Thames Valley League division 2 match played at Fircroft, Surbiton on 10 January 2024

It’s always nice to start the New Year with a victory, especially one that takes you top of the league. And it was a convincing one at that, not dropping a game in a 4-2 victory over neighbours Surbiton B.

We were favourites on the top three boards and underdogs on the bottom three, so it was set to be an interesting encounter. Nick Grey was first to finish, with a peaceful draw against Surrey county team-mate Graham Alcock. Nick faced Graham’s time-honoured Scandinavian, but after carefully assessing the other games around him he felt we had an advantage and opted to offer a draw.

Stephen Moss also secured another half-point against Andrew Boughen, in a game that Stephen described as “boring – nothing really happened”. But an important result with the black pieces against his higher-rated opponent. Another draw was then agreed on board 2, where fresh from his heroics of saving a completely lost game against Kingston in the Surrey League the week previously, promising junior Joshua Pirgon secured another half-point against John Foley. So far, all square at 1.5-1.5.

It was Kingston stalwart Alan Scrimgour who drew first blood, defeating another one of Surbiton’s young stars, Joseph Morrison. Joseph has been a frequent prize-winner at the Kingston Blitz Series, but time wasn’t on his side on this occasion, as Alan managed to transpose a Caro-Kann into a c3 Sicilian, an opening with which Alan is very familiar. This allowed him to build a massive time advantage and, after sustained pressure, he broke through to put the first full point on the board.

On board 6, I managed to successfully dodge the many traps set by yet another talented Surbiton junior, Conrad Bredenoord. Conrad pushed g4 in front of his castled king, offering up a pawn sac that looked to lead to a tactical mêlée. I tanked for about 25 minutes, trying to calculate whether it was poisoned or not. Normally, I would take the easy way out and just leave it hanging, but I thought I could get away with it, and to my relief I was right. The extra pawn was then followed by the win of an exchange, a dilution of pieces, and a simple endgame victory to clinch the match.

David Rowson was the last to finish on the top board, playing what feels like his weekly game against Liam Bayly. This encounter ended in a draw, making it 4-2 to Kingston and taking us to top spot in Thames Valley division 2. But how long will we stay at the summit, given that we have tricky away trips to Hounslow and Maidenhead to follow this month? 

Gregor Smith, Kingston B captain in Thames Valley division 2

Thames Valley League division 1 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 8 January 2024

Having beaten Ealing 4-2 away in October, Kingston approached this match with moderate confidence. Last season we benefited from some clubs not travelling well, most notably Ealing. Several of their players are Fulham FC supporters (like me) but in contrast to last year Fulham didn’t have a fixture on Monday, so our opponents arrived in good time and close to full strength, whereas we were lacking a couple of our top players. All the same, the similarity in the average ratings of the two teams foretold a close match, and that was borne out on the evening.

The first game to finish was that on the top board, where Martin Smith and Peter Lalić agreed to a very early draw. Queens had been exchanged on move 4 and the position was pretty level at move 15, with White perhaps having more reason to play on than Black. 

Ealing then went ahead when Jonathan White converted his extra pawn advantage in a rook ending against John Foley, but on board 6 Alan Scrimgour was on top against Simon Healeas. I’m not qualified to comment on how the opening (a Caro-Kann, Panov Attack) developed, but in the early middlegame White’s queenside pawn majority was up against Black’s two central pawns. The following position was reached:

Here, instead of defending the knight on c6 Black counter-attacked with 18….e4. The problem with this was that after 19. Qxc6 exf3 gxf3 White was a pawn up and Black’s pawn centre was half what it had been. The doubled pawns on the f-file are not so significant here. Play continued 30…Rc8 31. Qa4 d4 32. Rbd1 Nd5 33. Ne4 (Rxd4 loses a piece to Nc3).

A few moves later this was the position:

Now if 25…Bf6 White would exchange rooks and queens on e8 and his connected queenside pawns would be much stronger than Black’s single central one, which is in any case likely to fall imminently. However, after 25…d3 26. Qb5 White won the d-pawn and soon after the game.  This levelled the scores at 1.5-1.5.

On board 4 Will Taylor was defending a Queen’s Gambit Declined against the very experienced Alan Perkins.

Here White played 18. Nxe6! The idea is that after 18…fxe6 19. Rxe6 Black has to play 19…Kh8 to avoid the discovered check, and then 19. d5 pushes the c6 knight away from defending the bishop on e7. Will commented, “I didn’t react well to the shock of Nxe6, spending almost all my remaining time and leaving myself playing on increment in a position which might otherwise have been defensible.” After 20…Bxa3 21. dxc6 the c6 pawn, helped along by White’s bishops and rooks, became a winner, advancing to c7.

