Thames Valley League division 1 match played at the United Reformed Church, Tolworth on 18 April 2023

The background to this away match against Surbiton B was a huge traffic jam in Tolworth which delayed the start by 20 minutes and made everyone rather fractious and edgy. David Rowson thought the chaos directly influenced his board 4 game against Graham Alcock.

“Graham and I were both a bit unsettled by the initial uncertainty,” David explained later, “and unfortunately for Graham this led to him leaving a pawn en prise in a quiet line of the Ponziani Opening. Thereafter I made rather heavy weather of winning until the game opened up in mutual time trouble.”

David added a topical qualification to the description of his difficulties getting to the match and the attendant confusion. “I was thinking that, for all the pressures that Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren have to cope with, being stuck on a 281 bus in terrible traffic as the minutes tick away to the match starting time isn’t one of them.”

With the season nearing completion, both league titles already won and the first team facing three matches in seven days, we were running rather short of players and I found myself called up to first-team colours – a status well above my pay grade. I was playing Alexey Markov, whom I have played several times before. I was hoping for a draw because I was Black and didn’t want to let the real first-teamers down; Alexey was hoping for a draw because he overrates me and has a negative career record in our matches. So we proceeded to play one of the dullest chess games ever recorded, with Alexey accepting my draw offer after 21 moves. Frankly, the traffic snarl-up was more interesting.

The real action was elsewhere. On board 1 for a start, where David Maycock offered an outrageous bishop sacrifice on move 10. David is White here and his opponent, Paul Dupré, has just played 9… d5. David’s nonchalant reply is 10. Bf4?!, offering an apparently free bishop for what he believes will be a withering attack down the e-file.

Visually, the potential pressure on the king looks worrying, but the position is probably defensible and the sac should be accepted, though taking the bishop produces almost as much mayhem as in Tolworth Broadway. A plausible continuation might be: 10…dxc4 11. d5 Be7 12. Re1 Kf8 13. Qe2 Nc5 14. Rad1 Bg4 15. Qxc4 Bxf3 16. gxf3 Qb6 17. d6 Bg5 18. d7 Ne6 19. Bd6+ Be7 20. Rxe6 fxe6 21. Qxe6 Bxd6 22. Qxd6+ Kf7 23. d8=N+ Rxd8 24. Qxd8 Qxd8 25. Rxd8 Ke6 26. Ne4 b5 27. Rd6+ Kf7 28. Rxc6 bxa4 29. Rc8. That line gives White a sizeable advantage, but other plausible continuations are available.

It would be interesting to know how much of this accepting-the-sac variation the players saw. David is usually very concrete in his analysis and will have peered a long way through the fog. There are certainly dangers in taking the bishop. It produces a double-edged position which engines give as a tiny plus for Black, but where White has all the initiative. Taking it is, however, certainly better than what was played: 10…Ndf6, which immediately cedes the advantage to White.

In the game, the white bishop retreated to d3 after the intermezzo rook check, and because Black is well behind on development his position quickly worsened, with David forcing resignation on move 25 amid a blizzard of tactics. An inventive game to have played after a lengthy wait for a bus which then crawled through traffic. Can nothing curb the Maycockian spirit of adventure?

On board 2, Peter Lalić played another impressive game. Up against Surbiton stalwart Nick Faulks, who never fears any opponent no matter how strong, Peter played with his usual verve, sac-ing a pawn against the English Opening, grabbing the initiative, and gaining the advantage in the middlegame where he has bishop and knight for rook. He had a handy plus in the position below, and maybe White knew the writing was on the wall, but one wrong turning by White’s king produces a grisly end.

White plays Kc2 when he should retreat to d1, and Peter needs no second invitation to finish the job: 36… Re2+ 37. Kb3 Rb2+ 38. Ka3 Bb4# 0-1 Maycock and Lalić: have Kingston ever had a more reliable and inspired double act on the top boards? Their names will surely live on in chess history like Capablanca and Alekhine, Fischer and Spassky, Kasparov and Karpov, Morecambe and Wise (subs please check pairings).

On board 5, Surbiton legend (and architect of the modern club) Paul Durrant, who happily is back playing again after an enforced break because of illness, was up against Julian Way, who is also back after being indisposed for a couple of months. Julian, playing White, built up pressure gradually and won a piece, but Paul still made life difficult until Julian finally made the material advantage tell.

On board 3, meanwhile, Silverio Abasolo – hero of Kingston’s recent Alexander Cup triumph – was engaged in a tricky rook endgame with Surbiton’s durable Andrew Boughen. Later analysis suggested it was a technical draw, but Silverio is a Magnus-like fighter, kept on playing, and in the end his opponent faltered, allowing White to break through. That made it 5.5-0.5 and we could disappear into the night, looking for a route home that dodged the roadworks. Beware the Tolworth Bind!

Stephen Moss

Surrey League division 4 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 17 April 2023

This was one of the results of the season for Kingston: a draw for a third team that had previously lost seven matches in a row in this highly competitive division against the team that had won the Centenary Trophy (the name of Surrey Div 4) at a canter. All the team’s hard work this season under the patient captaincy of Stephen Daines had finally paid off.

Max Mikardo-Greaves won his game at lightning speed – it was over before anyone knew quite what was happening, and Josh Lea went the exchange up and never let his opponent recover. Both these wins were against much higher-rated opponents, as was young Jaden Mistry’s on board 6.

