Thames Valley League division 2 match played at the Royal British Legion, Hounslow, on 28 February 2022

Kingston successfully continued their quest for promotion from Thames Valley division 2 with a win against Hounslow away. The 4.5-1.5 scoreline suggests a comfortable victory for the team, but in the first phase of the match such a result looked unlikely. Fortunately for Kingston, our match fitness told in the final hour.

An initial conundrum for captain John Foley was the whereabouts of our board 5, Vladimir Bovtramovic. This was not Vladimir’s fault, as he did arrive in time to beat the default count, but was due to the coincidence that there was another Vlad, Vladimir Li, who had come along to the Willoughby Arms for the first time that evening.  John’s WhatsApp enquiry “Where is Vlad?” got the response from base “Vlad is here”, and it took a few more exchanges of messages to establish that this was the new Vlad, not the one required in Hounslow.  Anyway, it’s good to know that we are now very well resourced in the Vlad department. 

Hounslow fielded a strong team, with players rated over 2000 on the top two boards and experience all the way down. In the opening phase it was hard to gauge which side was doing better. Alan Scrimgour looked to have a level game against David White in a c3 Sicilian, and this was quite soon drawn. Jon Eckert was a pawn down in a rather dry position, while in Vladimir’s game his centre was in danger of caving in, so he sought compensation on the queenside. The board 1 Maycock-Vaddadi encounter, a Sveshnikov Sicilian, saw White controlling the central white squares in exchange for a sacrificed pawn. In Foley-Fincham a dead drawn opposite-coloured bishop ending had been reached (below), but John then rejected a draw because of the uncertain situation on the other boards. My own position, out of a Bird’s Opening (I wished I hadn’t missed Mike Basman’s recent talk) was a complex one, with play poised right across the board.  I thought I had a winning manoeuvre, plunging my knight into a hole on e3, but I had overlooked White’s defence and found myself facing a formidable pawn centre. 

Foley v Fincham: White managed to win from here due to a more active king

However, the second phase of play turned very much in Kingston’s favour.  John’s opponent neglected his king and allowed a passed pawn and an active king. David showed that he’d evaluated his positional strengths accurately, and he ended up trapping Black’s queen. I was very much on the defensive, but Matt Dydak was worried about his time shortage and offered me a draw – I grabbed his hand without a second thought. The greatest upturn was on board 6, where suddenly Jon was a whole rook up, thanks to a clever sequence of moves resulting in a knight fork. Finally, Vladimir and his opponent agreed a draw and the match was well and truly Kingston’s.

David Rowson

Surrey League division 2 (Beaumont Cup) match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 21 February 2022

Where to start?  It’s true that we’re only talking about the parochial world of Surrey chess but, within those confines, this was a hugely anticipated clash. This season has seen the birth of a new rivalry, between a re-established and ambitious Epsom and a rejuvenated Kingston. This was the fourth 2021/22 encounter between the two clubs, each one hard-fought. Both sides understood its significance, as it was highly likely that the victor of this match would go on to win the Beaumont Cup.

In recent days Kingston scouts had sniffed out rumours that Epsom were going to reinforce their team with one or even two more international masters. Were they worried that fielding one IM (Peter Large) was not enough to match Kingston? This fomented a great deal of speculation among the Kingston players about possible pairings and how to prepare for them. In the event, there was one especially intriguing match-up on board 1, where Peter Lalić faced his stepfather, IM Graeme Buckley. The other end of the pairings, board 7, would see a generational challenge, as our Scottish national senior team player was up against the British under-12 championship runner-up.

I had decided to sit, or rather, stand, this one out as non-playing captain. This meant I could observe the play without being distracted by my own position, and enjoy (or worry about) each of the games. In the initial stages many of the players seemed to be understandably cagey, apparently not wanting to commit themselves too soon in the opening, with the result that, for me at least, several of the openings defied labelling. One exception to this was the Scrimgour-Patel game, where Alan essayed the King’s Gambit, confidently accepted by Zain, and another was the Young-Way opening, as Julian boldly chose Alekhine’s Defence. All the games except for board 6 were being played according to the Fischer time control, but on the top boards in particular the players used up a lot of time over the opening stages.