Now Ealing had a point lead, but the match continued to roller-coaster, which description fits my own game perfectly. Out of a Giuoco Piano I had what I thought was the advantage, as Tony Wells’ pieces were mostly stuck on the back rank, but I couldn’t work out how to exploit this, and after the queens were exchanged I played some casual moves and suddenly realised that I was much worse. Black was pressing hard on the kingside and my pieces seemed to be tripping over each other. With little time to think properly I decided to confuse things, and played 40. g3 here:

According to Stockfish this takes my position from -0.58 to – 1.86. After 40…g4! 41.fxg4 Bxg4 I played the strange-looking 42. Ng1. My idea was to move a rook to the g-file to line up against Black’s bishop and king.  It’s not really a particularly good move, but then nothing is here. Black doubled rooks – 42…Raf7 – and I played 43. Nh2, giving this position:

Now 43…Nxg3 44. Nxg4 Rf4 would have threatened the g4 knight and mate on e4, and after 45. Nf2 h3 46. Ngxh3 Rf3++, but this was very hard to see with only about a minute left on the clock. Instead, Black defended his bishop with 43…Nf6, losing the advantage. I continued 44. gxh4 and my opponent decided to use his king to recapture the h-pawn. We reached this position a few moves later:

Here I played 47. Nhf3+ (Ngf3+ was even better) and after 47…Kh5 I was able to win a pawn by 48. Nxe5. The game continued 48…Nxd3 49. Nxd3 Nxe4? (time trouble – Re8 was best) and finished 50. Kxe4 Bf3+ 51. Nxf3 Rxf3 52. Rh1+ when Tony resigned, as it’s mate next move. With a lot of luck I had managed to go from dead lost to dead won, and the match was all square again.

So the match result would hang on the last game to finish. From a very complex French David Maycock – playing White against Fide master Andrew Harley – gained the two bishops, but when the queens were exchanged he became tied down to defending an extra pawn on c5:

Play continued 24. Ra4 Nd8 25. Ra5 Nc6 26. Ra4 Nd8. Andrew Harley was offering to repeat the position, but David, with his usual admirable fighting spirit, turned this down. He didn’t know the match situation and decided he should try to win for the team, so varied by 27. Nc3. Unfortunately this meant he gave up his small advantage of the two bishops. The position was still absolutely level by move 50, with each player only having a rook and knight, but time pressure had now entered the equation. David kept finding ways to set Andrew problems, but Andrew resourcefully solved these, and with only seconds left David had to resign when facing two connected passed pawns.

So Kingston had narrowly lost the match. Ealing had proved very tough opponents. This was our first defeat this season in the Thames Valley League. It will now be very problematic for us to retain the title (see current table below, beneath the match score), but we’ll keep fighting – six matches remain.

David Rowson, Kingston A captain in Thames Valley League

Thames Valley League division X match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 8 January 2024

A 2-2 draw was an excellent result for Kingston C against Hounslow C, who had a rating advantage of almost 60 points a board. Ergo Nobel, still relatively new to Kingston, can feel particularly proud of himself, grinding out a high-pressure win on top board against a 1600-strength opponent who fought for his life.

The first result was on board 2 where Greg Heath, captaining in place of an indisposed Stephen Daines, resigned in a rook endgame against Steve Hall. Later analysis suggested the resignation was premature. Remember Greg, all rook endgames are drawn.

Jaden Mistry, with Black against Andrew Cleminson on board 3, led the fightback for Kingston, playing a very solid Caro-Kann, establishing an edge and then taking advantage of a cataclysmic blunder by his opponent to mate on the back rank when White, with correct play, had good drawing chances.

That made it 1-1, but on board 4 Ethan Bogerd was losing the battle of the juniors against Ashwath Kumar Kota, who was a knight up and pushing on with two dangerous connected pawns. Ethan tried to block, but Ashwath sac’d knight for pawn to clear the path for his own passed pawn and make it 2-1 to Hounslow.

That left it to Ergo to secure the draw for Kingston, which he did with aplomb, despite at one point playing an illegal move which gave his time-strapped opponent an extra two minutes. Ergo dealt with that hiccup without too much distress and turned a very drawish rook-and-pawn endgame into a win, helped by his opponent’s continuing time troubles. So in fact, given the human practicalities of chess, all rook endgames are not drawn.

Stephen Moss

Decidedly mixed fortunes for CSC/Kingston 3 at the team’s second 4NCL weekend, held in Telford, with a 6-0 win followed by a 5.5-0.5 loss

This was the ultimate weekend of two halves. On Saturday CSC/Kingston 3 whitewashed a team of juniors from Barnet Knights – apologies to the youngsters, best treat it as a learning experience. But the following day – and we really weren’t celebrating too late into the night – we got a taste of our own medicine, suffering a 5.5-0.5 hammering at the hands of Ashfield 3.

The latter was a very disappointing result because on paper the teams looked fairly evenly matched. The drive back to south-west London from Telford, in Shropshire, is already extremely long, but on this occasion it seemed to last forever. Well done to Mike Cresswell for saving us from what in tennis is called being bagelled – that horrible 6-0 drubbing.

The one saving grace for me is that I found my Sunday loss to Robert Taylor very instructive. I have always struggled against the Colle System and loathe the position we reached here after White’s 10. Qf3.

Clearly, something has gone wrong, and my “bad” bishop on b7 is a nightmare. I played 10. Nxe5 here and then retreated the knight to d7, giving myself a horrible game. Capturing the knight on e5 is fine, but the black knight must then be placed on e4. After bishops are exchanged, White can’t win a pawn because of the check from the black queen on h4. With best play, White still has a small advantage, but nothing like the plus he had in the game where I was on the back foot throughout, consumed outrageous amounts of time and eventually collapsed in a heap. A horrible day at the office.