Jaden, who is 11, is progressing very fast and this was his best win yet: highly technical and after a long game – 53 moves in a situation where he knew his team needed him to win in order to draw the match. That’s a lot of pressure for a young man, and he dealt with it admirably. This was the position after White’s 38th move. How do you assess it?

Jaden is Black here and he correctly surmised that he is at least drawing and could have winning chances. Engines give Black a tiny edge, though the position is tricky to play for both sides, relying on adroit use of the rooks. Jaden played the position well, but he was greatly helped by an opponent who seemed unsure whether he was playing for a win or a draw – he was intent on trying to create a mating net around the White king – and ultimately blundered to allow a pawn to queen. A terrific result for young Jaden and one he was justifiably proud of.

The top boards proved tougher for Kingston. A certain Peter Lalić was on board 1 for Richmond – surely the equivalent of Man City’s star striker Erling Haaland turning out in Sunday park football since he was rated more than 500 points above anybody else in the match. Nonetheless, David Shalom gave him a run for his money, and it would have been even more interesting if he had found the right move in the position below:

David, not unnaturally, feels he has to give up the bishop here with Bxb5 as it is trapped. Sac-ing the bishop is not a total disaster as it will open up the Black king to White’s heavy artillery down the a-file, and that does indeed become a theme of the rest of the game. But David has a much better move here, though you only see it if you notice that Black’s knight on h5 is undefended. Loose pieces drop off! White should play Bd5! Then, if Qxd5, Nc3 gets the piece back via Qxh5, and engines suggest White has a small edge. Tactics, tactics – chess is all about tactics.

Peter won, though credit to David for making a game of it, and Richmond’s higher-rated players also prevailed on boards 2 and 3. But to draw against the winners of the division was a terrific achievement, ending Kingston 3’s embattled (but spirited) season in the Centenary Trophy on a high. Now we have to build on it next year.

Stephen Moss

Thames Valley League division 2 match played at Actonians Sports Club, Ealing on 17 April 2023

Kingston B captain Gregor Smith was taking no risks with this match, which had to be won if his team were to escape the relegation zone in division 2 of the Thames Valley League. Ever since a surprise defeat at home to Surbiton C last October, we have been struggling at the foot of the table. Out two matches, home and away to already relegated Ealing B who have lost nine out of nine in this division, had to be our salvation.

Gregor brought out the big guns, John Foley and Alan Scrimgour (both very strong players and happily not “nominated” to play only first-team chess, so free to play for the seconds), on boards 1 and 2. I filled in at the last minute on board 3 for an indisposed player, and we had Gregor himself on 4, Nick Grey on 5 and Charlie Cooke on 6 – solidity personified.

We outgraded our opponents by an average of more than 300 points a board, and that was reflected in the scale of the victory – 5.5-0.5. John Foley gave his customary display of endgame expertise: go a pawn up, plant an impregnable knight, win. Alan had too much nous for his opponent. Mine blundered early on and, despite playing with my usual lack of precision, I managed not to blunder back quite as badly. Gregor won a pleasing game, which was level for a long time before skilfully coordinated his forces and broke through. Nick drew – all credit to Gabriele Palmer for avoiding the whitewash. And Charlie overwhelmed his opponent to win very rapidly.

Apologies to the largely youthful Ealing team for being a bit OTT with team selection, but this was about survival. Our main rivals for the drop, Surbiton C, now face two tough away trips to finish their season. We also have some tricky matches to come – champions-elect Maidenhead A away! – but at least, for the first time this season, we have our noses in front of Surbiton and the scars of that defeat back in October are almost healed.

Stephen Moss

Alexander Cup final played at the Adelaide pub, Teddington on 14 April 2023

Where on earth to begin? Probably at the beginning. This was Battersea’s return to the Alexander Cup – and indeed to Surrey chess generally – after a long absence. They had beaten a very strong Epsom team in the semi-final and frankly we feared them. We were strong, but we knew that on paper they were likely to be even stronger. And so it proved: GM Simon Williams on board 1, IMs Gavin Wall and Chris Baker on 2 and 3, a 2230-rated player on board 7, an average ratings plus across the teams of about 50 points. This was going to be some challenge.

But one thing the Kingston team has going for it, as well as great individual talent, is collective esprit de corps, under Ljubica Lazarevic’s inspired captaincy. This was not a team that was going to lie down, no matter what the rating difference was and how many titled players our opponents had. Kingston’s first team had not been beaten since competitive chess resumed after the pandemic, and it was not going to relinquish that proud boast lightly. But where were our points going to come from?

On board 6, Will Taylor turned down an early draw offer from Battersea captain Blair Connell, despite a ratings disadvantage of more than 100 points. “With a tactical draw offer, since Blair was Black and Battersea outrated us on most boards, I did wonder whether it was still advantageous from a match perspective for me to accept, being heavily outrated myself,” Will explained later, “but it felt too negative at such an early stage.” Lazarevic had asked her players to be wary of accepting “grandmasterly” draws – every point was going to be precious – and it made sense to keep the Battersea skipper immersed in his own game for as long as possible. The virtues of the non-playing captain.

On board 5, Battersea junior Luca Buanne was playing well against Kingston’s Vladimir Li, whose Surrey rating of 2196 does not reflect his true strength (elo 2294 and rising!). This was a game where we had hoped to take the full point, but Buanne played quickly and confidently against Vladimir’s Sicilian, had no difficulty equalising, and a draw was agreed after 22 moves. Not exactly grandmasterly, but Vladimir is very close to getting an FM title and on this showing Buanne – one of the strongest 15-year-olds in the country – will be following him to a title very soon.