As the first hour passed the outlines of the positions became more clearly defined and the players became more committal. Peter Andrews, our supersub on board 3, playing instead of his captain, carefully built up a positional advantage and cunningly delayed castling in order to attend to more important aspects of his game. Suddenly there was a little flare-up of tactics which resulted in Peter temporarily having two queens on the board, both unfortunately en prise, but with his position subsequently improved.

Around the same time, the other Peter confidently rejected his opponent’s draw offer.  Alan’s King’s Gambit went from being strategically to tactically complicated; he acquired two bishops for a rook and several pawns, but his opponent’s rooks were inactive and his kingside in the line of fire of most of Alan’s pieces. How to take advantage of this? Alan played what looked to me like a winning rook sacrifice on h7, but Zain spotted that a check by his queen on the first rank allowed it simultaneously to return to defeat Alan’s threats. Kingston 0 Epsom 1.

Soon after this Kingston got on the scoreboard when Julian came up with a clever defensive exchange sacrifice which resulted in an agreed draw. Then John Foley, who had outplayed his opponent in the central skirmishes of a London System and won a pawn, successfully steered through the complications to win our first whole point.  Kingston 1.5 Epsom 1.5.

I hadn’t been able to follow what was happening in the Taylor-Gosling game because it was taking place near the far wall, but now I registered with surprise that Will had sacrificed a rook – two rook sacs in one match! Although Marcus Gosling had plenty of pieces, they were positioned in such a way that they were unable to come to defend his king, and Will’s attack crashed through – an excellently played game.

So Kingston had won the battle of the lower four boards 2.5-1.5, and everything depended on the top three pairings. Peter Andrews was winning in principle (ie positionally), but his opponent was creating practical threats against his king and time trouble was a factor for both players. The position exploded with each side attacking the opposition’s king, but Peter’s attack was the unstoppable one and just at that point Michael Dams lost on time. Now Kingston could not lose, but could they win? David Maycock had been holding the very experienced Peter Large well, but in another case of time trouble he lost his way and a pawn, then a piece. Kingston 3.5 Epsom 2.5.

All eyes were now fixed on the board 1 family clash. The opening seemed to me to have followed an original course, with Peter (playing White) occupying the centre and Graeme sniping from the flanks, to the extent that his king’s knight was placed on h6. As the denouement drew near, with both sides down to their 10-second increments, the players reached a rook ending in which Black was pressing dangerously (see video below). However, Peter impressively kept cool and managed to reach a position in which he could give up his rook for Graeme’s passed pawn while forcing Graeme to return the favour a few moves later. The tension was such that Peter admitted he wasn’t sure that it was a draw right up till the final moments, which appropriately finished with just kings left on the board. Peter had ensured that bragging rights were with Kingston, as we edged the match 4-3.

With three wins out of three and this key victory against our most dangerous rivals, we are now favourites to win the Beaumont Cup. However, we still have to make sure we beat South Norwood and Surbiton 2 in the final rounds. Further dramatic encounters with Epsom undoubtedly lie ahead, and we greatly look forward to them.

David Rowson, Kingston Beaumont Cup (Surrey League division 2) captain

Your match reporter providing a live feed of developments

Surrey League division 4 match played at West Thornton Community Centre on 17 February 2022

A trip to South Norwood is never undertaken lightly – it is one of Kingston’s more demanding trips – and to come away with a convincing victory was very satisfactory.

Kingston are still working out what their attitude is to division 4 of the Surrey League: are we aiming to win promotion or should we treat this team as a training ground for our new players? In an earlier match this season against Epsom 3, the club played an experimental side with four newcomers, all of whom lost. This was admirable but perhaps made it a little too easy for ambitious Epsom, who have made it clear they are eyeing promotion. Against South Norwood, partly by accident and partly by design, we fielded a much stronger team, with an average rating across the six boards of over ECF 1700. In the end, this proved more than enough to secure the match and raise hopes of possible promotion, which would be useful if the club want to add a third team in the Surrey League next season.