Let’s hope CSC/Kingston 1 and CSC2/Kingston 2 fare better this weekend at Warwick in the second phase of these rounds (3 and 4) of the 4NCL. The divisions and weekends are split because 4NCL has not been able to find a venue large enough to accommodate everyone at once. There may also be issues with recruiting enough officials. It is very unfortunate that the players are split up in this way because it gives the people overseeing the teams more logistical headaches and robs the weekend of the sense of occasion it would have if everyone was gathered in the same place on a single weekend. One day perhaps.

Stephen Moss

Surrey League division 2 match played at Fircroft, Surbiton on 3 January 2024

For Kingston 2 to secure a draw against Surbiton 1 in the second division of the Surrey League is on paper a very good result, but there was a slight sense at the end of this invigorating New Year match that victory had slipped from our grasp, with Peter Andrews and Stephen Lovell having to settle for draws in games which at one point looked like possible wins. We should, though, not be greedy: after last year’s battles, Kingston 2 is so far doing far better in this tough division this season.

The board 7 game was first to finish with old adversaries Jon Eckert and Surbiton captain Graham Alcock, who played his customary Scandinavian, declaring peace after 20 moves. That draw set a pattern for the match, which was clearly going to be very tight.

On board 2, Altaf Chaudhry and Kingston’s Julian Way also settled for a draw. Julian blunted Altaf’s English Opening, establishing a pawn on e4. After some grandmasterly manoeuvring, the two players repeated moves and accepted the inevitability of a draw in the position shown below where 27… Bf8 forces the white queen back to c1.

John Foley, with White against Jasper Tambini on board 3, had essayed a pawn sac to get Black’s king offside and allow a pawn advance in the centre. But is proved rather speculative and thereafter Tambini, who has returned to his old club Surbiton after a short spell at Wimbledon, seized the initiative, went the exchange up and forced victory. Advantage Surbiton.

David Rowson appears destined to spend his entire season playing against Surbiton’s Liam Bayly – they also met recently in a first-team match, when Liam had the better of it, and were likely to meet again when Surbiton 2 and Kingston 2 met on 10 January. On this occasion, David had no difficulty neutralising Liam’s Giuoco Piano and may even had established a slight edge but, after an exchange of queens, another relatively bloodless draw resulted.

Alan Scrimgour always appeared to be doing well with White on board 5 against the redoubtable Nick Faulks, and so it proved. “I didn’t expect to play Nick and only discovered after the game that we have now played three c3 Sicilians with me as White,” Alan said after the game. “This explains why, presumably remembering, he played the first 12 moves quickly, leaving me well behind on the clock. The first crucial decision by me was to play the risky-looking 16. g4 followed by 17. Ne5. Although this position (see below) was roughly equal, Black was cramped and subsequently played a couple of inaccuracies, ceding the pawn on b7 with 19… Qd6, presumably hoping to use the Bb8/Qd6 diagonal.”

Alan now had a healthy plus, but missed a chance in the position below when 23. b5 would have left the black queen very short of squares and would most likely have won the exchange.

But despite missing that chance, Alan retained his advantage and won a piece with a tactical sequence half a dozen moves later. That tied the match at 2.5-2.5, but with Peter Andrews holding the upper hand against David Scott on board 1 and Stephen Lovell, on his seasonal debut and after a year-long break from league chess, material up against Joshua Pirgon on board 6 we felt we had a sniff of victory.

Peter Andrews also played an English, discovering later that his opponent David Scott played the same line as White. In the position below, Peter has just played 15. d4, which he describes as a “very committal move which opened the position enough to make it hard for either of us to keep control of all our weaknesses”.

Peter believed 24. Na4 in the position below gave him a substantial edge, which indeed it does, though he believes with support from some engines (not all interestingly) that Nd7 is even stronger:

With time starting to press for both players, could Peter find a winning plan? He was pleased, in line with his New Year resolution, to find a backward diagonal queen move to further increase the tension in the position, and reached this position after 31. Nf5, when White has a substantial advantage:

But that was as good as it got, for reasons Peter explains in his inimitable style in the annotation he did for the game: “At this point I had well under five minutes left and stopped recording. Given that the position is +5 for White – he has an extra exchange in an open position, a better pawn formation, and more active and co-ordinated pieces – the reader may ask how on earth the game ended as a draw. I am unable to reconstruct the rest of the game, which in itself is telling.

“Hereabouts, I had a mental blank. The position has changed completely from the tense struggle up to move 23. I no longer had an obvious plan, or time on the clock to formulate one; my objectives were not to blunder something catastrophic and to hope that my opponent allowed something loose to drop off, or to steer for an ending and trust that the material advantage would count. However, I made the mistake of exchanging rooks on c4, giving him a passed pawn, and then exchanging queens.

“He managed to defend the pawn, and knights are not very good at rounding up a mobile pawn. So I gave back the exchange to win the pawn, leaving me with two knights and four pawns against bishop, knight and three pawns. I then left a pawn en prise and immediately offered a draw, which was accepted, not noticing until too late that if he took the pawn my king could have forked his two minor pieces. Whether the pawn-up minor-piece ending was winnable is doubtful, with the clock pressing and all the pawns on one side, but I could no doubt have made him suffer for some time.”

