. The symmetrical pawn structure limits White’s chances of an advantage, but I did have the better bishop and could have played 22. Nd2, with the idea of repositioning it on c4. Black would have been forced to defend rather passively, though he could have played his pawn to h5 at some stage to try to take advantage of White’s weakened kingside pawn structure.  Anyway, all that was might-have-been after we shook hands.

The board 3 game in which John Foley had Black against Duncan Grassie began as a Trompowsky Attack. White gave up the two bishops by exchanging on f6, but in compensation doubled Black’s f-pawns. He then launched a queenside pawn storm, to which John responded by playing his knight to e4.

On board 4 Constantin Liesch, with White, faced the experienced Tony Wells. Exchanges resulted in this position after move 29, with equal material but a black pawn majority on the kingside countering White’s passed (but immobile) pawn on d4:

On board 5 Tom Mayers had opened with the King’s Indian Defence against Xavier Cowan (who plays for Ealing in the Thames Valley League when he isn’t playing for Kingston in the Surrey League). In this position, Tom came up with an effective blockading plan:

So, 3-2 to Kingston B, with one game to finish, that on board 6. Agnieszka Milewska played the Caro-Kann Defence and, perhaps unusually from this opening, both players castled queenside. The star of this game was Black’s queen’s rook, which moved from d8 to d5 to a5, targeting, with the back-up of the black queen, White’s pawn on a2. Seth defended this by playing his bishop to b1, but this boxed his king in on a1 and made his position quite uncomfortable, as the diagram below demonstrates.

Seth fought well, giving up the exchange for two pawns. He seemed to have equalised when the queens came off (Agnieszka having missed a one-move win as they both struggled with time trouble). However, Black’s remaining piece, the energetic rook, outmanoeuvred White’s sole bishop and Agnieszka gained the point to leave the match a 3-3 draw.

Unfortunately for Ealing, as their captain Andrew Harley remarked to me, a draw was not enough for them to avoid last place in the division and relegation to Division 2. The sad loss last October of the player who was their mainstay for many years, Alan Perkins, and the absence of several other strong players has meant that their teams have been significantly weaker this season.

What about Kingston B’s season? “They all said it couldn’t be done, a B team surviving in Division 1.” Well, maybe they didn’t, but when we lost close matches at Maidenhead and Ealing earlier this year I myself was pessimistic. However, thereafter our results were much better: played 6, won 3, drew 2, lost 1.

Congratulations and thanks to everyone (18 of you) who played for the B team this season. In terms of points scored, I would like to make special mention of Martyn Jones (6/6!), Stephen Lovell, Constantin Liesch and Homayoon Froogh. There were other players who may not have scored so highly, but who took on the challenge of facing the opposition’s top boards – Peter Andrews and Jasper Tambini in particular.

Thanks also to those who gave lifts to remote places (Maidenhead) – John Foley and Stephen Moss, and to those who stepped in at short notice to prevent a default: Seth Warren, Tom Mayers and Genc Tasbasi. Now I think we can all enjoy some satisfaction at our season’s outcome and a few months’ rest.

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

Epsom 4 v Kingston 3, Surrey League division 4 match played at Epsom Christian Fellowship KT19 8JD on 11 May 2026

The Kingston 3 team had recently secured a crucial victory at Ashtead, keeping them level with league co-leaders Epsom 4 and meaning that this final match of the season would decide the Centenary Trophy (Surrey division 4). Kingston captain Ed Mospan had fielded his top team and Kingston had a healthy rating edge on most boards.

The first result to break the tension was facilitated by a canny equalisation tactic from Sammy Hedges, who had Black against me on board 6. My small edge from the opening was eliminated and we quickly reached a draw. How important that half point would turn out to be!

On board 5 Constantin Liesch, with Black against Venkatesh Subramonium, built a strong attack and soon things began to look very perilous indeed, as the position below demonstrates.