Board 10 was the only match-up where we had a clear rating advantage, so we were – while trying not to exert unnecessary extra pressure – relying on Peter Andrews to bring home the bacon. He did not disappoint, playing his favoured English (cue bacon puns) and out-techniquing his opponent Greg Taylor. Taylor built up a big time plus and may have assumed that trying to create tactical complexities, rather than grabbing back a pawn when he had an opportunity, would work to his advantage. Happily for us, it didn’t.

In the position below, Peter thought his opponent might have been playing for 28…Qxc5, missing the fact that when he captured the white queen with his rook a back-rank mate would follow. Two pawns down and with White’s rook established on the seventh, this position is hopeless for Black (at least -6, according to engines). The game is already resignable, but became irretrievable when Black dropped the rook on a6, having forgotten there was no longer a pawn on b7 to protect it from the white queen. A victory for cumulative pressure.

Almost at the same moment that Peter Andrews was securing Kingston’s first point, our other Peter – the incomparable Lalić – was agreeing a draw with IM Gavin Wall on board 2. Peter L, with typical verve, had played the Staunton Gambit against Gavin’s Dutch Defence (1. d4 f5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 fxe4 4. Bg5 Nc6 5. d5 Ne5 6. Qe2 c6 7. O-O-O Nxd5 8. Nxd5 Nf7 9. Bh4 cxd5 10. Rxd5 b6). He stood better in the middle game, but was running short of time and allowed a draw by repetition.

“Gavin played his first 10 moves instantly,” Peter explained later. “He told me afterwards that he had played the identical opening the day before, against Graham Keane in the London League. By contrast, I hadn’t tried the Staunton Gambit in at least a decade. Hence my trepidation.”

Kingston were 2-1 up, but in a 10-board match that meant little, especially with Alan Scrimgour apparently in trouble on board 9 and David Maycock, with Black, facing a GM on board 1.

In the next game to finish, Blair Connell (who had declared his intentions by playing the Fort Knox variation of the French) finally got his draw against Will Taylor. This was the position in which peace was declared:

Will was down on the clock and felt he no longer had realistic winning chances, so took the draw. A good result given the rating difference, allowing us to keep our noses in front. But the result that really made us believe we might win came next, with Mike Healey beating the highly rated Viktor Stoyanov on board 4. This was a tremendous game by Mike, paving the way for everything that came later.

Stoyanov played the Caro-Kann and Mike opted for the so-called Fantasy Variation (1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. f3). The first 20 moves, with both players committing to the fight, were very even, and on move 24 (shortly after Mike had spurned a draw offer) this position was reached:

Here Mike, who much prefers eccentric knights to rather predictable rooks, made a very Mike decision: 24. Rdxd5! “White temporarily gives up an exchange,” he explained later, “but something is dropping for Black.” The game proceeded 24…cxd5 25. Rxd5 Re1+ 26. Kd2 Rae8 27. Rxc5. R8e2+ 28. Kd3 Re3+ 29. Kd4 R3e2 30. Bd3 Re8 31. Nf4 Rd1 32. Rd5 Bc8 33. Kc5 Rde1 34. Bxb5 R8e5 35. Bc4 Rxd5+ 36. Bxd5+ Kf8

Mike’s faith in his knights has paid off – his position is completely winning: 37. Ng6+ Ke8 38. Kd6 Rd1 39. c4 Bb7 40. Ne6 Bxd5 41. Nc7+ Kd8 42.Nxd5 Rd2 43.c5 Rxb2 44.c6 Rd2 45. Ne7 1-0 A very good knight – or indeed knights. That made it 3.5-1.5 and the early pessimism of Kingston supporters was starting to dissipate. We really could win this.

On board 7, Kingston’s David Rowson more than held his own with Black against Chris Beckett, who outrated him by almost 200 points. “It wasn’t the most exciting of games, but I was pleased to get a draw from a strong player,” David said later. “For once my Old Indian Defence led to Black, not White, getting the upper hand on the queenside, as my opponent made a couple of inaccuracies. I resisted the temptation to draw by repetition on move 26, but I didn’t have enough of an advantage to make anything of the ending.” This was the position in which a draw was agreed. Engines evaluate it as completely level.

John Foley’s game against Duncan Kerr on board 8 was another canny, nip-and-tuck affair between two very experienced players, with threats and counter-threats from an early stage. In the final position, John’s passed d-pawn looks as if it might have potential, which was enough for Black to offer the draw. John could have continued with 36. Qxa6 but after the queens are exchanged the endgame is drawish.

The score was now 4.5-2.5 in Kingston’s favour and the winning line was in sight. Or was it? David Maycock was losing on board 1, Alan Scrimgour was losing on board 9, and the final game – Silverio Abasolo, with Black, up against IM Chris Baker on board 3 – was far from clear. The most likely scenario, pundits agreed (and Kingston pessimists feared), was a 5-5 draw, with Battersea winning on board count by virtue of victory on board 1.

David Maycock competed fiercely against Simon Williams on top board, but started to run short of time in the latter stages of the game. GMs are of course superfast calculators, and Williams set David many problems. “I solved a million of them, but couldn’t solve the million and one-th,” David said afterwards. Black is doing OK in this position, but the rook on c8 is under attack. Would should David play?