Peter Andrews, making an auspicious debut for the club, played a dramatic game on board 1 against South Norwood veteran Ron Harris, who sac’ed a piece playing Black against Andrews’ English opening and then proceeded to blitz out moves in an all-out offensive that was always going to end in death or glory. Andrews could easily have gone wrong in the resulting melee and was way behind on the clock, but he stayed cool, neutralised Harris’s attack and eventually took the spoils. An excellent start for a player with a lot to offer to the club as it builds for the future.

John Bussmann, in combative form as ever, won a complex game on board 2, and Jon Eckert, who is having a fine season for Kingston, overwhelmed his opponent on board 3. Andrews, Bussmann and Eckert are three very strong players to be involved in a division four match, and winning on all three of the top boards was not a complete surprise.

I played Black against the wily Ken Chamberlain on board 4 and played tedious (and not very good) moves against Ken’s well-rehearsed Queen’s Gambit. A cheapo cost me the exchange, but luckily the bishop I had for rook proved reasonable compensation, with the white squares in front of my opponent’s king ripe for exploitation by queen and bishop, and Ken accepted my rather desperate offer of a draw.

The Kingston captain Adam Nakar, who had just driven back from Eastbourne and must have been knackered – oh, the joys of evening league chess! – still had enough energy to play a long game against an opponent who fought till the end despite being a piece down and almost managed to get back into the game by creating a passed pawn for which Nakar had to give up his surplus knight. But that left the Kingston skipper with a pawn that queened first, and Kingston had their fourth win of the night.

South Norwood’s John Ganev gained a consolation victory on board 6 against Max Mikardo-Greaves, but that left Kingston handsome 4.5 to 1.5 winners and only half a point adrift of Epsom in the division four table. That makes the match between the two at Kingston on 7 March all-important, and Nakar will have to decide once and for all whether he is blooding new players or looking to win promotion by fielding the old campaigners.

The friendly rivalry between Kingston and Epsom – in this division, in Surrey division two, and in both the Lauder Trophy and Alexander Cup – is shaping up to be the theme of the season, and if both clubs stay on their upward trajectory could become a defining feature of future seasons too. Both are still adrift of Guildford in terms of playing strength, but emulating that behemoth is now the goal for both.

South Norwood were as usual excellent hosts, with the traditional half-time tea and biscuits – quaintly signalled by the dinging of a bell – much appreciated. Your correspondent certainly ate more custard creams than he made worthwhile moves. It struck me that South Norwood really are a model club in many ways, with an excellent attitude to club chess (competitive but always gregarious), a very well-run venue and an ability to get the best out of their relatively small pool of players. More power to them: they have been in continuous existence since 1881 and give a sense that they know exactly what they are about. They may not be glamorous but they are mighty effective, and don’t seem to suffer the vicissitudes of other clubs, which is surely what explains their longevity. More planet than meteor.

Stephen Moss

Surrey League division 2 (Beaumont Cup) match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 31 January 2022

As a rather fairweather Fulham FC fan for 50-plus years, I’ve enjoyed seeing the club’s recent statistically improbable results (Reading 7-0, Bristol City 6-2, Birmingham 6-2). Kingston have only played two matches in the Beaumont Cup so far this season, but 6-1 and 6-0 with one game to be decided (and we have the superior position) has us beginning to parallel Fulham’s run. Sadly, promotion to the first division of the Surrey Trophy will not give us a Premier League payout.

The visit of Streatham triggered memories of their absurdly strong teams of the late 1970s/early 1980s, when on different occasions I found myself playing Glenn Flear and Andrew Martin on boards 3 or 4. Streatham are now a less glitzy team, but still very competitive. So does the 6-0 score flatter Kingston? I don’t think so, except, without false modesty, in my own case, as in the opening Martin Smith smoothly refuted my attempted refutation of his Sniper Defence (Attack?) and only went wrong under time pressure. The final position was very nice for me:

David Rowson v Martin Smith: The final position

Black’s queen is lost, and the attempt to divert my queen by 33…e3 does not work, as after 34. Qxe3 Qxd6 I still win his queen with a knight fork. At least Martin did not leave empty-handed as he sold a couple of copies of his indispensable new book Movers and Takers: A Chess History of Streatham and Brixton 1871-2021.