An honest and illuminating assessment from a serious player who never spares himself from self-criticism. The match was now tied at 3-3 and it was all down to the roller-coaster encounter being played out on board 6 between Stephen Lovell and Joshua Pirgon.

If some of the games in this match were relatively tame, this encounter was anything but. The opening was a French Tarrasch. “I wasn’t entirely happy with how I handled the opening,” Stephen said afterwards. “Closing the position with 17 … f5 (see position below) was quite possibly a mistake, but I thought I would have to do it at some point anyway and felt I had the resources to deal with any kingside attack.”

White took up the challenge, sac-ing a piece and lining his heavy artillery up against the Black king.

White’s threats are largely illusory – Stephen was right that he did have the resources to deal with the expected kingside onslaught. But in practical club chess with time rapidly diminishing, your mind starts to play strange tricks. “After 33. Rfh2 I suddenly realised I had some calculating to do,” Stephen says, “and spent much too much time thinking before my 33rd move.”

Stephen did in fact play accurately: 33. Rxf4 34. Rxh7 Qxe5. This is surely winning, despite the rook checks that are coming for White, but his opponent played resourcefully and was able to play 37. Bxg6 with check, creating a passed g-pawn. Now it was complete mayhem and Stephen was playing on the increment. “I was in a fog of time trouble,” he says. “All of a sudden the g6 pawn had become a big factor, and I couldn’t see a clearly winning way of stopping it. Nor could I see a mate. So I decided to let the pawn queen, imagining that I should still win with a material advantage and a vulnerable white king. But something went wrong, as it so often does!”

The position was liquidated down to an endgame in which Stephen had bishop and three pawns against rook and pawn. It was knife edge and could have gone either way, but in the end a draw was agreed. What a game with which to return to competitive action after a year away. Stephen promises he will play again – in about another year’s time. That’s enough excitement for 2024.

Stephen Moss, Kingston captain in Surrey League division 2

Thames Valley League division 2 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 18 December 2023

After about half an hour of this match I had a feeling we’d been mugged. I was on board 4 and, having expected to meet a player of my own strength or slightly below, was faced with Nigel Smith, an experienced player rated around 1900. I was already in a spot of bother after a foolish bishop for knight exchange that left his bishop pair controlling affairs. If they had a 1900 on board 4, what were their top 3 like?

The answer was pretty handy, because Maidenhead managed a clean sweep of boards 1 to 3, despite facing players of the quality of Peter Andrews, Julian Way and Alan Scrimgour. Make no mistake: this was a very strong Maidenhead team, and with these players, including the newly joined Sir Lankan father-and-son duo Ishan and Jenith Wiratunga, strengthening an already very useful first team, Maidenhead are really going places and could be contenders for the Thames Valley division 1 title in the near future.

Going places is of course what Maidenhead have to do. They are quite a long way from their rival clubs in the Thames Valley League and have traditionally been slightly ropey travellers. Generally you could expect them to be a good deal weaker away than at home. But they disproved that dictum here, getting their best players out and winning comfortably despite the long journey.

Peter Andrews lost a remarkable game against Maidenhead’s Stephen James on board 1 – remarkable because of the transformation in his fortunes in the course of a few moves. He pinpoints this position, after White’s 14th move, as the key one. He plays 14…Bc5 here, and things go badly awry.

“Nxd2 was best, “explains Peter, “when play might go 15. Nxc6 Nb3 16. Nb4 Nxa1 17. Be4 Qc8 (d5 is no help because Bxd5 is possible) 18. Bxa8 Qxa8 19. Qxa1 and -0.2 suggests a fractional edge for Black but nothing much. Curious to see both queens in corners. I had originally intended 14…Bxb4, which is also fine. Bc5 was too clever and forced my opponent to play well.”

The game proceeded 14… Bc5 15. Be3 Bxb4 16. cxb4 Qxb4 17. Qg4, leading to this position:

“I thought Qg4 was winning and collapsed,” Peter says with great honesty. This is a fascinating and complicated position, which Peter (accounting for his “hallucination”) describes in the following way in the annotation he did for the game: “This came as a complete shock. A visualisation error on my part; in the lines I had been looking at in advance of move 14, I would have played Nxd2 at some stage, so the queen would come to g5 rather than g4 and I would not now face this pin on my knight.

“When looking at this with an engine, I had expected to find that I was now lost, and was surprised to find the evaluation 0.0. Even more surprisingly, it recommends 17…O-O, which I barely considered because of the obvious 18. Bh6, threatening mate and attacking the knight for the third time. I had missed 18…. Qxb2, guarding g7 from long distance and backwards along a diagonal (hard to see, but it was relevant to my actual choice of 17… Qxb2, so I should have seen it in this context too). The threats of Nxf2 and Qxf2+ constrain White’s choices. Natural and best is 19. Bxe4 Bxe4, when 20. Rxe4 would leave the a1 rook en prise and (best) 20. Qxe4 allows gxh6. Black’s position looks pretty hairy, but he does have two pawns as compensation and with accurate play he can avoid disaster.”