Best is probably Rxc1, with good drawing chances. But David opted for 27…Rc5, which loses to a forced sequence: 28. Bxe4 dxe4 29. Rxc5 bxc5 30. Nc6+ Qxc6 31. Qxh8+ Ka7 32. Qb2 Qb5 33. Rb1 Qc6 34. Qb6+ Qxb6 35. Rxb6 1-0. That made it 4.5-3.5, and it was getting too close for comfort.

A few minutes later the scores were tied as Battersea’s Robert Noyce won against Kingston chair Alan Scrimgour. Alan was candid later about a game – a Closed Sicilian – which he felt had started to unravel at quite an early stage. “My first mistake was to close the centre with d4,” he explained. “I should have exchanged on e4 to keep some open lines. I then made a bad strategic decision to castle queenside. The result was that I had no counterplay and had to defend. My opponent took no chances and carefully built up his attack. In a difficult position I made further inaccuracies and my opponent finished clinically.”

The match was all square, so now – in the scenario which had been bothering us for the past hour – Kingston’s Silverio Abasolo had to win on board 3 against IM Chris Baker or we would lose the match on board count. No pressure. Silverio, though, a very strong player with a Fide rating of 2283 who has only resumed playing serious competitive chess this season after an eight-year break, is a cool customer who plays quickly and fluently . At no stage did he show any signs of tension and he continued recording even in a time scramble, where he was playing moves on the 10-second increment (all the games on the night were played at a time control of 75 minutes + 10 seconds per move).

Baker had played another English Opening – it was a big night for the English – but Silverio skilfully established a small plus and, with Black to play on move 21 in the position below, he made a key strategic decision:

From many competing possible moves with very similar evaluations (this is actually the computer’s seventh choice), Silverio chose to swap bishop for knight. That choice largely determined the course of the rest of the game. Silverio’s knight found good squares, and on move 31, though objectively White now had an edge, he played a bold move which John Saunders, who will be annotating the game for the Kingston website, said caused a “psychological swing” by turning the screw on Baker.

Here Silverio plays 31…Qc5, threatening both the pawn on f2 and, more pressingly for White, a back-rank mate. White should play Qb2, which would maintain his edge, but instead he chose Rg1, presumably to counterattack down the g-file if Black played Qxf2, but overlooking 32. Nh3, which led to White giving up the exchange.

Even after going the exchange up, however, there were still complications. Silverio missed an immediately winning continuation, and Baker tried to menace Black’s king with his queen and bishop. Even when Silverio had queened his a-pawn, Baker would not call it a day and was threatening mate in one. Saunders took a final photograph as Silverio, with 30 seconds left on his clock, countered the mate threat with a check of his own and proceeded to calmly notate the move.

Now it really was all over bar the whooping – and the applause for Silverio. The two queens did their work and White was mated. Kingston had won a magnificent victory against the odds and the Alexander Cup could stay in our trophy cabinet for another year, alongside the trophies for winning both the Surrey League and the Thames Valley League this season. If we win the Thames Valley Knockout against Harrow on 22 May we will have chalked up a unique “Quadruple”. If we do, what on earth will we do next? Collapse probably.

We should put on record our thanks to Battersea for a memorable match played in a good spirit, to John Saunders for taking a wonderful set of photographs and for putting all the game scores on his superb BritBase site, to Richmond Chess Club for hosting the final (the Surrey association specifies it must be played at a neutral venue and the Adelaide pub in Teddington is perfect), and to tournament controller Huw Williams for acting as arbiter with just the right balance of firmness and discretion – visible but never overbearing. It was truly an epic match.

Battersea captain Blair Connell said afterwards that he doubted whether he would ever recover, but our fear is that next year they will be back with even more of their celebrity GMs. Thus does the bar get raised with every succeeding season. And talking of the bar…

Stephen Moss

Surrey League division 2 match played at the United Reformed Church, Tolworth on 11 April 2023

Oh, how the wheel of fortune turns. Five or six years ago, at the apogee of their success, Surbiton 2 would routinely beat Kingston 1. Here the roles were reversed, with Kingston 2 getting the better of Surbiton 1 by 5-2. It was a vital win for Kingston 2, who are threatened with relegation after a season in which we have struggled to put out our strongest possible second teams. Thankfully, here we had a powerful line-up and were rewarded with a victory which gives the club a chance of survival in division 2. One of Kingston, South Norwood and Surbiton will be relegated, with the crunch match being Kingston 2 v South Norwood 1 at Kingston on Monday 29 May.

It helped Kingston’s cause that Surbiton were missing several key players, notably Mark Josse, Chris Briscoe and David Scott, and that their board 1 failed to show up. John Foley sat patiently until the default time of half an hour, then claimed the point. Surbiton’s engaging captain Graham Alcock apologised for the Kingston president’s wasted journey, but frankly we were just happy with a free point.

Jon Eckert, with White, launched a vigorous attack against Alcock on board 5 that for a moment looked promising, but the Surbiton skipper repelled it comfortably and a draw was quickly agreed. That made it 1.5-0.5 to Kingston and we were starting to feel confident, though Surrey veterans Nick Grey and Paul Durrant were engaged in a messy struggle on board 6, and some of the other games were far from clear.