All the other games were interesting, exciting or even slightly mad. Jon Eckert was the first to win, with characteristically ferocious attacking play. Alan Scrimgour and his Scottish compatriot fought over a single square, f4, and once Alan controlled that it was remarkable how his opponent’s game fell apart. Julian Way converted his extra pawn by persuading Chris Bernard to go for a king and pawn ending which turned out to be easily won for Julian. John Foley established a passed pawn on the torturous square of d7 (if you’re White) and methodically went about squeezing his advantage.

Peter Lalic can’t help but be original. His signature flank pawn moves in the opening were a feature again, as he advanced early to h5 (I’ve resisted writing “Harry the h pawn”, until now that is) to be gambited. His opponent, ex-Kingstonian Graham Keane, fought back well, but in the position for adjudication Peter is a pawn up with each side having rook and minor piece.

The position for adjudication on board 1

I’ve left the star attraction till last: the ding-dong encounter between David Maycock and Robin Haldane. David told me beforehand that he was expecting Robin to play the Göring Gambit, but when this duly happened he made what looked to me like a serious oversight on move 6, with the result that it was hard for him to defend his f7 pawn. Nevertheless, with great tactical creativity, he fought back, forcing Robin to make tough decisions on almost every move. The tables were not just turned, but overturned, and White soon had to resign.

Before the match we were, I think, quietly confident, but could never have expected such a dominant result. Our next match is probably our biggest test, against Epsom on 21 February. Unlike the English Football League Championship, this is a sprint, not a marathon, so that match, out of just five in total, is crucial.

David Rowson, Kingston Beaumont Cup (Surrey League division 2) captain

* The Lalic-Keane game was eventually agreed as a draw between the players. In the final position, White had a small plus, but it was not deemed sufficient to press for a win. That result left Kingston winners by the imperious margin of 6.5 to 0.5, but Captain Rowson and his troops are trying not to let the success go to their heads.

Thames Valley League division 2 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 24 January 2022

At last the Kingston Thames Valley team showed its true ability and credentials as a promotion contender with a 5-1 win over league leaders Richmond. It was Kingston’s A team up against Richmond B, so Kingston started strong favourites. But Richmond like to spice their second team with a few first-team regulars, so it was by no means plain sailing.

Jon Eckert, on board 6, led the way for Kingston with a swift win over Rob Hunter. Eckert grabbed a piece for three pawns and was for a while worried that his king was exposed by being unable to castle, but two bishops working in harmony gave him control and the piece advantage quickly told. Kingston were up and running.

Kingston stalwarts Julian Way and Alan Scrimgour, on boards 3 and 4, got solid draws against highly competitive opponents, and the scene was set for the conclusion of the game of the night on top board between Kingston’s Peter Lalic and Richmond’s Bertie Barlow, who has been having a terrific season and is no respecter of reputations or players rated 240 points above him.

Barlow tends to play quickly and Lalic fell behind on the clock, but despite playing on the increment (the time control for this game was 65 minutes and a 10-second increment) for quite a few moves as the game reached its climax, Peter constructed a masterful attack, doubling his rooks and throwing in a knight to corner Bertie’s beleaguered king. Loss of a piece was inevitable but Barlow bravely tried to complicate, only to end up being mated by Lalic’s marauding rooks.

David Maycock won on board 2, but you wouldn’t have known he had just secured victory immediately after the game. He had a face like thunder and said he had played poorly, getting himself into a positional tangle against a player rated more than 400 points below him. David is a perfectionist – surely a good thing as long as he allows himself to enjoy some of the pleasures of victory. Isn’t the ability to “win ugly” part of a strong player’s armoury? Not every game can be an aesthetic triumph.

That made it 4-1 and left Vladimir Bovtromovich to finish off his game against Pablo Soriano. He was winning comfortably in an endgame that pitted rook and five pawns against rook and three, but made life difficult for himself by getting his king offside and allowing his opponent’s king and rook to get a pawn home first. Bovtromovich had to sac his rook and enter a complicated endgame where he had four pawns against rook and pawn, which sounds – and indeed looked – a little troublesome.