As Peter said, he played the right move, Qxb2 – but too early and without castling. The game proceeded: 17…Qxb2 18. Bxe4 f5 19. Bxf5 exf5 20. Bd4+ 1-0

“17… Qxb2 was tantamount to resignation as soon as my opponent saw that 19. Bxf5 was possible,” says Peter. In the final position [see above] exf5 allows Bd4+, and Black has no sensible way to prevent the white queen giving check next move, followed by annexing the black queen.” A horrible end from a position a few moves earlier of relative security. One concludes for the umpteenth time that chess can be very cruel.

On board 2, Julian Way succumbed to young Jenith Wiratunga. Wiratunga played a Sicilian Dragon, and White countered with the Yugoslav Attack. Julian thought his initial error came in this position:

Here he plays 13. Nd5, leading to a mass trade of pieces: 13.Nd5 Qxd2 14. Nxf6+ Bxf6 15. Rxd2 Bxd4 16. Rxd4 Rc5 17. Be2 Rac8 18. Rc1 h5 19. h3 hxg4 20. hxg4 g5. Black is already heading for an endgame in which he has greater piece activity. White’s light-squared bishop never really joins the party, other than as a rather ineffective defender, and 20. g5! secures an entry point for Black’s king on the dark squares. Simple but very effective chess from Black.

13. a3 or perhaps g5 would have been better for White, and 18. c3 is a better way to defend the c-file than Rc1, because it doesn’t tie the rook down to defence and opens up squares for the light-squared bishop. In the game as it unfolded, Black got all the play, won a pawn and sealed the deal with some very precise endgame play, leading to the final position below when Julian resigned. Wiratunga Junior is a player of whom we are going to hear a great deal more.

Wiratunga Senior was also successful for Maidenhead on board 3 against the redoubtable Alan Scrimgour. They had a fierce and complex battle in which neither side could establish a decisive advantage, despite pressure on Alan’s uncastled king. In the position below, Alan felt that in retrospect he should have recaptured on e4 with the queen to force a queen exchange.

He retook with fxe, which the engine prefers, but it led to long-term pressure from the white queen on Black’s now exposed kingside. “My opponent began to create threats,” says Alan, “but I was still holding until an unsound and unnecessary exchange sac on move 44. I was dead lost after that.” A very classy game, though, in which both players made excellent moves over a long period in a series of complicated positions.

I managed a barely deserved draw against Nigel Smith on board 4. In the position below I thought I was about to be mated:

I do, though, have a rather desperate resource: 24. c4, buying myself some time to stop the black rooks combining on the h-file while the black bishop occupies c4 to cut off my king’s escape route. My position remains very bad, but at least I am still alive and can create problems, which is exactly what happened. The rooks were traded, my knight became active, time began to run short, my opponent blundered a pawn, and we reached an endgame with opposite-coloured bishops in which I just about hung on. One of those draws that feels better than a win.

Kingston captain Gregor Smith had what he freely describes as a “boring draw” on board 5, with material being liquidated down to a rook and pawn endgame after 20 moves. Nevertheless a good result against Maidenhead veteran Nigel Dennis, who has been a fixture on the chess scene for almost 60 years and retains a very respectable rating.

Our only winner in the match was Nick Grey, continuing his good recent run of form with a victory against Simon Foster on board 6. Nick played the Advanced Variation against the French Defence, and the game quickly descended into a blizzard of tactics. In the position below, Nick thought he was completely busted, and the truth is he probably was.

Black plays the correct move here: 21…Rxf6! White recaptures with the pawn, but is now in serious trouble because 22… Nxg3 is potentially a killer move.

23. fxg3 is losing on the spot – mate in two. The engine recommends playing 23. Qe1 (23. f7 is a close second best) and just giving up a piece to the discovered check, with the hope of some back-rank counterplay later. But neither of these options is very pleasant, and both would be likely to end in defeat. Nick found something that is objectively worse in the short term, but maybe in human terms better because it at least muddies the waters: 23. Ne5, blocking the discovered check.

23…Nxe5 here would hand back a substantial plus to White. The best move for Black is 23…Nxf1+ because, if, say, 24. Qxf1, then 24…Nxe5 25. dxe5 Qxe5+ 26. f4 Qxf6 27. Qf2 Bxc2 28. Rg1 Rxg1 29. Kxg1 Qxc3 is winning. But Black actually played 23…Nxe2, which appears to pick up a piece but is far from conclusive unless he follows it up, after White’s 24. Qe3, with 24…Qd8, relinquishing the knight in order to get threats which will force White to give a piece back to avoid mate.

All very complicated and Black proceeded to lose his way completely, playing 24…Rg4 instead of Qd8, and, after 25. Qxe2, 25…Bxc2, believing White would play 26. Qxc2 and Black would have at least a draw by perpetual. But Nick did not capture the bishop on c2, instead playing f3! (f7! is also strong).

Further complications ensued – Black tried the tempting (but misguided) 26…Bd3? – with neither side playing perfectly as time started to get short in a very double-edged position. But Nick never relinquished the advantage he now had, and Black was eventually mated. Very satisfying for Nick, and welcome relief for Kingston after the reverses elsewhere.