Kingston 3 were leading 1.5-0.5 and the top four boards were all locked in combat. Board 1, between Epsom’s Alan Bates with White and Xavier Cowan, was a complex struggle which we will review below; on board 2 Kingston’s Alexander Chmelev, playing White, had a small edge counterbalanced by accurate and solid defence. KIngston’s Tom Mayers, with Black on board 3, seemed to have a burgeoning positional dominance, while Jon Eckert on board 4 was down a piece but was mounting a complex attack. Surely, the ghost of Kingston murmured, we could acquire two points from such a field.

On board 2, Alexander Chmelev with White, has secured a powerful pawn on e5 (see diagram above) and has a very active outpost for his knight. A black rook is staring directly at his king, however, with ideas such as Qh4 hanging in the air. The game continued with a combination of these ideas (Rh6, Qh4, White queen to g3 and eventually a trade of queens). The endgame looked very promising for White, but Epsom’s Pietro Silke Balerna was putting up a very solid defence and progress was slow.

Meanwhile the situation on board 4, where Jon Eckert had White against Lucy Buckley, had developed significantly. The double-edged situation pictured above shows the two sides poised for fireworks; indeed by the time I looked again, they had detonated, leaving Jon a knight down with some attacking chances. Lucy retained the necessary sangfroid, however, and brought the game to a victorious conclusion, levelling the match at 1.5-1.5.

As the evening wore on, so did Pietro’s clock on board 2, and despite defending valiantly in his endgame against Alex Chmelev, he was forced to sacrifice an exchange to stop the e-pawn and later faltered in desperate time trouble. Kingston had regained the lead at 2.5-1.5, and now needed just half a point to tie the match and one point from the remaining two games to win it.

This was the position on board 1 at an earlier stage in the game:

By this late stage of the evening, however, the game had advanced and Xavier, with less than 30 seconds on his clock, boldly offered White a piece in this position:

White decided he could not accept the bishop for fear of Nf3+ Bxf3 and complications arising from Re1+. If instead White plays Kh1, Bf4 and Rg3 would win the white queen. After Kf1 White is far from safe and two pawns down to boot. To play a position of this nature is difficult at the best of times, but by this stage both players had less than a minute on their clocks and more than once Xavier played a move with just a second or two to spare. After enduring what can only have been an episode of intense tachycardia, Xavier was the first to falter and when Bc4+ arrived – as a lightning bolt from a storm cloud – it was met with Rf7 and, horror, Re8#. Congratulations of course to Alan Bates for his remarkable composure.

With the match score now level at 2.5-2.5 the outcome of the Centenary Trophy would indeed be the outcome of Wickham, Mike v Mayers, Tom. Winding the clock back an hour, the position was this:

At this point both players were desperately low on time and no further moves were recorded. White’s c5 pawn fell, leaving Black with two connected passers. An active knight was snapped off for the bishop. Tom could feel that he was in control and that to stabilise the position below would be to win it.

A few moves followed quickly. The average blood pressure in the room rose further.

Heartfelt congratulations to the epic battalion of tonight’s match and of the season before it. Congratulations to Epsom for their composure and resilience; all that remains to say is that all ye woebegone Kingstonians, your scars will make you that much the stronger.

Seth Warren was acting captain of Kingston 3 in this match

Final Centenary Trophy (Surrey Div 4) table

Kingston B v Hammersmith, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 27 April 2026

This was a match of contrasting play: from the daring (Kelmendi v Tambini) to the soporific (my own game), with skilful positional grinds, blunders and inspired kamikaze attacks happening more or less simultaneously (though not on the same board).

Hammersmith A lacked several of their top players, while Kingston B were near full strength, so the two teams were evenly matched, inspiring hope that we could achieve another result to pull us away from the relegation zone.

The first game to finish, on board 3, turned out to be the highlight of the evening. Knowing Bajrush Kelmendi’s liking for aggressive play, Jasper Tambini had the inspired idea of forcing him to defend. Jasper did this from as early as move 6 by playing a kind of reversed Muzio Gambit against Bajrush’s idiosyncratic version of the English:

Credit to both players for creating such a hugely entertaining game, but especially to Jasper, whose initial bold strategy set it all off, and who didn’t let up till the end.