The position was tricky, but an active king and the fact that two of his pawns were well advanced meant Bovtromovich almost certainly still had an edge. In the event, Soriano went wrong before the full complexity of the position could be tested, grabbing a pawn in an effort to get his own sole survivor through but managing only to allow one of Bovtromovich’s quartet to queen first.

That made it 5-1, and it was time to go to the bar, which was buzzing with activity. This was the final match at Kingston in which masks were mandatory in the playing room; they will be optional from next week. The issue has been divisive and we are pleased to be through the compulsory mask phase – we hope forever.

Stephen Moss, Kingston Thames Valley captain

Surrey League division 4 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 10 January 2022

Chess made a tentative return to the Willoughby Arms on Monday 10 January when Kingston B, captained by Adam Nakar, took on a strong South Norwood B side. It had been touch and go in the week after New Year whether the club would resume playing matches, but in the end the committee agreed they should resume with two important provisos in the face of the Omicron surge: masks should be worn, by players and spectators alike in the playing area unless an attendee was medically exempt, and, where possible, players and supporters should do a lateral flow test to ensure they were Covid-negative before coming along.

In the event, the match went off without a hitch: many thanks to David Howes and his team for complying with good grace. Everyone wore a mask, though some occasionally slipped beneath the nose, and no one complained about the inconvenience. It can be done! These rules are in place subject to a continual review by the club committee.

As usual, it took about 10 minutes to untangle who wanted what time control and to set the clocks accordingly: quickplay, slowplay, Fischer increments, adjournments, adjudications. We had three different sets of playing conditions across the six boards. The Surrey League seems to be oblivious to the fact it is making a laughing stock of itself with all these variations: please just establish one time control for evening chess – 75 minutes with a 10-second increment will do very nicely. The Thames Valley League, with its variable playing session lengths, is even worse. You need to be an international lawyer to understand the league rules and fathom all the possible permutations.

Anyway, on to the match itself. South Norwood were stronger on paper, as Nakar continued with his bold policy of blooding some of the new players who have joined Kingston since we started meeting again last summer. Two of those newbies lost to experienced South Norwoodians on boards 5 and 6, but neither game was a hammering.

Another Kingston newcomer, Yae-Chan Yang, beat the 1660-rated Kaddu Mukasa on board 3 – a terrific result for Yae, who had travelled down from Cambridge (where he is studying physics) to play in the match. He looked suitably delighted, though was still quivering somewhat after constructing a mating attack in an attacking game where no prisoners were taken. Yae does like to play seat-of-the-pants chess.

Gregor Smith, fresh from his triumph in the Richmond Blitz just before Christmas, was on top for most of the game against South Norwood’s Mr Solid, Ken Chamberlain. The game went to adjudication, but Gregor was two pawns up in a rook-and-pawn endgame, and a few days after the match Ken conceded rather than trouble the adjudicators.

On top board, Vladimir Bovtramovich won a fine game against the dangerous attacking player Ron Harris, breaking through with rook and queen and forcing Harris to sac a bishop in a last desperate bid to survive. The effort was unsuccessful and Vladimir’s attack became irresistible. On board 2, the experienced Martin Cath proved too strong for the Kingston captain, outmanoeuvring Adam and demonstrating all the positional skill he has built up during 60 years or more of competitive chess.

So, with the adjudicated game going Kingston’s way, the match stood at 3-3 and the league points were shared. A very satisfactory result for Kingston, who are trying to give new players match experience rather than win promotion to division 3 (that’s our story and we are sticking to it). Above all, the match was a demonstration that chess in masks is practicable, perhaps even enjoyable – especially if you win. And it helps that you can dispense with the mask in the bar downstairs, it being deemed difficult to drink beer through a mask.