Peter Andrews was playing Nick Faulks, against whom he reckoned he’d played half a dozen games in the past, on board 3, and Faulks established a tiny plus against Peter’s English Opening, reaching this position on move 11, with Black to play:

Faulks played 11…Bd7 here, which Peter says is overly passive – Bg4 is better. The denouement followed remarkably quickly: 12. Na4 Bxb2 13. Nxb2 b6 14. Nc4 f6 15. d4 cxd4 16. Nxd4 Nxd4 17. Qxd4 Be6 18. Qe3 Bc8 19. Rfd1 Qe8 20. Nxb6 Rxb6 21. Rxc7 1-0

Peter wondered at the time if resignation here was premature, but engines bear out Faulks’s decision. Stockfish makes it +7 for White, and even my more conservative engines gives a +4.5 advantage. The a-pawn is falling, White’s rook on the seventh is a monster, and White’s pieces are very well coordinated. Peter’s win made it 2.5-0.5, and now we could really start to believe.

On board 7 David Shalom, who has made an excellent return to competitive chess this season, was playing an interesting game against Ye Kyaw. David played the London System very adventurously, recapturing a piece on g3 with the f-pawn to open up the f-file and then giving up a pawn in the centre to mobilise his rooks. This was the position on move 18. White has just played 18. Rae1 to gain a tempo by attacking the queen.

When I looked at this position I didn’t like it for White and feared for David in the game – potentially a crucial one with several other games looking drawish. Does White really have compensation for his pawn? But David clearly has a very well-calibrated positional sense because engines think he does have sufficient compensation, giving the position as more or less level. The problem for Black is the hole on f6, created by the unnecessary 12…g6 earlier in the game. What was it Steinitz said about never moving the pawns in front of your castled king without urgent reason?

This is how the game proceeded: 18… Qd6 19. Rf6 Kg7 20. Ref1 Bb7 21. Qf2 Qe7 22. Qf4.

There is a must-play move here, but Black fails to play it. You can’t allow White’s queen to occupy e5, and should play 22…e5, or at the very least 22…Rad8 to challenge the White queen on that square with Qd6. But Black has some misguided idea about solidity and plays 22…Rae8?? The end follows swiftly: 23. Qe5 Kg8 24. h4 Qc5+ 25. Kh2 Qc6 26. R1f2 Rd8 27. h5 Qd6 28. Qg5 Kg7? (28. Qd7 staves off mate but is still losing) 29. hxg6 fxg6 30. Rxg6+ Kh8 31. Rg7 1-0 A terrific win by David and now, at 3.5-0.5, we could not lose the match.

Alan Scrimgour’s draw with Angus James on board 2 followed soon after, giving Kingston an unassailable 4-1.5 advantage, and Nick Grey got a perpetual against Paul Durrant on board 6 when a piece for two pawns down. An important “swindle” in a division where relegation could be decided by game points.

With time for the match about to be called at 10.30pm, Julian Way and Andrew Boughen agreed to go to adjudication. Julian was the exchange down but had a passed pawn on e3 supported by an unmoveable knight on d5, so he certainly wasn’t losing and thought he might have winning chances. Later computer analysis, however, suggested that, while Black does have a tiny edge, with best play a draw was the most likely result, and that was the result mutually agreed between the players.

All in all, a great evening which gives us bragging rights in the borough of Kingston and, more importantly, makes sure we have a fighting chance of staying in division 2 of the Surrey League. Everything now hinges on that South Norwood match at the end of May.

Stephen Moss, Kingston 2 acting captain in Surrey League

Surrey League division 4 match played at the Haywain Brewers Fayre, Epsom on 3 April 2023

I realise that, with our seventh defeat in seven matches in Surrey Div 4, we must be starting to sound like the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but this latest loss really is only a flesh wound; a moral victory really. We are after all building for the future! Just wait till next season, when all these seeds will bloom

An away match against resurgent Epsom is never easy, and a 4-2 loss was by no means a disaster. Captain Stephen Daines enjoyed a quick win against a player rated well above him, though Stephen’s true rating (as someone who has returned to chess after a 40-year break and is now remembering everything he learned as a junior back in the Victorian period) is surely a good deal higher than his provisional one.

Charlie Cooke and Mark Sheridan performed admirably on the top boards, getting draws against seasoned players, but the other three games were lost, though everyone put up a fighting performance and Sean, in particular, battled hard despite being the exchange down for a long period. The upside: there is no relegation from Div 4, so we will be back next year and our players have learned a huge amount from the rigours of playing in a division that is surprisingly strong.

Stephen Moss

Surrey League division 1 match played at Coulsdon (CCF) on 3 April 2023

This was in some ways a peculiar match. Kingston were already confirmed as champions in division 1 of the Surrey League and Coulsdon were not threatened by relegation. So what, apart from bragging rights, was actually at stake? Kingston captain David Rowson showed Coulsdon great respect – they are, after all, a large and very powerful club – by taking a strong team down to south London. Coulsdon, though, took a different approach, resting three of their strongest players – Gavin Lock, Ian Snape and Chino Atako, all of whom were at the club playing in one of Coulsdon’s highly competitive internal tournaments.

The sight of the three rested players may have lulled us into a false sense of security. Surely, as champions-elect, this would be a piece of cake. Far from it. Coulsdon have some tremendous juniors and, with three of them in the line-up, it was soon apparent that this was going to be a challenging encounter.

It started perfectly. Silverio Abasolo, playing quickly and efficiently on board 4, got an edge after some tactical exchanges and pressed home a kingside attack, a straightforward knight sac making mate inevitable on move 26. His opponent resigned a few moves before the final blow could be executed.