Stephen Moss

Surrey League division 5 match played at the Willoughby Arms on 18 December 2023

Surbiton 3 came with a very strong team for this fixture and ran out comfortable winners by 4.5-1.5. But as ever there were many positives for Kingston and naturally we will dwell on those, while passing on congratulations to our neighbours on their victory.

On board 5 Jaden Mistry spurned not one but two draw offers from Surbiton captain David Morant before losing a rook endgame. Good to be bold and play for a win, though Jaden now accepts that it might have been sensible to accept the second offer. But, as GM Ben Finegold once told me, nobody gets to be a better chess player by taking a draw and forgoing the chance to play more chess.

On board 6 another Kingston junior Ethan Bogerd lost to Paul McCauley, who is surely underrated at 1430. Ethan played well in the opening against Paul’s Sicilian, but then hung his queen as he got overexcited about the possibility of launching a kingside attack. An unfortunate denouement.

Colin Lyle fought hard against Alexey Markov, even when he went the exchange down, but in the end Alexey had too much nous to let his advantage slip. Ed Mospan also lost on board 2 against David Cole, a very rarefied presence in the Minor Trophy, with a rating close to the 1790 cut-off for the division. It was a tough struggle and David was well behind on the clock, but with both sides hunting a checkmate the Surbiton player got their first.

I have, though, saved the best (from a Kingston perspective that is) till last: Jameel Jameel’s debut victory in a league match for the club, with his victim no less a player than distinguished Surbiton (and former Kingston) veteran Malcolm Groom. And what a fine game Jameel played, giving great hope of a rise up through the teams in the future. Malcolm made a key error in this position:

He should just play 13. Nxe5 here to retain a small plus, but his speculative 13. Nd4 (preparing f4?) immediately drops two pawns: 13. Nd4 Nxc4 14.Ne4 Qxd4 15.Qxd4 Bxd4 16.Bxc4 Bxb2. Malcolm looked for counterplay, but Jameel resolutely closed all doors and in the position below, with another pawn about to fall, Malcolm resigned.

Not surprisingly, after a couple of losses when he said his play had been unnecessarily ambitious, Jameel was delighted, and said he realised coolness was the key in classical chess. “I think I’m getting the hang of this over-the-board thing,” he said “Typically I try to force through ‘beautiful moves’ impulsively – I can blame online chess for that – but tonight I was conscious of taking my time and playing less speculatively.” A great win for Jameel and a big step forward.

Stephen Moss

Thames Valley League division X match played at Egham Constitutional Club, Egham on 14 December 2023

Kingston C captain Stephen Daines neatly christened this a “watery encounter” – Kingston upon Thames away to Staines upon Thames, in Dix X of the Thames Valley League naturally. It was going to be sink or swim – and, happily, Kingston swam.

One warming point to remember about this match is that none of these players was even at Kingston before the pandemic of 2020/21 shut us down for a prolonged period. All four, including the captain Stephen Daines (who is doing sterling work running three league teams), have come on board since we resumed operations, which shows what strides we have made as a club. Half of our entire membership have joined since over-the-board chess came back in 2021.

At Staines, Dieter Mcdougall on top board showed his great potential with a decisive win against David Bean, who has a far from negligible rating. An excellent victory for Dieter, who has played only a handful of matches for the club so far, but is making a solid case for second-team chess. Colin Lyle, a relative tyro and always very modest about his play, also enjoyed a good win, but the captain was not so fortunate, essaying the Dutch for the first time and coming unstuck as he tried, in his words, to “wing it”. He failed to take flight. A Double Dutch perhaps.

That made it 2-1, so at least the ship could not go down with the captain (metaphors are being horribly mangled here). Even if Ergo Nobel lost on board 2, we would still have a draw. At one stage, that did indeed look like a danger: Ergo was the exchange down, with rook and knight against two rooks. Often that spells disaster, especially if rooks can be exchanged to leave one fast-moving rook up against a creaky knight. But Ergo fought admirably, was able to avoid his opponent simplifying to a won position and eventually a draw was agreed, giving Kingston the match by 2.5-1.5.

A result achieved against the tide? Actually no: that was just a pathetic attempt to end on an aquatic note. It was never in doubt. Well done to Captain Daines and his crew.

Stephen Moss

Thames Valley League division 1 match played at Fircroft, Long Ditton, Surbiton on 13 December 2023

Surbiton have returned to their old venue of Fircroft in Ditton Road, which has been very nicely redecorated. The pristine white walls may have aided clarity of thought among some of the Kingston players, but sadly this was not my case, as will be explained.

Both teams were at full, or nearly full, strength, so a competitive match was promised and delivered, even if Kingston outrated Surbiton on every board. The first result came on board 3. After some lengthy manoeuvres in a Sicilian Defence, David Maycock, realising that Altaf Chaudhry’s pieces were mainly committed to the queenside, probed on the kingside with h4, inspired, David said, by AlphaZero. Altaf allowed the pawn to advance to h6, then captured it, but in exchange White gained Black’s d-pawn and, more importantly, Black had a weakened kingside. In the position below David found a nice finish.

He played 39. Nf6+ Kf7 40. Qxg7+ winning back the queen (and being a piece up) by the fork on h5. Black resigned.

Meanwhile, on board 1 an intriguing battle between Vladimir Li and Mark Josse was unfolding. In the position below Vladimir played 13. e6.