Stephen Moss

Surrey League division 2 (Beaumont Cup) match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 6 December 2021

The first Beaumont Cup match of the season and the captain was nervous. After all, 41 years had passed since he had last led out a Kingston team to take their places at the boards. Did he still have what it takes? The loss of the toss might have suggested otherwise. On paper, given the grading disparity, Guildford 3 should have been no match for the cream of Kingston, but were they a banana skin lying in ambush? 

In the event, the Guildford players put up a creditable fight and several of the Kingston players were required to press the grind button to achieve their wins. For some time all the players doggedly stayed in their seats, the atmosphere heavy with concentration. To be honest, it was not so easy to stand up and move around in the central seats anyway, due to a lack of space between the rows, but this was probably all to the good in the case of a player such as myself, who otherwise gets distracted by the other games.

John Foley and Alan Scrimgour made quicker work of it than the rest of us, winning quite early. Mike Healey demonstrated yet again how at home he is defending the Ruy Lopez, and Peter Lalic skilfully tightened the screws on his opponent’s Sicilian centre. Almost from the start of his game, Julian Way was nursing a slight advantage, and it looked like his king march to the far side of the board would see his passed pawn home. However, according to Julian the king took the wrong route, and his opponent Henry Loomis’s resourcefulness, aided by a mobile knight, resulted in a draw by repetition.

My game followed a pattern which is familiar to me. As Black in an English, I was given the two bishops and complacently assumed that I could slowly let the position win itself with natural moves, whatever they might be. I underestimated Trevor Jones’s ability to keep finding strong moves in the middlegame, until the position was looking very good for him, with my king exposed and my pieces not co-ordinating well. I was fortunate to find a way to swap off most of the pieces until an opposite-coloured bishop ending was reached and a draw agreed (game below).

Finally, Will Taylor, who had been a pawn up for much of his game, finished it off in a king and pawn ending. A conclusive win by 6-1. More challenging matches may lie ahead, but it was great that we avoided a banana skin first time out. Thanks to everyone for their participation, and to Greg Heath for all his help in preparing the room for the match.

David Rowson, Kingston Beaumont Cup (Surrey League division 2) captain

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Surrey League division 4 match played at the Haywain Brewers Fayre, Epsom on 29 November 2021

At time of writing, I am celebrating: my daughter is turning 2,000 days old! Milestones in days are tragically under-appreciated. It felt almost as long ago that we had our last Centenary Trophy match, but a mere 634 days – not even a million minutes – covers the period between our match in this league against Richmond on 5 March 2020 and this game at Epsom.

Just one player from that Richmond trip can claim to have played in both these matches. Jon Eckert was the experienced top board for this fixture, with five players new to the club this season below him.  Epsom had a similar mix of experience and newcomers – it’s great to see so many new players coming to over-the-board league chess.

After an hour and a quarter’s play, all the queens were still on all the boards and the fights were raging.  Soon after, Kingston’s Jake Grubb finished first, on board 6, some key chances being missed in an unfortunate defeat to the hard-working Epsom captain David Flewellen. Kingston also went down on on board 5 despite a valiant fight.

Jon Eckert won on board 1, building a nice attack and keeping his cool as his veteran opponent Michael Wickham, who has slain me in our last two matches against Epsom, found numerous difficult tactics for him to see past:  2-1 to the hosts. Yae-Chan Yang on board 3 was living precariously, and, after dodging the mines for a while, one was triggered and his position collapsed. 3-1.  Could we get a draw?

Max Mikardo-Greaves had played an excellent game on board 4 against an opponent who on paper was far stronger. His position was close to winning, but a knight tactic proved his undoing. Very unfortunate, but a good topic of discussion for the drive home. John Shanley, though, finished on a high for Kingston. His opponent sacrificed a piece for a dangerous attack early on, but, despite the Black king being forced to trek ignominiously across the board, Shanley kept the attack at bay. As it finally fizzled out, he got to a winning endgame and finished it nicely.

So we lose 4-2.  But plenty to take away and learn from this – all the newcomers insisted they enjoyed their exposure to the rigours of league chess and the traditional journey to the away venue in polar conditions (more exposure, of an icy kind). We will, as they say, take the positives and use the experience to strengthen us for our next match.  There’s less than 1,000 hours between the end of this match and the start of the next one, so the intense mental preparation starts now!