That, though, was the end of the relatively relaxed part of the evening. On board 3 Kingston’s Mike Healey had Black against strong Coulsdon junior Rahul Babu. Babu played the Scotch Game, and some very combative opening play by both sides gave Mike a small edge. This was the position that resulted, with Black’s 16th move to be played:

Mike played a very natural move here. Show this position to 50 players and I bet most would play it. He went for 15…Ba6 to attack the pinned bishop on e2, a move that had been shouting “play me” for a while. But White has a neat response, 16. c4, which relieves the pressure of Black’s attack, more or less forces an exchange of queens and equalises on the spot. Black should have played the quieter 15… Be6, or even 15… h6.

Black did not, in fact choose the best continuation, and some clever tactics gave White an edge that was never relinquished. The game continued: 15…Ba6 16. c4 Bxc4 17. Qxb2 Bxb2 18. Ne7+ Kh8 19. Bxc4 f6 20. Be3 Rxe7 21. Kf2 Ba3 22. Rd7 Rb8 23. Bb3 Rbe8 24. Rxe7 Bxe7 25. Bxa7 Bd6 26. g3 Kg7 27. Re1 Ra8 28. Bd4. Bishop pair; becalmed knight; extra pawn on the a-file. An unpleasant position for Black after having the edge earlier, and Babu converted well to square the match.

David Maycock was having a mighty struggle with Ian Calvert on board 1 – a queen and pawn endgame in which Calvert looked to have good drawing chances. Peter Lalić was engineering a powerful kingside attack on board 2, and we were counting on that for a win. David Rowson’s board 5 game was unclear; John Foley was the exchange down on 6; Alan Scrimgour, up against the immensely promising nine-year-old Supratit Banerjee (rated 1667 by Surrey but with a live ECF rating of 2022!), was holding a minor-piece endgame but in danger of falling behind on the clock on board 7; and on board 8 Peter Andrews looked on course for a win once he had established a passed e-pawn, though both sides still had queen and a rook, leaving work to be done.

David Rowson’s game rapidly went downhill in a flurry of tactics. “I was Black in an English,” he explained later, “but found it difficult to decide on the best plan and one mistake led to another. On move 39 I could still have saved something from the game by offering a rook which couldn’t be taken. This would have led to a draw.” But the chance went begging and Kingston were 2-1 down.

At one point I genuinely feared the worst, and started to crave a 4-4 draw to preserve the first team’s unbeaten record this season. Oh, ye of little faith! The Maycock and Lalić double act which has been central to Kingston’s success over the past two seasons once again came to our rescue. David found a way to win his queen-and-pawn endgame, and Peter performed his usual multi-dimensional tactical sorcery to mate his young opponent in 41 moves. Now it was 3-2 and much depended on the rather longer-established Kingston double act of president John Foley and chair Alan Scrimgour, who appeared to be up against it.

Both, though, are technically excellent endgame players, and we were safe in their hands. Alan turned around his endgame against the Prodigy and may well have stood better, but with hardly any time on his clock he took a draw. That made it 3.5-2.5, and, when Peter Andrews smoothly converted his “won” endgame, we were over the line.

That just left John Foley’s game. John had been under the cosh for much of the evening, but he is unflappable in a time scramble and found a way to draw. Indeed, later he thought he may even have had winning chances. That made the final score a very satisfactory 5-3, though you did wonder how strong Coulsdon would be if all their strongest adult players lined up alongside their terrifyingly proficient juniors. Let’s park that anxiety for next year.

Stephen Moss

Thames Valley League division 2 match played at St Winefride’s Church Hall, Wimbledon SW19 on 30 March 2023

Wimbledon A were somewhat weaker than we expected for this match, which at full strength against Kingston’s B team they would win easily. But they were still strong enough on the top boards to get the job done, running out comfortable winners by 4.5-1.5, with three wins and three draws.

On top board, Wimbledon’s Dan Rosen, avoiding the Caro-Kann with which he had failed to obtain an advantage on a previous outing against John Foley, essayed a King’s Gambit, but John, who has had an excellent season, declined it. The game was well controlled with neither side taking any risks. Rosen’s slow build up on the kingside was thwarted by Foley’s nimble piece-play in the centre and peace was soon declared.

Max Selemir as usual played aggressively against the very confident young Wimbledon player Girinath Haridas on board 2, but some opening inaccuracies proved costly and Max’s imaginative attacking play was on this occasion unable to rescue him. Kingston’s captain Gregor Smith also lost against the experienced Tony Hughes on board 3, though he felt he was level for a long time and only succumbed in time trouble.

I drew against Wimbledon captain Stephen Carpenter, who I’d lost to rather tamely in the reverse fixture in February. On paper, this was a reasonable result, but I’d actually had a very favourable middlegame position that sadly proved to be beyond my powers of calculation. Back to the drawing board. A nice feature of the match was no fewer than three rejected draw offers – one by me, two by my opponent. We each felt on top at different points in the game when the other was willing to settle for a draw. In the end, though, it was indeed even-Stephens. Boom-boom! (My opponent has to take responsibility for this dreadful pun.)

Charlie Cooke drew a hard-fought game on board 5 in which both sides’ knights were to the fore. But hero of the night (no pun intended on this occasion) was Kingston junior Jaden Mistry (and his father Malcolm), who hotfooted it over to Wimbledon when the Kingston player who had been due to play dropped out just an hour before the match. Jaden thus saved the club from the ignominy of a default – it would have been our first in many years. He lost to a higher-rated player, but gave an excellent account of himself in a lengthy game (after a tough day at school, remember) and learned a great deal about the difficulty two knights have against two bishops in an endgame when the position is fairly open and the bishops can control the board.