My own game also finished in a draw shortly afterwards. It offers a contrast with the board 3 game in that no deep analysis is required here, as from an Italian Opening both players were careful to avoid risks and, in a level and rather featureless position, were happy to call it a night early.

The match was tied at one all, but Kingston soon after went ahead as John Foley seized on a blunder by his opponent which lost his queen. This game opened as a Caro-Kann, von Hennig Gambit (1. d4 d5 2.e4 c6 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Bc4 ). John notes that this line was played in his last encounter with Greg Billenness. Play went on 4…Nf6 5.f3 e3 (“the standard counter sacrifice” – John). In the middlegame Black had central pawns against White’s passed c-pawn, but the centre was cleared and only a queen and rook were left on each side. At this point, with a possible slight advantage to White due to his passed pawn, he made a fatal mistake in his eagerness to trade queens:

Advantage to Kingston in the match, then. Soon afterwards the board 2 game, in which Peter Andrews had White against Carsten Pedersen, was agreed drawn in a completely level position. From an English Opening the central pawns had all been exchanged and the pawn structure was symmetrical.

This left the top and bottom boards still in play. As it happened, both had opened with the King’s Indian Defence. On board 1 Ali Hill had positional pressure against Julian Way (pictured above, left), but on board 6 Constantin Liesch was the player in charge. Constantin’s game actually resembled a reversed King’s Indian Attack, with White pressing on the queenside and Black hoping to use his e4 pawn wedge to create a kingside attack. This was the situation after Black’s move 20…Nd8.

This result meant that we had won the match, with the board 1 game still to be resolved. After 15 moves this was the position in that contest:

Julian had just taken a knight on knight on b5 and Ali Hill now recaptured with 16. cxb5! This is an instructive decision, as taking with the pawn rather than the knight gives the c4 square for the white bishop and also opens the c-file for White’s rooks to eventually attack Black’s c7 pawn. Julian exchanged queens but lacked counterplay, and Ali Hill methodically increased the pressure, concluding by advancing his king up the board. Julian had to resign, making the final score 3.5-2.5 to Kingston B.

Although Hammersmith were not at their strongest, it’s always an achievement for a B team to beat their A team, so we felt justifiably pleased with ourselves. The result left us almost, but not quite, safe from the threat of relegation from the first division of the Thames Valley League. We have just one match left, at home to Ealing A on 18 May.

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

Wimbledon 1 v Kingston 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at St Winefride’s Church Hall, Wimbledon SW19 on 23 April 2026

Kingston had secured the Surrey League division 1 (Surrey Trophy) title the previous week by beating Guildford, and Wimbledon were already assured of relegation,  but although the Kingston team was somewhat depleted by a mixture of work commitments, medical factors and the clash with the World Seniors in Albania, there was no end-of-term feel to the fighting chess in this match.

We started 1 up when David Rowson’s board 6 opponent failed to appear. Then on board 3 John Hawksworth, with Black, drew quickly with Neil Cannon after some missed opportunities arising out of the Smith-Morra Gambit.  

Martyn Jones has played some powerful chess recently, and his board 7 game with Black against Stephen Carpenter was another example.

Ash Stewart’s appearances this season have been limited by other commitments, but we were very grateful to have him for a match for which several of our strongest players were missing, and he showed his class on board 2 with White against Marcus Baker. His notes, on which those below are based, reveal his care to minimise opportunities for an opponent known to be a dangerous attacking player with several strong scalps over the past two seasons. After some opening nuances, White already had a decent edge when the tactics began.

Hereabouts two promising games went wrong. On board 8, Xavier Cowan built a strong attack with White on his first-team debut, but he was already almost on the increment by move 18, and somewhere in the scramble (which meant that the key part of the game is lost to history) things went downhill and he lost to Georgi Velikov.

My own defeat with Black on board 5 against the indefatigable Gordon Rennie was the result of too much confidence rather than too little time. I had won a critical game for the Bank of England in the City Chess Association League the previous evening, and when a pseudo-sacrifice could not be accepted and gave me an advantage in space and co-ordination, I lost my sense of danger with fatal results.

A 3.5-2.5 lead was not totally safe with board 1 looking level and board 4 a bit dicey. On board 1, Peter Lalić is of course confident in his ability to win queenless middle games with fewer tactical risks, but this time with Black against Dan Rosen he did not gain an advantage until all the pieces had gone. We joked (OK, not quite Michael McIntyre class) that next time he might try to exclude all danger by playing to win on a completely empty board.  Humour aside, there were some instructive points both in the pawn endgame and the subsequent queen endgame.

On board 4, Jasper Tambini was mindful that a win might be needed, and, with White against Sean Ingle’s redoubtable French Defence, was eventually rewarded for a gutsy choice to decline a draw when objectively worse, although ahead on the clock.

So the match finished 5.5-2.5, a reasonable outcome for both teams given that Kingston were missing some big hitters and Wimbledon were up against it in rating terms. Overall that meant Kingston repeated their achievement of 2024/25 by winning division 1 of the Surrey League with seven match points out of eight, although we won half a game point less this time round.

Fourteen different players represented Kingston 1 this season, a smaller number than played for Kingston 2 despite first-team matches involving an extra board, and strong availability at the head of the team was the primary reason for its overall success. David Maycock scored 6.5/7, a remarkable effort given the strength of the opposition – the only half-point he dropped was to the prodigious Supratit Banerjee, whom he beat in the return. Peters Lalić and Large scored 6.5/8 and 5/6 respectively. Those performances on the top three boards meant that scores either side of 50% by other regulars were sufficient to see us home. A special mention goes to Jasper Tambini, after Peter Lalić the only other ever-present.

Peter Andrews is Kingston 1 captain in Surrey League division 1

Final Surrey Trophy (Div 1) table

Surbiton A v Kingston B, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at Fircroft, Surbiton on 22 April 2026

I approached this match with some apprehension, partly because of my own recent poor form but also because Kingston B were not at full strength and I feared that for such a key encounter in the contest to remain in Thames Valley division 1, and as they were at home, Surbiton might put out their strongest possible team. However, they also lacked some of their top players, and it turned out that on average we slightly outrated them.

My own game was the first to finish. I played my usual King’s Indian Attack and Nick Faulks advanced his g- and h-pawns to threaten my castled king. This season both Peter Large and Rick McMichael have shown how this can work well against me, but, as Nick agreed after the game, it would have been better for him to develop his kingside pieces first. In order to prevent the advance of my pawn to e5 he felt it necessary to play his pawn to f6, but this seriously weakened his e6 square. In the position below I had just played 14. Bd2, intending Qb3 next. Here I suddenly realised that castling queenside was still a possibility for him, but was reassured that it was hardly an inviting option.

The next game to finish was Graham Alcock versus Martyn Jones. This began as a French Defence, in which Martyn was able to get his pieces into action more quickly. In the following position he stood better:

Kingston’s two-point lead was consolidated when Joshua Pirgon and Julian Way agreed a draw on board 1.  Julian played an English Opening to which Joshua responded with a queenside fianchetto.  This was a game of careful manoeuvring, the key issue being whose central pawn structure was superior. In the position below Julian felt that Black’s more mobile pawns might give him a slight advantage, but Joshua clearly did not think this was significant as he agreed the draw.

Kingston’s match win was confirmed when Constantin Liesch won with Black on board 6. He played the Dutch Defence and the players castled on opposite sides.

The board 2 game between David Scott, with White, and John Foley was an English Opening, Anglo-Slav Defence which appeared focused drily on whether White could win Black’s isolated queen pawn, but there were interesting possibilities below the surface, as John noted.