Adam Nakar, Kingston Centenary Trophy (Surrey League division 4) captain

Alexander Cup match (10 boards) played at the Haywain Brewers Fayre, Epsom on 22 November 2021

Wimbledon provocateur Paul Barasi has been complaining that Kingston’s season seems to comprise of nothing but beating up Epsom, and he has a point. After defeating them in the Lauder Trophy earlier this month, Kingston have now given their ambitious rival (revived in the past few years by Marcus Gosling and already on course to become one of Surrey’s strongest clubs) a fearful drubbing in the county’s most prestigious cup competition.
 
Barasi complained when, on Twitter, Kingston described the Lauder win as “epic”, doubting that Epsom deserved the epithet. But Kingston have struggled in the past decade or so, whereas reborn Epsom have been soaring, and the Lauder victory felt like a watershed. This much-anticipated Alexander Cup match was an even more significant moment, with Gosling & Co out for revenge, Epsom enjoying home advantage and Kingston captain John Foley reminding his troops that Kingston had not won the Alexander Cup since 1976.

Kingston had an average rating advantage of around 30 points a board (in the new four-digit classification), but a close match was nonetheless anticipated. Epsom, in their impressive pub venue with a quiet playing room and tables in an adjoining room for social chess, had installed a large scoreboard and bought pricey new wooden boards for what they clearly saw as a defining match. But as the night wore on and the scoreboard recorded their tale of woe, they must have wished they had kept it all a little more low key.

Alan Scrimgour, playing his trusty Sicilian on board 7, led the way for Kingston with a 22-move victory over Natasha Regan, whose ambitious piece sacrifice backfired. Epsom’s Daniel Young on board 4 tried a speculative knight manoeuvre that came unstuck against Kingston’s wily David Rowson. It was 2-0, and Epsom may already have been wishing they hadn’t invested in the new scoreboard.

Kingston were soon sprinting ahead, with a smooth win on board 3 for David Maycock over Kevin Thurlow, and a very fine victory by John Bussmann over former Kingston regular Matthew Baker. Bussmann is noted as a sharp tactician, but here he played with great positional precision in a game which chess luminary John Saunders later described as the “game of the day”. Veterans Jon Eckert and Malcolm Groom agreed a draw on board 10, giving Epsom their first half point, but the writing was already on the wall. Literally, thanks to that wretched giant scoreboard.
 
Paul Gibbons, playing his first match of the season for Kingston, secured a draw on board 8 that took the running points total to five, and soon after Peter Lalić, on board 2, produced a spectacular double-piece sacrifice to force checkmate and take Kingston over the finishing line and into the semi-finals. The Lalić game was a truly extraordinary one, with Peter playing a characteristically imaginative and challenging opening which completely bamboozled his opponent, Michael Dams. Saunders points out that there is no precedent among ChessBase’s new Mega DataBase 2022’s 9.2 million games for the first two moves played in this encounter: 1. Nc3 e6 2. d3 Bb4. And it got crazier from there.

The match had been won, the champagne corks were already popping back at the Willoughby Arms – metaphorically speaking that is: in reality Greg Heath was having another beer and the ascetic twentysomethings following the match via WhatsApp were sipping their glasses of Diet Coke – and all that remained was the mopping up. At Epsom, not the Willoughby.
 
John Foley won a queenless middlegame with a precisely calculated pawn advance against Robert Hamilton on board 6; Will Taylor (having nobly made the trek down from Walthamstow) drew with Epsom president Marcus Gosling on board 5; and, in the last game to finish, IM Peter Large won a roller-coaster struggle with Mike Healey to record Epsom’s sole win of the evening, drawing Healey’s king into a mating net with Large’s own king and two bishops. Healey thought he had drawing chances if he had traded his rook for one of those killer bishops, but went for glory and paid the price.
 
By then, though, the match was long over and Kingston were celebrating, with a final result of 7.5-2.5. Gosling promised there would be a painful post-mortem – he threw an imaginary punch as he said it – and next year Epsom will be back even stronger. Their ambition knows no bounds, and good for them. But for the moment, Kingston had the spoils and Foley’s dream of winning the Alexander Cup for the first time in almost 50 years was still alive.