Relegation from Thames Valley division 2 is now a very real threat for Kingston B, but all is not yet lost. Ealing B are already down, and we are contesting the other relegation place with Surbiton C, who suffered a significant loss to Hounslow B last week. We have a game in hand over Surbiton C and in theory the easier run-in, with two matches to come against Ealing B. So, as the unflappable Kingston B captain Gregor Smith says, our destiny is in our hands. Survival in division 2 is crucial for the club – we need to be in a variety of divisions to cater for players of all strengths – and we will be fighting all the way.

Stephen Moss

In one evening, Kingston triumph in two leagues, after a gripping and decisive match with Hammersmith (played at the Willoughby Arms on 27 March 2023)

The fat lady worked overtime to sing twice for the Kingston first team on Monday – once at the Willoughby Arms and then again at the Guildford Institute. A memorable evening was followed, remarkably, by a memorable morning when we got the news from Guildford.

Before this match, we had been calculating what we needed to win Thames Valley League division 1. Two wins from our last four matches would ensure that we finished top, but if we beat Hammersmith at home we would become champions with three matches to spare, as then Hammersmith would not be able to catch us even if they won their final four matches. In the Surrey League we knew we needed just a draw at Coulsdon on 3 April to win that title.

Hammersmith, last season’s Thames Valley League champions, had given us a tough match at their venue, and they turned up at the Willoughby with another strong team. The top two pairings were the same as in the previous match, and altogether nine of the 12 players had participated in that fixture.

One who hadn’t was Hammersmith’s board 6, the junior Cian Ward. John Foley has found himself paired with several underrated juniors this season, and Cian proved his prowess by holding John to a draw in a Caro-Kann Two Knights variation. A quiet start, which totally belied the way the rest of the match would go.

On board 4 Will Taylor was playing the Hammersmith captain. This pairing surprised me, as almost every time I’ve played against Hammersmith I’ve found myself facing Bajrush Kelmendi. As a result, I think I know his game quite well. Will commented afterwards: “David Rowson gave me some useful intel before the game: my opponent plays quickly and aggressively. Normally I struggle against such players, as I have a tendency to get into time trouble, but at least I was psychologically prepared and tried not to fall too far behind on the clock.” As usual in Kelmendi’s games, his English Opening, far from being quiet and positional, was the prelude to a wild middlegame with the players attacking on opposite sides. In the position below Will played the imaginative 16…Nxc5.

Will’s attacking intent was commendable. “The point was lines like 17. dxc4 d4,” he explained, “but 18. Nd5! would have been a cold shower, blocking the e6-h2 diagonal and with it my attack. Qxd2 19. Nxf6+ gxf6 20. Rxd2. I’ll pick up another pawn, but it isn’t enough.” As it was, his opponent missed the opportunity, Will’s forceful play won the exchange, and he succeeded in co-ordinating his rooks to threaten checkmate and win the game. Only at the end of the evening did it become clear how important this was for us.

The next game to finish was my own. As quite often seems to happen, my beloved King’s Indian Attack did not live up to the last word of its name, and I found myself defending on the queenside and in the centre in a complicated game. My opponent’s passed c-pawn should have won for him. However, we reached this position:

Tired and under time pressure, I played 43. Nc6, overlooking 43…Rxc6 44. Bxc6 c2. For a few moments I thought I was lost and almost resigned, but then I saw 45. Bb5. He played Bf5, but I had 46. Bd7! Now Black either takes the bishop and ends up with two bishops against rook and pawn, or just repeats moves, as I will continue to move my bishop to a square where it diverts his own bishop from protecting the c2 pawn. An additional point is that if 46…Bxd7 47. Rxc2 Bxa4 I have 48. Rc4 winning one of the bishops. I thought my opponent might have played on, but he graciously offered a draw.

This made the score 2-1 to Kingston with the top three boards still in play. Peter Lalić transposed into the Mikėnas Defence (1. c4 Nc6 2.d4 e5) against Ali Hill’s English Opening, and after some original play from both sides had sacrificed his b-pawn for an advantage. Meanwhile, Vladimir Li, playing White against Carsten Pedersen’s usual French Defence, had won two pawns but was in a very complicated middlegame.

On board one, David Maycock v Marco Gallana, the Italian chose the Sveshnikov variation of the Sicilian Defence (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5). It’s impossible to do justice to this game in a few words. David revels in complications, and here he boldly sacrificed his h-pawn and calmly played his king to d2, into the midst of the maelstrom. Gallana had castled kingside, but this was also hardly a safe haven for his monarch as David’s rooks were lined up against it. The position after move 24 is shown below.

Here David played the very imaginative 25. Nf6+, to deflect Black’s bishop from defending h6. At this point, it seems to me, the limits of human analysis are pretty much exceeded and it’s even difficult to understand Stockfish’s analysis, according to which Marco’s 25…Bxf6 was a mistake (it says Kh8 is winning), but David’s follow-up, 26. Qxh6, should have given the advantage back to Black. The engine thinks 26. Ng4 instead was winning for White. I think the best way to get an understanding of what was going on in this amazing game would be to spend a club evening analysing it together.

Meanwhile, Vladimir had continued to play forcefully, but, short on time in a double rook endgame, he allowed his opponent to win back one pawn and exchange into a drawn single rook ending, a disappointment after his excellent play earlier on. His lesson to himself was “play simple chess when low on time”.