The final game to finish was that on board 5. Stephen Moss’s Exchange Variation against his opponent’s Caro-Kann had not given him much play, and in the middle game Black won two pawns. Thereafter it was difficult for Stephen to find counterplay, and he resigned in a lost rook ending.

The 4-2 match result in our favour was very welcome, as it keeps our hopes of avoiding relegation alive, while leaving Surbiton A trailing three points below us at the bottom of the table (see current standings at foot of report). We have two matches left, at home to Hammersmith and Ealing.

David Rowson is Kingston B captain in Thames Valley division 1

Kingston A v Ealing A, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 20 April 2026

The visit of Ealing was significant for both Kingston A, looking to maintain their lead in Thames Valley League Division 1, and Kingston B, for whom Ealing are relegation rivals. It was therefore not ideal that the match coincided with the World Senior Team Championship in Albania, so Kingston were without their usual captain, IM Peter Large, although we welcomed John Foley back from a recent medical absence. Notwithstanding our rating advantage, it was a very well-contested match, with all six games going the distance in terms of time, moves or both, and for much of the evening the outcome was in doubt. The consensus at the end was that the score flattered Kingston on the run of play.

John Foley’s game on board 6 was the first to come to the boil. His play was full of energy, a brilliancy in the offing, and then went wrong, requiring a courageous rescue.

The game I was most confident of from an early stage was John Hawksworth’s on board 3. He has kindly provided notes on the whole game on which the following draw heavily.

Julian Way’s game on board 4 also only seemed likely to have one of two results, although it was some time before he had more than the edge White starts with.

When the teamsheets were exchanged, the smart money was on board 5 to produce an entertaining clash, since both Xavier Cowan, in the Surrey League a Kingston player but in the TVL representing his original club, and our own Jasper Tambini enjoy a battle. FM Vladimir Li kindly provided some expert evaluations in real time on most of the games for the benefit of those following on WhatsApp, but admitted he would have needed an engine for this one. Even more mind-blowing, neither player realised when White resigned that the final position was a draw – that only emerged when the engines dissected the drama several hours later.

And so, as in so many Kingston matches, the last two games in progress were those of David Maycock and Peter Lalić, although this time we had already scored enough to win the match. That was just as well, for neither were having things all their own way. On board 1, FM Andrew Harley had played very well against David. David has a great talent for continually creating activity and hence pressure, the more so as time runs short, but on this occasion he was definitely running a risk.

On board 2, Peter Lalić had defied stereotype by starting with 1. e4, but found himself on unfamiliar ground in the Petrov. He gained an advantage which gradually slipped away, and found himself in the unusual position of having to defend a difficult ending – more characteristically with very little time on the clock.

So there it was, a 5-1 win which could easily have been 3-3, and six games which all had some meat in, hence the length of this report. The A team now have a four-point lead over Hammersmith with only six more on the table, so confidence is justified, but, as these games showed, concentration and tenacity are still required. 

Peter Andrews was acting captain of Kingston A in this match

Surbiton D v Kingston C, Thames Valley League division X match played at Fircroft, Surbiton on 15 April 2026

Kingston C completed their Thames Valley division X season in style with a 4-0 victory over Surbiton D. Club newcomer Aytek Koyun won well on board 1 against the very capable Nikolai Mantaev; Sean Tay, with Black on board 2, was too strong for Kim Cross; Mark Sheridan on 3 shaded a tough encounter with Harry Roberts; and Rob Taylor completed the whitewash by defeating Charlie Feigen on board 4.

A very encouraging result for Jon Eckert’s team to end a season in which they have competed well throughout, but suffered several narrow defeats in close matches that kept them in the bottom half of the table (see final standings at foot of report). Div X is primarily about getting game time, and Jon selected teams that prioritised giving as many club players as possible experience under matchplay conditions. Many thanks to Jon and his players. We do it all again in Div X next season.