If Black accepts the pawn sacrifice with 13…fxe6 White can play 14. Nf4 with the idea of Ng6, preventing Black castling. In the game there followed 13…Ne5 14. exf7+ Kxf7 when Black can’t castle anyway. His king looks vulnerable in view of the weakened white squares around it, but it is not so easy to take advantage of this.

After 15. Bc2 (it’s important to keep this bishop) Rf8, Vladimir attacked with 16. f4, but, as he said, this creates a long-term weakness on e3. He added the interesting comment “I played ‘faster’ than the position demanded.” Black replied 16…Nc4 and then Vladimir played 17. Qd3. The queen and bishop battery along the b1-h7 diagonal looks very dangerous, but Black’s king would actually have been safe on f8 if he had played Re8, increasing the pressure on e3. Vladimir remarked “Thankfully, it is not easy psychologically to play …Re8 when he had just played …Rf8 – especially given the king on f7.”

Instead, Black played 17… Bf6 and after 18. b3 Nxe3 (18…Nd6 was even better, because 19. Qg6+ can be met with 19…Ke7! when the black king is safe due to Black’s dominance on dark squares), giving this position:

There followed 19. Qxe3 d4 20. Qe4 dxc3 21. Rd1 Qb6 22. Qc4+  “a cute trap (White has already secured the perpetual)”, comments Vladimir, as 22…Be6 23. Rd7+ Be7 24. Bg6+ Kf6 25. Qxc3+ Kxg6 26. Rxe7 is good. As it was, Black played 22…Ke7 and the game finished with a repetition after 23. Qe4+ Kf7 24. Qc4+ Ke7 25. Qe4+.

On Board 4 Silverio Abasolo and Jasper Tambini contested a Closed Sicilian by transposition. Tambini sacrificed a pawn on f5, but his hoped-for kingside attack did not fire at that point and he lost another pawn. Possibly in desperation, he sacrificed a knight on h7 and this position was reached:

Play continued 26. Be4 Kh6 27. Bf3 Bd4 (preventing Rg1) 28. Re1 e6 29. Rf4 b3! This either leads to a promotion on a1 or wins the d3 pawn.

White tried 30. c3, but Silverio countered 30…Bxd3! 31. cxd4 b2 32. Rg1 (threatening mate on h4) 33. Bg6, giving the king a retreat square on g7. Black resigned as the b2 pawn is about to promote and win a rook.

Thus Kingston were ahead 2.5-0.5, and we were very hopeful that Will Taylor, playing Black on board 6, would get us over the line. He had got some good opening preparation in, resulting in an objectively winning position as well as a lead of more than 40 minutes on the clock.

In a position with a choice of promising continuations, Will thought for 44 minutes, which is an especially long think when you only have 80 minutes plus 10-second increments for the whole game. He said that at the time it reminded him of Ding Liren’s freeze on move 32 of game 7 of his world championship match against Ian Nepomniachtchi. He didn’t choose the most incisive path, and a mistake a few moves later returned the game to approximate equality, with a draw agreed soon thereafter.

Still, this result made it 3-1, and the prospects were looking good for Kingston until my board 5 game entered a very double-edged phase. In the position below my king is very hemmed-in, but I’m a pawn up and threatening to force a queen exchange with Qd5.

Liam prevented this by 24…Nf6, allowing 25. Nc7 Qd7 26. Nxa8 Rxa8.

The exchange up, but worried about my king’s safety, I played 27. Re3? in order to eliminate the black pawn on f3, but overlooked the counter 27…g4, after which my position is very problematic, especially under time pressure. We were both down to our last minute (excuses, excuses), and following 28. Qf1 Rf8 29. hxg4 Qxg4 (threatening Qg2 and mate) 30. Nxf3 Nxf3 I resigned. Even after 31. Qg2, forcing the queens off, my position is lost.

So Surbiton had got within a point of us, at 3-2, and all would hang on the final game, Peter Lalić’s, as so often. This was a fascinating game from the opening on. Peter sacrificed his h-pawn on move 6 and gained space on the kingside. In this position David Scott has just played 15. e4 to contest the centre:

Peter continued 15…f4!, threatening f3, and after 16. gxf4 Nh4 17. Rg1 exf4 18. Nexf4 Bxd5 19. Nxd5 Nd4 Black controls the f3 square. Curiously, a few moves later an exchange of knights on b4 gave Peter control of the mirror square to f3, c3:

Although Stockfish assesses this as only slightly better for Black, it looks very difficult for White, as his king is stuck in the centre, Black’s king’s bishop is a monster, and he can use the half-open a-file. Both players were soon in time trouble, but Peter strengthened his position step-by-step and by move 43 White could no longer defend against the threats:

There followed 43. Rb2 Bxb2. 44. Qxb2 Rxa2. 45. Qxe5 Ra1+ 46. Resigns. It’s remarkable that Black began by attacking on the h-file and finished by sweeping down the a-file.

Peter’s win gave Kingston the match by the score of 4-2. We have now won three and drawn two matches in Thames Valley League Division 1, which means we lead the table from Hammersmith (who have a match in hand), but we face many challenges in the new year if we are to retain our title.