On balance, a point up at 2.5-1.5 with just the top two boards remaining, Kingston still looked favourites. Unfortunately, with less than five minutes on his clock on move 20, Peter Lalić overlooked that Ali Hill could win a piece. Peter only had two pawns for it, but he always knows how to keep setting problems for his opponent, even in the most unpromising positions. The position below was reached at move 40, with Peter three points down according to Stockfish.

There followed: 40. Rb3 Ke7 41. Bc6 Rb8 42. Ke2 f6 (creating a key passed pawn) 43. gxf6+ Kxf6 44. Kd3 Kg5 45. Rb1 b3 46. Rg1+ Kf4. It’s now equal according to Stockfish, because Black has been playing actively with his king and has two passed pawns, while White has not made any progress.

47. Rf1+ Kg3 48. Kc3 b2 49. Kc2 Kg2 50. Rb1 Kf3 51. Rxb2. Remarkably, Black now has winning chances.

Rxb2+ 52. Kxb2 g5 53. Kc3 g4 54. Bd7 g3 55. Bh3 g2. Here, 55…Kxe4 would have won, as Black wins the bishop for the g-pawn and then advances his e-pawn, subsequently winning White’s d-pawn, but Peter had only four seconds remaining. 56. Bxg2+ Kxg2 (now it’s a draw) 57. Kc4 Kf3 58. Kb5 Kxe4 59. Kc6 Kf5 60. Kxd6 e4 61. Kc7 e3 62. d6 e2 63. d7 e1=Q 64. d8=Q Qa5+ 65. Kc8 Qxd8+ 66. Kxd8 1/2-1/2 An amazing save by Peter under extreme time pressure.

Thus the top-board game was left to decide the match and, possibly, the league: a fitting, and gripping, ending. Kingston only needed a draw to win the match and be Thames Valley champions. Both players were now playing on the 10-second increment. As the spectators clustered round, David was in theory (according to Stockfish analysis) completely lost, but Marco missed a difficult mating sequence and suddenly it was David who had the better chances.

In the position above David played 32. Rxg6 and Marco took the rook with his knight. Instead 32…Qxe3 would have led to mate in eight. Following 32…Nxg6. 33. Qg8+ Black’s king was pushed to the other side of the board. But, pressing for a win, David lashed out unnecessarily with his rook, and after a flurry of moves this position was reached:

With almost no time left, Gallana played 41…Qc3+ 42. Kc1 Qe1+ 43.Kb2 Qc3+ and the players agreed a draw. In fact, Black didn’t need to repeat. Ba3+ is winning when the king retreats to c1, and the move also works if White unpins the knight by taking shelter on b1: 44. Kb1 Ba3 and White only has 45. Rd6+ to prevent mate. But after both David and Marco had fought so hard to negotiate a knife-edge position on 10-second increments alone, it seemed an appropriate ending.

So Kingston had achieved a last gasp win by 3.5-2.5. A memorable way to win the Thames Valley title, in such a close match against the previous champions. Hammersmith were worthy opponents; Chris Skulte even kindly helped me to finish packing up the equipment.

We were quietly luxuriating in this achievement when, the following morning, Kingston chair Alan Scrimgour noticed on the Surrey chess website that Guildford 1 had beaten Wimbledon 1 5-3 the previous evening. As Wimbledon was the only club which could hypothetically catch us until then, their defeat meant that Kingston were not only Thames Valley but also Surrey Trophy champions.

Two titles in one evening, and the first time this has ever been achieved by Kingston in the same season (emulating Wimbledon, who won both in 2018). The last time Kingston were champions of Surrey was 1975 and the last time the club won the Thames Valley League was 1984. Two very long waits ended on the same evening in what may be Kingston’s greatest ever season.

David Rowson, Kingston first-team captain

Two wins at weekend 4 launch CSC/Kingston 2 into the division 4 promotion mix at 4NCL

Weekend 4 at 4NCL was a triumph for CSC/Kingston 2. With two wins – the one on Saturday against a team which massively outgraded them – we now suddenly, and perhaps just a little surprisingly, have a chance of promotion going into the final weekend at the end of April, though some very tough teams lie in wait. Both CSC/Kingston 1 and CSC/Kingston 2 are now in the promotion mix in divisions 3 and 4 at that final weekend, which promises to be edge-of-the-seat stuff.

The team’s victory on Saturday against War and Piece A was remarkable. The average rating gap was more than 250 points, which logically pointed to a convincing victory for War and Piece. But the CSC/Kingston team had other ideas. Peter Hasson, who has had a tremendous season at 4NCL, beat a 2100-rated played on board 2; Ewan Wilson and John Carter took the spoils of boards 3 and 5; and Petr Vachtfeidl and Nick Grey recorded important draws on boards 4 and 6 – all against much higher-rated opponents. An unforgettable triumph which ignited CSC/Kingston 2’s season.

Celtic Tigers 2 were on paper weaker opposition on Sunday, with CSC/Kingston this time the stronger team by an average of 260 points. We won reasonably comfortably, though the fact that the score was once again 4-2 demonstrated how dangerous it is to make assumptions in chess based on ratings. Who would have predicted ahead of the weekend that matches against two teams so far apart in strength would have produced the same result?

Hasson once again won on board 2, young Max Selemir was victorious on board 5, and Ewan Wilson followed up his success on Saturday with a draw with Black against Celtic Tigers’ strong board 1. But credit to Celtic Tigers 2 for draws against much higher-rated players on the other three boards. Two matches that could not have been more different, but the net result is that CSC/Kingston 2 now have a fantastic opportunity at the final 4NCL weekend, when three tough matches will be played over three days.

Stephen Moss