Stephen Moss is Kingston club captain

Final Thames Valley Div X table for 2025/26

Kingston 1 v Guildford 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 13 April 2026

Kingston v Guildford is a very friendly but very keen rivalry, and this clash had plenty riding on it. If either team won the match, they would win the division 1 title. A 4-4 draw would favour Kingston without being decisive – it would mean that a 4-4 draw or better against Wimbledon when we travel there on 23 April would suffice for the title.

Two strong teams lined up, with Kingston having the rating advantage on the top two boards while the lower boards looked well matched. We had the further advantage of a non-playing captain to ease the nerves when our board 1 was slightly late. Clive Frostick won the toss for Guildford, worthwhile given the colour preferences of our top two, without being of the same materiality as in division 2 where the matches are of an odd number of boards.

The early returns maintained the suspense. On board 7, Julian Way took a quick draw – he was outrated and had Black, while Clive Frostick was fatigued after taking part in the Guildford Congress over the weekend. Board 4, John Hawksworth v Matthew Dishman, was almost as short – John was suffering from an energy-sapping foot injury. Board 6, Peter Hasson v Timothy Foster, took longer but had the same result – in an accurately played game by both sides, Peter maintained roughly his initial edge as White, but never more. The a-file opened early, creating an avenue for the major pieces to exchange themselves off, and there was no obvious lever for either side to make something of the minor-piece ending.

On board 5, Zain Patel, with Black facing Adrian Wallace, had seemed to me to be in some early danger, with the “Greek Gift” (for new readers, a situation in which say White is able to sacrifice Bxh7+ and after Kxh7 to play Ng5+ and Qh5, mating on h7) in the air because of the shortage of black minor pieces defending the king. However, a subsequent tour of the hall showed that he had stabilised the situation, and I mentally chalked up another valuable half-point.

Relaxing over a coffee in the foyer, I was soon alarmed to see Zain emerge from the playing area with a wry look suggesting that he had done some schoolboy mischief and was hoping to escape unnoticed. I rushed over to relieve him of his scoresheet for this report, ready to offer some consoling words, and was amazed to see the glorious digits 0-1 at the bottom. With his usual endearing modesty, he explained that his win had resulted from a simple blunder. In such a close and critical match, most of us would have enjoyed the win whatever its artistic shortcomings, but he had indeed dodged a bullet in the middle game as well as being the recipient of a gift at the end as we see below.

With that hurdle overcome, I was confident of the match result, with all the remaining boards looking at least safe. On board 8 Jasper Tambini, facing the rising junior Alistair Jennis, had played the sort of gambit he enjoys against solid black systems like the French and Caro-Kann. Initially the compensation looked modest, but he was clearly the more comfortable in the kind of game which had resulted.

On board 3, Peter Large, playing an old adversary and team-mate in Nigel Povah, had a long and tense struggle, but as on boards 4, 6 and 7 there were no big swings in the advantage, though there was an interesting phase in the queenless middle game in which Peter correctly refused an offered pawn.

So we had a 4-2 lead with the top two boards outstanding. And outstanding is the best description of the scores racked up by Messrs Lalić and Maycock this season in their contrasting styles. Peter Lalić played one of his idiosyncratic openings with White against FM Jon Ady to reach the kind of queenless middle game in which he is far more experienced than even strong and titled opponents, and then came up with an interesting idea.

Peter may have been a little disappointed only to draw a game in which he had been well on top for several hours. But it was the half-point that got us over the line in the match and for the title, and so warmly appreciated by his team-mates and other club members gathered round the board.

David Maycock produced a classy effort with Black to grind down the formidable Gwilym Price on board 1. A characteristically principled opening gave him an advantage in activity which, although small, is the kind of edge which can be turned into a win at this level. The conversion process was more Lalićian, with long periods in which White was left to chafe against his fetters, than Maycockian, with fireworks, but none the less instructive for that, so with David’s kind agreement the whole game is given here.

Peter Andrews is Kingston 1 captain in the Surrey League