David Rowson, Kingston captain in Thames Valley division 1

Thames Valley League division 2 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 11 December 2023

Kingston B struggled at times last season in Thames Valley division 2, but so far this year all is going swimmingly, and there is even talk of promotion (though would we really want two teams in division 1? – opinions within the club are divided). Hounslow B held us to a draw in the first Kingston B match of the season, but here we had a slightly strengthened team and ran out emphatic 5-1 winners.

David Rowson led the way on board 1 against JJ Padam. “I thought I had an advantage from the opening,” says David, “but Stockfish doesn’t really agree, which is maybe why I didn’t know how to capitalise on the supposed advantage until we got to the position below and I realised I could play 24…Nd3, exchanging off his strong d4 bishop and getting a pawn on d3.”

After 25. Bxd3 Bxd4 26. exd4 (Qxd4 loses to Nb6) exd3 27. Nf3 Nf4. 28. Qd2 Qe4 White had a very difficult position, but he made David’s task easy by playing 29. Ng5, overlooking the mate on g2.

On board 2 Peter Andrews played the same opponent he had faced in the reverse fixture at Hounslow, Frank Zurstiege, and Peter once again had White. He was very happy with the position after the opening, but felt he was over-hasty in the position below.

“Here I played Nb6 straight away rather than cranking up the pressure with Ne5. Ne5 would have put Black under real pressure, reinforcing the threat of Nb6 winning the exchange.” What Peter played nevertheless retained a plus for White, and after 23 moves this position was reached. Can you spot the best move?

Peter played 24. Nxg6. Perfectly OK and retains an edge. But better is Nc6, which can’t be taken by the b-pawn because White could counter with b7. “I missed the trick 24. Nc6 Bd6 (obviously not bxc6 25. b7 winning, and playing Rxc6 25. Rxc6 is the same) 25. Bxd6 Kxd6 26. Na7!, after which Black cannot oppose rooks on the c-file and White will get a rook to c7, which will win.”

It may, in fact, not be quite that simple, but it is fair to say that White would have excellent winning chances, whereas in reality Peter’s advantage evaporated and the players traded down to a king and pawn endgame. Such endgames can of course be knife edge, and Peter made a slip which could have cost him the game – one of those innocuous pawn moves which allow the opposing king to penetrate and mop up. Frank, though, perhaps having mentally settled for the draw and pleased to have weathered the storm, missed the key move, the chance passed and a draw was agreed.

John Foley, with Black, had a pleasing win on board 3, beating Eugene Gregorio – as with Peter, the same opponent he had played at Hounslow. John identifies this as the key position:

Here White plays 22. N2f3, which John describes as “a positional and strategic mistake”. He says White should instead be looking to activate his queenside pawn majority. “The move allowed my knight to occupy the commanding e4 square,” explains John. “My opponent decided to give up the exchange (22… Ne4 23. Rxe4) to get rid of the knight, but he could have played the defensive 23. Ne2 and held on.” Sometimes you just have to grovel. The exchange up, John was able to trade down to a winning rook v knight endgame.

Alan Scrimgour played the very promising Hounslow junior Vibhush Pusapadi on board 4. “My opponent played a very ambitious line in the French, which cost me a lot of time in the opening.” says Alan. “It was roughly level when we belatedly castled on opposite sides on move 17. My b4 pawn sac [see position below after 18. b4] wasn’t sound, but caused him to fall behind on time.”

The game proceeded 18…Qxb4 19. Nxc6 bxc6 20. Rab1 Qc5 21. Nd4 Nb6 22. Kh1 Nc4 23. Qb3 Na5 24. Qd3 Nc4 25. Qb3 Na5 26. Qd3 Nc4, leading to this position:

Here Alan finds the move which gives him a decisive edge – 27. f5. “When I broke through with f5 he failed to find the correct defence,” he says. “I missed an easier win, but he lost a piece shortly afterwards and ran out of time in a lost position.”

Nick Grey won a nice attacking game on board 6. In the position below, Nick plays the classic Bxf7 sac. Black doesn’t have a good move in response: capturing with the king is met by 17. Ne5+ and the loss of the bishop on g4 to the white queen. But Kd8 as played also gives White a decisive advantage.

Nick’s opponent, Steve Hall, tried to create complications, in turn sac-ing a bishop on h2 in a desperate effort to launch a counter-attack. But in the position below the attack down the h-file is more visual than real, and Black has given up too much material to have serious chances.

Nick plays safe here and opts for 24. Qe5, realising that after White checks on h2 he will be able to force an exchange of queens which will leave him in an overwhelming position.

As for captain Gregor Smith on board 5, he had what he described as a “lucky” draw, dropping a piece for two pawns when he fell for a tactic experimenting with a line in the Accelerated Dragon variation of the Sicilian Defence, and expecting a long and difficult game as a consequence. But his opponent must have looked at the rating gap between the two players, thought Gregor’s extra pawns were more potent than was really the case, and decided to bail out with a draw offer.

It was a narrow escape which gave Gregor time to enjoy his team’s successes later in the evening and to contemplate whether Div 1 would be a congenial place for a second team. Not that we are assuming such an outcome of course: Hounslow A and Richmond B, neither of whom we have yet played, will be stiffer tests.

Stephen Moss