Stephen Moss

Thames Valley League division 2 match played at the United Reformed Church, Tolworth on 2 November 2021

Local rivalry renewed and once again Kingston are in charge against the auld enemy, though it was admittedly the Kingston first team up against Surbiton B in division 2 of the Thames Valley League. Both teams were missing key personnel, and Kingston suffered a late withdrawal, which meant that the captain himself had to play – never a happy situation. For a long time, it looked as if Surbiton would prevail, but at the end, as the cold in their wintry new church venue told, there were some strange twists that changed the picture entirely.

The facts. Peter Lalic, whose arrival at Kingston alongside David Maycock has helped to transform the club’s fortunes, played the Budapest Gambit and won a pleasing game against Liam Bayly on top board. Jon Eckert overcame a ratings deficit of 140 points and a poor lifetime score against his opponent to beat Paul Dupré in an excellent game on board 2. On board 3, Surbiton’s Nick Faulks returned the favour by overturning another large ratings deficit to defeat Kingston’s David Rowson.

From Eckert v Dupré, White to play and checkmate in 15 moves ignoring desperadoes (answer)

I was very lucky to squeeze a draw out of my game on board 5 against the solid and thoughtful David Cole. I sacrificed (or perhaps just lost) a pawn for what turned out to be nothing early on, and was always up against it. David had what was almost certainly a winning rook endgame but happily no time to prosecute it, so rather than trying to win on the increment took my rather desperate draw offer. On board 6, Adam Nakar dropped a piece early and looked certain to lose, but fought valiantly and secured a miracle draw two pawns down in an endgame where opposite-coloured bishops were the only pieces left on the board. He has written a blog about the joys of such endings – the point being that with opposite-coloured bishops you should never give up even the least promising-looking of positions.

That made it 3-2 to Kingston, so it all hinged on board 4. Cue anti-climax: the two players – Kingston’s extremely promising newcomer John Shanley (the medical hero of the Maidenhead match the previous week) and Surbiton’s Andrew Boughen – adjourned. Shanley has the edge and I am foolishly already calling the match as a win for Kingston, but we won’t have a definitive result for a couple of weeks.

This raises all sorts of questions. Should we really still be playing adjournments in the age of engines and digital clocks that allow for increments so avoid flagging? Why on earth does the Thames Valley League permit a variety of different time controls to be played in the same match? Quickplay on some boards; slowplay on other boards; even different forms of quickplay, with some players allowed to opt for increments and others for fixed times. We were using three different time controls across six boards, which is madness, yet permissible under Thames Valley rules.

It’s a shambles, a nightmare for captains, confusing for players and needs to be rationalised. Some clubs opt for two-and-a-half-hour playing sessions and others for three-hour sessions, each of which comes with a variety of different time controls, adding to the confusion. I count at least six different time controls in use in the league. Sorry, but this needs to be looked at as soon as possible. Why not 75 minutes and a 10-second increment for all evening chess? That’s fair, easy to understand and provides sufficient time for a perfectly good game.

 A blog by club president John Foley covers these issues in more detail 

But enough ranting. Thanks to Surbiton for an excellent match that was in the balance to the end – indeed could, I suppose, still be said to be in the balance, though the doctor’s diagnosis is that his opponent is unlikely to recover. It’s nice for the club to be off the mark in the Thames Valley. We would love to be back in division 1. And, speaking for myself, I was extremely pleased to squeak a draw as a last-minute substitute after the Maidenhead disaster last week. My season is up and running … or at least stumbling.

Stephen Moss, Kingston Thames Valley captain

* John Shanley drew his adjourned game when it was resumed after a two-week delay. He was a little disappointed not to convert his advantage, but, as his opponent said, a computer’s evaluation that you have a 2.7 plus is not so easy to convert in practical play in a rook v bishop and knight endgame. In the end, a draw was agreed, so Kingston did win the match, getting us off the mark in Thames Valley League division 2, which we are very hopeful of winning this season (famous last words).