Kingston entered two teams in the Thorpe Trophy, played at Cheam on 14 March 2026. The A team retained the title and the B team came joint second, but there were a few alarms along the way

The Surrey League revived the long-dormant Thorpe Trophy – a four-round team rapidplay – in 2025, when a Kingston A team spearheaded by Peters Lalić and Large won it. The 2026 edition had the same result, but for much of the afternoon that conclusion was far from guaranteed.

The neat feature of the Thorpe is that the four-person teams have to have two players of unspecified rating – naturally teams select the strongest players they can muster – and two with a rapidplay rating below ECF 1750. It’s an excellent opportunity for players who usually play for different league teams to play alongside each other and in this case celebrate success together.

We had the tried-and-trusted pair of Lalić and Large back in harness for Kingston A, this time joined by Alexander Chmelev and Seth Warren (the winning team is pictured above, with left to right: Warren, Lalić, Chmelev and Large). Kingston A had FM Vladimir Li, making a welcome return to competitive chess, on board 1; Jasper Tambini on board 2; er, me on board 3; and Genc Tasbasi on board 4.

The Peters, well supported by Alex and Seth, both scored 3.5/4 to guide Kingston A to a tournament-winning 11.5/16 – the event is decided on game points – but the role of Vladimir in deciding the title must be emphasised. He scored a perfect 4/4, thus both propelling Kingston B into second place alongside South Norwood and also denying the main rivals of both the Kingston teams from garnering vital points. Jasper also performed well, scoring 3/4, and missed a mate in the game he did lose in round 2 to Graham Keane.

The event had started relatively poorly for Kingston A, who managed to win by just 2.5-1.5 against Streatham B, with Streatham veteran Martin Smith getting a commendable draw against IM Peter Large. But they made up for that in round 2, thrashing Wimbledon 4-0, despite a surprise appearance for Wimbledon by Kingston chair Peter Andrews, filling in for an absent Wimbledon player. (The tournament is serious but also social, and we were happy to help out to fill the gap.)

Seth got an important win in this match and Alex Chmelev, who scored 3/4 across the four rounds, was proving rock-like. Kingston B were also performing well, though my loss on time when a rook up in round 2 against Streatham A was crucial in the final tally of game points (sorry team-mates).

Epsom A and Richmond A were always likely to be the main dangers to a repeat Kingston title victory, though South Norwood had also brought a strong team, headed by Marcus Osborne (who scored an excellent 3.5/4 on top board) and Paul Dupré, and were going well. Indeed, but for a surprise loss on board 3 to Streatham B in the final round, they would have won the trophy.

A key match-up came in round 3, when Kingston A took on the Epsom A. Despite being heavily outrated, Epsom A got a 2-2 draw to ensure that the last round would be a nail-biter. Peter Large beat James Allison, who has been a thorn in Kingston sides this year, but young Ethan Bogerd (who scored 4/4 in the tournament) beat Alex Chmelev to boost Epsom’s cause. Another Epsom youngster, Arnav Kumar, drew with Peter Lalić.

Kingston B beat Epsom B 4-0 in round 3 and were leading going into the final round, but vertigo may have kicked in – on my part at least. I played the all-conquering Ethan Bogerd with Black and, after surviving an early onslaught, had a winning endgame. Ethan offered me a draw, which I turned down, sure I had a simple win. But, playing on the increment – Ethan uses virtually no time and wanders round the playing room looking at other games – I blundered and lost. Moral: never play juniors at rapidplay.

My defeat gave Kingston A an opening in their match against Richmond A. Peter Large defeated Alastair Armstrong, Alex Chmelev completed an impressive afternoon with a win with Black over the very capable Raghu Kamath, and on board 1 Peter Lalić scored a crucial win with Black against the highly rated Caspar Bates. Peter has kindly reconstructed the game (few players record rapidplay games, but Peter has almost total recall).

As well as avoiding juniors in rapidplays, you should avoid Peter Lalic, whose accuracy levels remain remarkably high even at a time control of 20 minutes plus five-second increment.

All that was needed now for Kingston A to retain the trophy was for Kingston B to inflict sufficient damage on Epsom A to stop them coming through to pinch the title. Vladimir Li duly beat Arnav Kumar with Black on board 1 to record his fourth win of the afternoon, and Jasper Tambini then got a crucial point on board 2 against James Allison to ensure that Kingston A won the trophy and Kingston B came joint second.

Afterwards, Peter Large reminded us that it the denouement was remarkably similar to last year. “In 2025 Kingston A were a half-point behind Kingston B and a full point behind Epsom A going into the last round,” he pointed out. “In the last round Kingston B were paired with Epsom A and Kingston A played Richmond. Kingston A won the title because Kingston B obtained a 2-2 draw with Epsom. Jasper Tambini won the crucial game for Kingston B on board 2.” Groundhog Day indeed.

Thanks to tournament controller Graham Alcock for running the tournament, to Peter Andrews for bringing the trophy – happily, to be re-presented back to Kingston A – and to Genc Tasbasi for finding the time to take the excellent photographs in this report while doing his bit to secure joint second place for Kingston B. Multi-tasking which proved to be beyond me. I guess we will do it all again next March. Can we make it a hat-trick of wins?

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain

Kingston A v Hammersmith, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 9 March 2026

I have played for a lot of chess clubs in my time, but before this season I think I had only ever been a club captain once. That was back at Sheffield University. In those days we didn’t have round-robin emails, or emails at all, and we didn’t have mobile phones either. So getting a team together involved putting a piece of paper on the chess club noticeboard, and seeing who ticked it to say they were available. Occasionally Tony Miles, at the time the world junior chess champion, would turn out for us, if he was not playing abroad somewhere. And also Tony Kosten, who would later become a grandmaster, but who at that time had only been playing for a few years, having started his chess career late.

I mention this in order to put the next sentence into context. The Kingston A team I assembled to play our crucial Thames Valley League match against Hammersmith was the strongest team I have ever captained. We had an international master on board 6, and two of the top young talents in the country, Supratit Banerjee and David Maycock, on the top two boards. The rest of the team weren’t too bad either. Hammersmith had a strong team too, but surely we had enough firepower to beat them? Well, lets see. I will start at the bottom and work up.

On board 6 the international master hereinbefore mentioned, John Hawksworth, had White against Hammersmith’s captain, Carsten Pedersen. The game was a (nowadays rather unfashionable) Bogo-Indian, which was accurately played by both sides, and which ended in a draw after 24 moves – a good result for us given what was happening on other boards at the time. John is still playing his opening repertoire from the 1980s, which means he is very hard to beat but perhaps lacks a cutting edge sometimes. Maybe try something new from time to time?

Ash was very unlucky in this game. I suspect he was playing against Gaston’s computer-generated home prep. You might be tempted to try this line yourself – the Accelerated Dragon is very popular these days, especially amongst juniors, and your opponent is unlikely to have seen it before and will need to be very strong indeed to navigate the tactics that you will be familiar with. But beware – you will need to have something prepared if instead of 9…Nxe4 or xg4, Black plays 9…d5!

That brings us to my own game on board 4, where I had White against the talented and underrated (of course I would say that) Luke Lau. The game was decided by my tactical mistakes in the early middlegame.

So despite outrating Hammersmith on all three of the bottom boards, we had amassed only half a point. Fortunately, as I said earlier, we had some good players on the top three boards. On board 4, Peter Lalić (pictured above, left) had Black against his old friend Ali Hill. After 26 moves they reached this position, Hill having earlier declined a draw offer:

What happened now was something quite extraordinary. White has not defended in the best possible way, and Black is, I thought, at least slightly better. In addition, White was in time trouble. To win the match, we had to win this game. I therefore expected Peter to do his very best to win, even if that involved some risk, perhaps trying to break with …c5 or …g3 at some point. What happened was that Peter made no effort to win whatsoever. He just aimlessly moved backwards and forwards, taking care only to ensure the position was never repeated three times. I was both baffled and frustrated.

Light only began to dawn when Peter asked me what time the session ended. I eventually realised that he planned to leave the game to adjudication. He judged that the position was not just “slightly better for Black” but, with perfect play, winning. All he needed to do therefore was leave the position essentially unchanged, and leave the rest to Mr Stockfish. And, as we will see, he was absolutely right.

I have never seen a game of chess won in like manner before. In my opinion, it was a stroke of genius. It divided opinion though, some people going so far as to suggest that it was “against the spirit of the game”. Those people were of course cricket enthusiasts – we don’t have the “spirit of the game” concept in chess, we just have the rules. As I see it, Peter’s approach was no different to that of a football team 5-0 up, who pass the ball around in their own half for the last 15 minutes, having already done the hard work. Nobody thinks that is against the spirit of the game – they call it professional.

Be that as it may, after 30 moves of aimless shuffling the players arrived at the above position again, and time was called. Cutting a (very) long story short, I sent the position off to the Thames Valley League Adjudication Secretary (yes, there is such a role – he must be a busy man), but a week later Carsten notified me that Ali Hill had resigned. Stockfish 18 evaluates the final position as about -5 at a depth of 30 ply (you have to have a powerful computer and leave it switched on for a while). The analysis is complex and deep, but the main line goes 72 (I’m guessing the move number) …Bb4 (threat …Be1) 73. Rc1 g3+! 74. fxg3 Kg4 75. Rf1 Rf5! and White is in a kind of zugzwang. A rook move along the rank allows …Kf3, Rf2 allows …Be1, and Bc7 or Bd8 allows …Bd2. If 76. Ba7 Bd2 77. d5 cxd5 78. Bd4 Bb4, Black is still going to break in, either down the c-line or via f3. The more you look at the position, the more you realise, like Lalić and Stockfish, that it is hopeless for White.

The game on board 2 between David Maycock and Peter Finn was much clearer. In fact it was another game of limpid clarity and class by David, playing the white side of a Sveshnikov Sicilian and making it look as if Black never had a chance. I will give the whole game with just a few comments, because that is all it needs:

This is how chess should be played.

Finally, we reach board 1. My thunder has been stolen by John Saunders, as he has already annotated Supratit’s superb win with Black against Michael Fernandez, which you can see here.

Thus it was that, a week after the match started (see the story of Hill v Lalić above) we scraped a narrow 3.5-2.5 win over our main rivals in Thames Valley division 1, Hammersmith having taken over that role from Maidenhead. Our success so far this season has been down to our top 3 boards – Kingston is blessed to have such players. Supratit and David in particular are climbing up the ratings at a phenomenal rate, and it is a privilege to see them play. There are no limits to what Supratit may achieve. This is a golden age.

Peter Large is Kingston A captain in Thames Valley division 1

Kingston B v Surbiton A, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 9 March 2026

It’s sometimes said that relegation battles are not for the purist;  I think the course of this match supports that view. The key point is not how you play, but whether you get the required result, and in the end this was what Kingston B achieved against Surbiton A. Two short draws, one longer one, a game that saw an unlikely turn-around, a game decided by a blunder, and my own game, about which the least said the better (though the reader will see below that I have said quite a lot).

The first game to finish was the board 5 encounter. It began as a c3 Sicilian Defence, but after the queens were exchanged the players decided there was little to be gained from playing on and agreed a draw. Following this, another draw, on board 2. As Peter Andrews pointed out, the drama here was only in what might have been. In the following position Black played 17…f6, but Peter noted that “Black was struggling for a plan here, and missed a nice pawn sacrifice pointed out by the machine: 17…. h5.” The analysis below shows what follows if White accepts the pawn sac.

This was also the result on board 3, but only after more than 40 moves. From a kind of Catalan Opening, numerous exchanges led to an ending in which Jasper Tambini (foreground, left, in photograph above), with Black, had a bishop against Neil Davies’s knight but ultimately could not make progress.

So three peaceful conclusions left the match all square, but the remaining games were much more contested. Martyn Jones, playing White, and David Cole dared to explore the complications and imbalances of the Winawer variation of the French Defence. As can happen in this opening, White’s queen hoovered up Black’s kingside pawns, but allowed Black to take his central pawns in return. The position here is unbalanced but roughly equal:

Martyn’s win put Kingston one game ahead, but the signs for the overall result were not promising as I was struggling to defend an inferior ending on board 1 and Stephen Lovell was the exchange and a pawn down on board 4.

Stephen had played the English Opening, but commented: “My opponent played a system I hadn’t encountered before, and I didn’t find the best way of meeting it.” This was the position after Nick Faulks had shored up his queenside by moving the a8 rook off the long diagonal and his pawn to b6 and taken a grip on the centre:

Due to the players’ shortage of time, the record of the moves ends in the position above, but this was the key result for Kingston B, as it ensured that we would win the match and made the result of my own game incidental.

As Black in another English Opening I had obtained what I thought were promising chances, but accepted exchanges which eventually resulted in a fairly level position:

My dissatisfaction with the way my game had gone was offset by the fact that we had won the match, an important step towards possible safety from relegation in Thames Valley division 1. I’ll take another few chaotic encounters like this if we can get the results we need.

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

Wimbledon 2 v Kingston 2, Surrey League division 2 match played at St Winefride’s Church Hall, Wimbledon on 5 March 2026

Wimbledon 2 have been depleted by the requirement for several hitherto regular players to be nominated for their first team, which has been stricken by long-term illness and players moving on. So even though we were able to share some match opportunities around the second team squad, the teamsheets showed that we had a huge rating advantage. Winning the toss loaded the dice further in our favour.

For once I had the shortest game, freeing me to consume more coffee than was optimal for sleep on a chess night and allowing me to keep the wider club informed of later developments by WhatsApp. My opponent, playing White, went downhill in an unusual line, and resigned after just 15 moves in the horrid position shown below.

Next to finish was Jon Eckert on board 6, on home ground in the French Defence. White tied himself in knots trying to hold on to an extra pawn and Jon progressively undermined the fragile structure.

On board 5, Alex Chmelev also got an advantage early on and cashed in.

Homayoon Froogh’s game on board 4, where he had Black against Omar Selim, looked tight for longer. But as the board opened up, Homayoon’s two rooks and two bishops were much stronger than White’s two rooks and two knights, and he won large amounts of material with a combination of pins. At 4-0 we were over the line in the match within two hours of the start.

Board 1 was a tense battle between David Rowson and Gordon Rennie, a familiar opponent. David won a pawn, but in the rook and bishop v rook and knight ending both sides had a queenside passed pawn with some activity.  David sacrificed the exchange for Black’s passed pawn, leaving him with a bishop and two pawns for a rook. Objectively this was enough to win, but under some time pressure David did not quite trust his calculation and agreed a draw.

Board 7 looked like the game with the most mutual jeopardy, but Kingston newcomer Constantin Liesch, who had White against Nathan Hoong, seems to like it that way, and after a middle game in which both sides had chances he finished with a fine sacrificial attack.

Board 3 was, as had always seemed likely, last to finish. In a c3 Sicilian, Alan Scrimgour built up pressure against various weak points in the black position while pre-empting any possible counterplay, so it was difficult for Black to find sensible moves (and the machine has not much better advice in hindsight).

So the final score was 6.5-0.5. Not too surprising given the rating difference between the teams, but convincingly delivered.  With only two matches to go, one of them the return against a weakened Wimbledon 2, we are now odds on to win division 2, which would be a tremendous achievement only four years after the first team did so, and all the more so given that we have been outrated in several close matches.

It poses a dilemma – should we take promotion to division 1, which would be a very tough challenge, not least on the organisational front, with two eight-board teams in Surrey and possibly two six-board teams in Thames Valley division 1, or should we seek to decline it, or should the answer depend on whether the TVL B team stays in that first division? These issues lie ahead, but for now we can enjoy some hard-earned success, and look to drive it home in the last two matches.   

Peter Andrews is captain of Kingston 1 and Kingston 2 in the Surrey League

Kingston C v Surbiton D, Thames Valley League division X match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 2 March 2026

It has been an up-and-down season for Kingston C, and this was one of the downs, losing 3-1 to a well-organised Surbiton D team. Surbiton skipper Phil Goodings got the better of Sean Tay in a tight encounter on board 1; Kim Cross beat Anqi Yang on board 3; and Harry Roberts edged out Robert Chmiest on board 4. That left Nette Robinson, as so often this season, to save Kingston’s blushes with a win with White against the tricky Nikolai Mantaev on board 2. Congrats to Nette on her excellent recent run.

Stephen Moss is Kingston club captain

Guildford 3 v Kingston 4, Surrey League division 5 match played at the Guildford Institute on 2 March 2026

This was a very good win by Kingston 4 against a Guildford 3 team with plenty of experience on the top boards. Thivan Gunawardana, Constantin Liesch and Genc Tasbasi all won with White ; two games with Black were lost (it really was a night for the white pieces); but Tom Mayers got Kingston 4 over the line with a draw with Black against a strong player on board 1. Well done to Tom, new to Kingston but already making an impression, and the team.

Stephen Moss is Kingston club captain

Kingston 3 v Epsom 5, Surrey League division 4 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 23 February 2026

Kingston 3 were badly hampered in this match by a default on board 3 when the Kingston player forgot his engagement at the Richard Mayo Centre. But his team-mates rallied to the cause superbly, and wins for Martyn Jones, Adam Nakar and David Shalom, plus a draw for Jon Eckert (pictured) with Black on board 2 against a dangerous opponent, saw Kingston 3 home and kept them in the promotion hunt in Surrey division 4.

Stephen Moss is Kingston club captain

Ealing A v Kingston B, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at Actonians Sports Club, London W5 on 16 February 2026

On arrival at Ealing’s venue, we were pleasantly surprised to find that their team was not as strong as feared. Andrew Harley, their captain, was absent, and overall we actually slightly outrated them.

The early result on board 3, where Peter Andrews (pictured above) had White against Alejandro Lopez-Martinez, increased my hopes that we would get something from the match. From an English Opening, a close positional contest was looking likely when Peter’s opponent made a serious oversight.

The next result, a win for Martyn Jones on board 5, put us two up. Jack Sheard played the Lion variation of the Philidor Defence, but took a risk in opening up the centre early and was efficiently punished by Martyn. In the following position Black has just played 8…d5.

The board 2 game, in which Kingston’s Will Taylor had Black against Duncan Grassie, begun with an unusual opening – the Levitsky Attack). It is worth looking at the game from the beginning:

The board 4 game, with Kingston’s John Foley playing Black against Xavier Cowan, began with a deceptively quiet line of the Queen’s Gambit Declined, only to explode into tactics in the position below.

The most significant rating difference was on board 1, where I faced FM Rick McMichael. I have played him twice before, some years ago. This game was similar to the others in that I had White and chose the King’s Indian Attack against his French Defence. However, it was different in terms of the line played and, eventually, the result (I hadn’t previously lost to Rick).

Rick played imaginatively, assessing that having a backward pawn on e6 was not important in comparison to the attacking chances he obtained against my kingside. We reached this position after my 30th move:

On board 6 Seth Warren succeeded in equalising out of the opening, an Italian Game. His opponent’s attempts to attack on the kingside led to his pieces getting rather tangled up, and Seth managed to capitalise on this to win a pawn. Unfortunately, he made just one error in the ensuing ending and lost the exchange; a pity, after he had done well to reach a good position.

Thus the match ended 4-2 to Ealing. This was another disappointing result for Kingston B, given that for some time it appeared a close-fought match from which we could have anticipated at least a draw. We still have six matches left this season, so we just have to do our best to get points from them.

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

Richmond C v Kingston C, Thames Valley League division X match played at the Adelaide pub Teddington on 10 February 2026

This is not a match on which we wish to dwell. What on paper was a well-balanced encounter produced a very one-sided result, