Thames Valley League division 2 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston, on 16 January 2023

It was always going to be tough in division 2 of the Thames Valley League, and playing against a Hounslow A side when we were outrated on virtually every board and missing some of our higher-rated regulars was always going to be a big ask. We went down 5-1, but as always it wasn’t without a story.

Before the off, there was a rumbling coming from board 2, where Max Selemir’s opponent took a dislike to our beautiful new chess sets. The board was apparently too big! Eventually an alternative was found and the game was able to proceed. Max’s opponent also insisted on slow play – a relative rarity in evening chess these days.

Unflustered, young Max played his exciting attacking brand of chess and, after a complex exchange, found himself two pawns down but with an initiative as compensation. However, Max’s experienced opponent stifled Max’s assault and managed to play his 35th move with four seconds left on the clock, reaching the time control and winning the game. 

Following a communication mix-up between me and John Foley, we found ourself one player short at the start of play. After a quick phone call, John – fresh off the back of 12 hours of exhausting classical chess at 4NCL at the weekend – kindly agreed to come over to the Willoughby as fast as he could and play on board 1. Facing a 15-minute time deficit, John blitzed through the opening and achieved a strong position. However, facing a complex endgame in which he felt he had an advantage, the time deficit caught up with him and he unfortunately flagged.

A great effort from John and an exciting game, marred only by John’s opponent asking why he was not recording moves when his clock dipped below five minutes. John’s opponent believed that, with a 10-second increment, moves had to be recorded till the bitter end, but he was wrong (moves only have to be recorded when the increment is 30 seconds; otherwise the “five-minute rule” applies).

The points were shared on boards 3 and 4. On board 3, Charlie Cooke played confidently against Leon Fincham’s 1. g3, and the game came to a quiet draw. On board 3, I managed to gain a positional advantage out of the opening against David White, but frittered it away and ended up swindling a draw by repetition in what was a losing endgame. Thankfully, my advanced pawn gave my opponent enough to worry about in a time scramble. 

On boards 5 and 6, it was great to give opportunities to two of our third-team stalwarts, David Shalom and Sean Tay. Both put up a good fight against strong opposition, but in the end the points were Hounslow’s. Sean especially battled bravely, and would probably still be playing now if it wasn’t for us having to stop the game at 10.30pm – another victim of the league’s archaic time controls. Sean’s rook-and-pawn endgame went to adjudication, but we have agreed to a Hounslow win due to Sean’s opponent’s overwhelming pawn majority. 

A busy February now faces Kingston B, with a game every Monday of the month. Hopefully our first victory is just around the corner. 

Gregor Smith, Kingston B captain in the Thames Valley League

Thames Valley League division X match played at the Royal British Legion, Hounslow on 16 January 2023

This was a good victory against Hounslow C which avenged our home defeat to them earlier in the season. Colin Lyle played out a solid draw on board 1 with the black pieces, confirming his advance in the ECF ratings. Mark Sheridan and I both dominated our games from the start, and were able to convert positional advantages into wins. Hayden Holden was a piece up at one point, but let his advantage slip and his opponent proved too strong in the latter stages. A satisfying evening for a team that is really developing as the season unfolds.

Stephen Daines, Kingston third-team captain

Supersub Foley inspires CSC/Kingston 1 to dual wins as the team acclimatises itself to the heady heights of division 3

The unexpected elevation to division 3 of the 4NCL has not fazed CSC/Kingston 1, who won their third- and fourth-round matches at the weekend and are now eyeing another step up. It was a tremendous result after a week of uncertainty over who would actually be in the team at Daventry.

A few days before, the situation looked grim. Star player Peter Finn had Covid and another strong player had dropped out. All sorts of stopgaps were being considered, but would have been little more than sticking plasters given the strength of the league’s division 3, to which we were promoted at the end of 2022 when another team dropped out.

Happily, the fears did not materialise. Indeed it was a triumphant weekend for the team, who thumped Ashfield 1 5.5- -0.5 on Saturday (Ashfield recorded a minus score because they defaulted a board and were accordingly penalised) and then defeated Oxford 2 in a much closer match on Sunday.

The key to the success was that the talismanic Finn had recovered from Covid and pronounced himself fit to play, and Kingston president John Foley stepped in to replace the indisposed player. Foley admirably volunteered to cover the default on Saturday, so that his five team-mates all got games, and then won a long encounter on Sunday to secure a 4-2 victory.

The two wins leave the team on six points after four rounds – we were given one-point byes in the first two rounds, played before the promotion had been agreed. There are several sides which on paper are stronger than CSC/Kingston 1 and they have a head start because we missed the opening weekend, but after these two victories we are breathing down the necks of the leaders. Warwickshire Select 1 will be favourites, but at least we now have an opportunity to challenge for back-to-back promotions.

Stephen Moss

Surrey League division 1 match played at the Guildford Institute, Guildford on 9 January 2023

Guildford are the reigning champions in the Surrey League; Kingston, with no disrespect to several other strong sides, might be seen as their main rivals for this year’s division 1 title. So this encounter away at Guildford was always likely to have a crucial bearing on the fate of this year’s championship.

Both teams were very strong, with all 16 players involved rated above 2000, and the top boards contested by stellar talents. Alex Golding, one of the UK’s strongest young players, faced Kingston’s David Maycock on board 1, and got his team off to the best of possible starts with a win in what was the first game to finish.

Golding, with White, played the Glek Variation of the Four Knights (characterised by White’s early g3). Maycock turned what can be quite a stodgy opening into a much sharper position by playing d4 and following it up with a pawn sac that gave him attacking chances. But he used up far too much time on labyrinthine calculations – he admitted later that he “overthought” the position – trying to turn what was no more than +1 into something more decisive. Golding, playing good, pragmatic moves, was soon an hour ahead on the clock; David was playing on the increment and went wrong, dropping a piece and soon after the game.

On board 2, Peter Lalić was up against IM Nigel Povah. Peter chose his favoured Dunst Opening – it was a night for offbeat opening aficionados to savour on the top boards – and the first 16 moves were wild. But Povah, perhaps influenced by Golding’s win on board 1, then offered a draw, and Peter, who feared his opponent’s bishop pair, accepted. Still advantage Guildford.

Kingston immediately landed a counter-blow on board 3, where Vladimir Li, with the black pieces, defeated Roger Emerson in a powerfully played Queen’s Gambit Declined where he locked up the centre before storming through on the queenside. A magnificent game by Vladimir and a crucial riposte by Kingston, leaving the match all square.

Kingston president John Foley’s dictum that the top boards are generally the last to finish proved not to be the case on this occasion. The top three boards were already done and dusted, but it was to be a good half hour before we had another result as the other five games were all nip and tuck.

The next result came on board 8, where Peter Andrews, playing the English, drew against James Toon. Two-all. Craig Young then restored Guildford’s advantage by beating Kingston captain David Rowson on board 5 in a game in which Rowson, essaying an Old Indian Defence which transposed into a King’s Indian, felt he was playing catch-up throughout. He never did quite catch up and Guildford were ahead 3-2.

We were, though, still very hopeful. Julian Way was material up against Guildford skipper Nigel White on board 6; Will Taylor certainly wasn’t worse against Clive Frostick on board 4 and indeed said later that he felt he had stood better and had a half-hour time advantage at one point; and on board 7, Alan Scrimgour, who had played his time-honoured Sicilian, had a small time advantage and marginally more mobile pieces in a rooks-and-knight endgame against Sebastian Galer. Had I been a betting man, I would probably have plumped for a 4-4 draw being the likely outcome at that point.

But it proved better than that for Kingston. In the Galer-Scrimgour game, the time advantage became crucial, with Galer starting to struggle to find good moves and eventually blundering to give Scrimgour a vital win. Now, for the first time in the match, Kingston held the advantage. A memorable victory suddenly looked possible.

With both players running short on time, Frostick and Taylor agreed a draw. That left the score tied at 3.5-3.5, with Way v White to decide the match. Theirs had been a complicated, well-contested game. Julian had countered White’s Sicilian Defence with the Moscow Attack and, after some strategic shuffling, the game reached this position:

White chose the right move, Nxe4, but used the wrong knight for the capture. The knight he chose, the one on the c-file, gave Way a significant plus, because it opens up the a3-f8 diagonal. Taking with the knight on f6 would have given Black (or in this case White as Black, if you get my drift) a slight advantage. The game proceeded: 23…Ncxe4 24.Ne7+ Kf8 25.Qb4 Nxg5 26.Nxc8+ Kg8 27.Ne7+ Kh8 28.Nc6 Qa8 29.Nxd8 Bxg2 30.Nxf7+ Nxf7 31.Qc3, and Way is left with several ways to win. The dangers of a mate on g2 are nullified by the immediate threat of a forced exchange of queens on the back rank.

The game continued for a few moves more, but Black’s (ie White’s) cause was hopeless. Way had played calmly to convert his advantage, oblivious to the spectators clustered around the board, and Kingston had won the match 4.5-3.5 to go top of the Surrey League division 1 table. Kingston last won the Surrey Trophy – the cup awarded to the winners of division 1 – in the 1974/75 season, and before that, for the only other time in its history, in 1931/32. Thus we have been division 1 champions just twice in the 140 years the Surrey League has been in existence. Is it too soon to dream that this could be the year of a historic third success?

Stephen Moss

CSC/Kingston 2 win on Saturday but lose on Sunday against very strong opposition to leave them joint third in the table after the first two 4NCL weekends

Even division 4 of the 4NCL can be very strong, as the new CSC/Kingston team discovered at the weekend. On Saturday, against the Gloucestershire-based club of Wotton Hall, we were outrated on every board but still managed a miraculous 4-2 victory, with wins for Maurice Lawson, Petr Vachtfeidl and Jon Eckert, and fighting draws on the top two boards by Daniel Sparkes and Peter Hasson against opponents rated 2200 or more. A tremendous performance by the team, ably marshalled as ever by Kate and Charlie Cooke.

On Sunday the opposition, Average Wood Pushers A, were even stronger. All their players were rated above 2000 and their average rating was 2099 – surely more than good enough for division 3, to which they look destined to win promotion. We were outgraded by an average of 270 points a board, and went down to an honourable 4.5-1.5 defeat, with another excellent win for Petr Vachtfeidl and a fine draw for Peter Hasson against another player rated 2200. Both Vachtfeidl and Hasson had memorable weekends.

On the other boards, Maurice Lawson fell foul of some neat tactics by Aidan Rawlinson; Max Selemir launched a bold attack that didn’t quite work out as his opponent mobilised his bishop pair to good effect; and Jon Eckert’s Grand Prix attack made little headway against Mitchell Burke’s expertly played Sicilian. But the prime idiot of the day was me, as I managed to resign against Yaoyao Zhu (rated 2056) in what I later discovered was a drawn position, as shown below.

It looks hopeless – at least I thought so. And, even though I had oodles of time, I didn’t bother to calculate or count the moves. It actually ends in forced stalemate: 47… Kb6 48. Ke5 Kc6 49. Kf6 Kd6 50. Kg7 Ke6 51. Kxh7 Kf7 52. Kh8 Kf8 53. h7 Kf7 1/2-1/2

I am so mortified I have had to share this Réti-ish position with the world immediately as a sort of catharsis. Don’t trust your eyes; trust your brain! Calculate, calculate, calculate. Or as Tartakower might have said: “No one ever drew a game by resigning.” I am utterly furious with myself. Bang goes the prospect of sleep tonight. What a desperately painful game chess is.

So a good weekend for CSC/Kingston 2, but a very bad weekend for me. Maybe it really is time to retire!

Stephen Moss

Surrey League division 4 match played at the Adelaide, Teddington on 2 January 2023

It is the season of colds, and Kingston 3 have suffered more than most. First the captain Stephen Daines went down with bronchitis, and then his replacement Greg Heath fell ill too, so full marks to the team and to stand-in captain Adam Nakar for getting six players to the Adelaide so soon after New Year and putting in an excellent performance against a Richmond team which not only had a huge rating advantage but also a certain P Lalić on board one. An FM-strength player in Division 4 of the Surrey League! As Kingston president John Foley quipped when he heard the news that Peter was playing, “Miss, why is that big boy in our playground?”

The big boy did indeed do the business, his tactical trickery proving too much for Nakar – there was, after all, a 600-point rating difference between the two! Peter is making a point this season of playing for different clubs in all four divisions of the Surrey League. Not something, I suspect, anyone has ever done before. Or is ever likely to do again. Peter is, in every sense, sui generis. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. He adds to the gaiety and the glory of chess, and makes all our lives more fulfilled. Adam may of course beg to differ until the pain of this defeat recedes.

Elsewhere, there was a fine win for Sean Tay, new to competitive over-the-board chess and with a provisional ECF rating now approaching 2000. This is based on very few games and almost certainly inflated, but Sean is a terrific addition to the club, not least because he has experience of running junior chess clubs. If we ever get our act together and set up our own junior section, Sean’s input could be invaluable.

David Shalom drew against the very promising Richmond teenager Otto Weidner on board two. David has returned to OTB chess for Kingston this season and is really proving his value. Hayden Holden and Shaurya Handu, two equally promising Kingston youngsters, went down to fighting defeats on boards four and five, but 11-year-old Jaden Mistry scored his first half-point for Kingston on board six as Richmond ran out 4-2 winners.

Jaden was actually rather disappointed by the result, because he let his opponent off the hook twice. He was totally won in the middle game, but failed to press home his advantage, trading off pieces (not always a good idea even when you are material up) when he could have won on the spot. Even after all the trades, he still had a winning endgame, but then went wrong in the position below:

Here, Jaden faced two main choices: 38. f5+ and g5. One is immediately winning; the other draws (though could also be losing if Black was alert to all the possibilities). Unfortunately for Jaden, he chose incorrectly and the game proceeded: 38. f5+ exf5 39. gxf5+ Kg5 40. h7 a2 41. Bxh6+ Kxf5 42. h8=Q a1= Q+ 1/2-1/2. Black’s queen is able to force draw by perpetual check with the poor old White queen unable to land a blow. 38. g5 would have been instantly winning because, whether or not Black takes the g-pawn, it allows White’s bishop to guard the queening square of a1, and the White h-pawn will eventually be able to queen alone.

But it could have been even worse for Jaden. As Kingston’s Vladimir Li pointed out when he saw the position, 39… Kf7! would win for Black. The misplaced bishop is now blocked and Black’s a-pawn can stroll home, while the Black king can mop up White’s h-pawn if it dares to advance. Losing would have been very hard to bear for Jaden after everything that had gone before. It just shows what can go wrong in a “won” position. As the Dutch grandmaster and noted aphorist Hein Donner said: “Give me a difficult positional game, I will play it. But totally won positions, I cannot stand them!”

Jaden was a little downhearted at only drawing, but at Kingston we encourage young players to treat each match they play in as a training exercise: “take the positives”, in that time-honoured sporting cliché; try to learn one solid lesson from each game you play – I suggested to Jaden that this was an example of a position where you should beware plausible moves, always digging deeper and rechecking your calculations; and don’t beat yourself up about the result or lose sleep over it.

In the end, it was a draw against a player rated 400 points higher. Despite the swindle, we’ll take that. And, given Vladimir’s observation, the final twist was a kind of counter-swindle by White. A remarkable game that Jaden will remember for a long time and which will give him much food for thought as his chess career develops.

Stephen Moss

Coulsdon cancel key Surrey League division 1 match because of snow

Both the matches due to be played at the Willoughby Arms on Monday 12 December were cancelled. Overnight snow led CCF (Coulsdon) to pull out of the crunch Surrey League division 1 match against Kingston’s first team. We were very disappointed by the abandonment as this is likely to give us yet another fixture to cram into the very crowded second half of the season. Richmond also pulled out of their scheduled Thames Valley div X match with Kingston’s third team and took a default – a great shame as these matches are valuable training games for new players. A disappointing end to the playing year, but 2022 has been very kind to Kingston and we fervently hope for more of the same in 2023. Happy Christmas and a fruitful New Year to all our members, friends and friendly rivals.

Stephen Moss

Thames Valley Knockout Cup quarter-final played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 6 December 2022

This quarter-final of the Thames Valley Knockout Cup – a tournament Kingston has re-entered this year – was due to be played at Richmond, but unfortunately for them their venue was unavailable and the match had to be switched to Kingston. Nor was that Kingston’s only advantage. We outrated our opponents on boards 3 to 6, while on the top two boards the tag teams of Maycock & Lalić and Healey & Wall met again, but in different pairings from their meeting just a month ago, when David Maycock beat IM Gavin Wall and Mike Healey defeated Peter Lalić.

With a three-hour session, the games developed slowly – except for board 2 where Peter Lalić offered a pawn on move three which was finally accepted on move 10. On board 1 David Maycock played a Caro-Kann, with Mike Healey replying steadily with an Exchange Variation. On board 3 Kingston’s Vladimir Li, who had a big rating plus over Maks Gajowniczek, was playing a solid Nimzo-Indian, with his Nimzo bishop redeploying to c7.

On board 4, Will Taylor met the French – Jon Eckert’s new weapon this season – with a Tarrasch, and on 5 David Rowson looked comfortable as Black in an Italian Game against Bertie Barlow, both sticking to theory up to move nine. On board 6, Peter Andrews used the c4-d3-e4 structure in his favourite English Opening, while his opponent – the very promising junior Andrii Boiechko – countered with a Closed Sicilian set-up.

In the early stages the only game with a material imbalance was Lalić v Wall, where Peter was looking for compensation for his sacrificed pawn, though the first to finish proved to be Vladimir’s. Gajowniczek’s position had looked vulnerable to counter-attack in the centre and queenside, but that became irrelevant when a blunder dropped a piece.

David Rowson turned down a draw offer once, but agreed shortly afterwards in a roughly equal position. That made it 1.5-0.5, but no chickens were being counted yet. Jon Eckert had two bishops against Will Taylor’s two knights and looked to have more activity, and Andrews v Boiechko on board 6 was turning into one of those “kill or be killed” games which are fun to watch but a nightmare to play.

On board 2, Peter Lalić continued to play actively – David Rowson later described him as a “magician” – and, with kings castled on opposite sides, seemed to have chances. One inaccurate move by his opponent allowed him to sacrifice a knight on h7, giving him access to the black king, followed by an exchange sacrifice on d7, which if accepted led to mate in three. Gavin naturally declined, but his denuded king left him in a lost position, and Peter concluded with bishop and queen combining to mate on f7. 2.5-0.5 to Kingston and now the door was open (metaphorically speaking, as it was far from warm in the Willoughby’s upstairs playing room and every entrance had to be firmly sealed).

The winning point came from David Maycock, who won a piece and broke through, leaving Mike Healey completely lost. Peter Andrews had by now also broken through on the queenside, creating a dangerous passed pawn, but he still had to be careful in fighting off his opponent’s kingside attack. Once that was accomplished it was all over.

Richmond’s second “Kingston player” Jon Eckert – Mike Healey also plays for us in the Surrey League – seemed to have compensation for a pawn deficit with active pieces and the two bishops, but Will Taylor managed to eliminate the bishops and turn his material advantage into a winning rook and pawn ending. Jon sportingly resigned in a lost ending but with Will having little time on his clock.

The final score of 5.5-0.5 arguably flattered Kingston. Bertie Barlow, who got a draw in a recent league game between Kingston A and Richmond B, had again been responsible for avoiding the whitewash. We now look forward to Maidenhead making the long journey to Kingston in the semi-final.

Alan Scrimgour, Kingston chair and Thames Valley Knockout Cup captain

Surrey League division 2 match played at the Willoughby Arms, KIngston on 5 December 2022

“Why the long faces?” said Peter Lalić, who was spectating, after the match. And of course he was right: a draw for the Kingston second team against Surbiton’s first team was a perfectly honourable result. But there was a feeling that, with a touch more luck, we could have nicked it. A half-point to get off the mark in division 2 of the Surrey League is nice, but it still leaves Kingston 2 at the foot of the table and threatened by relegation in a division where all our rivals are first teams (see current table below).

There was a problem with the heating at the Willoughby at the start of the match – one reason why I offered an early draw against Surbiton captain Graham Alcock on 6. Graham, who felt he had slightly misplayed the opening against my dubious Nf6 Scandinavian and was recovering from flu, accepted the offer after a long think. On board 3, Alan Scrimgour and Angus James – two immensely solid and seasoned players who know each other’s games inside out – also sued for peace at an early stage. 1-1.

Julian Way on board 2 and Jon Eckert on four both played the Dutch. Way’s game against David Scott was hard fought and ended in a forced draw after some complex tactics. Eckert sac’d unsoundly and was a piece down against Nick Faulks, but the ever resourceful and resilient Eckert created complications and constructed a mating net around Faulks’ king. A classic swindle. 2.5 to 1.5 to Kingston.

On board 7, Surbiton’s Andrew Boughen had a smooth success over Gregor Smith – match all square – but on board 5 Maxim Selemir, who has had a terrific start to his Kingston career, claimed an excellent scalp in the shape of the experienced Mark Hogarth. Selemir played aggressively and gave up a couple of pawns for an attack. Hogarth fell behind on the clock and, menaced by Selemir’s queen and rook, had to give up a knight to avert mate. A piece to the good, it was only a matter of time before Selemir prevailed: 3.5-2.5 to Kingston and at least we couldn’t lose the match.

That left board 1 – a heavyweight clash between Kingston’s John Foley and Surbiton’s Mark Josse. Josse had offered a draw earlier in the evening, but Foley – unconvinced by Kingston’s chances on other boards (and perhaps influenced by the unfavourable position in the Faulks-Eckert game) – had turned it down. Playing for the win was admirable, but in the end unwise. Josse is not just a very strong player, but a master strategist when the chips are down and time is running short. If you want someone to play for you in a time scramble, call for Josse.

In a rook and knight endgame, with both sides looking to get a pawn through, it was Josse’s two connected pawns that eventually won the day. At one stage, Foley had 20 minutes to Josse’s three or four, but such pressure doesn’t seem to bother him and his technique was rock-solid. A fine game that took three hours to complete, with Foley eventually going down on time in a position that was in any case completely lost.

Stephen Moss

Surrey League division 4 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 28 November 2022

Kingston’s newly inaugurated third team have not so far managed to chalk up a match victory, but this could – indeed perhaps should – have been it. And how sweet that would have been against Epsom, who love to beat us and were quickly on Twitter proclaiming their 3.5-2.5 win here as their third success in a row against Kingston.

Stephen Daines, Kingston’s third-team captain, likes to leaven his sides with experienced players, players relatively new to over-the-board chess, and juniors. In this match one of those juniors, Shaurya Handu, enjoyed a quickfire victory – his first for the club. Shaurya has huge confidence, enthusiasm and talent, and is a great prospect.

Fellow junior Jaden Mistry went down to defeat on board 6, but his attitude and spirit are tremendous and, at just 11, he is another terrific prospect for a club that has struggled to bring on juniors in the past. We continue to actively consider how we can establish a junior club to organise our efforts in this area.

The ever reliable David Shalom won on board 2 to raise hopes of a victory in the match, and Adam Nakar secured a draw on board 1 despite being outrated by more than 100 points. The problems for Kingston came in the middle order. On board 4, Mark Sheridan – on his debut for Kingston against his former club – allowed his advantage to slip against David Flewellen. And crucially, on board 3, the strong Kingston player who was due to turn out was indisposed. Newcomer Colin Lyle valiantly stepped in as a late substitute, but he was outgunned by the highly rated Venkatesh Subramoniam.

So near and yet so far, but the team is shaping up well and getting stronger. Thanks to Greg Heath for standing in as captain in the absence of Stephen Daines, who was on a chess fact-finding tour of Tenerife.

Stephen Moss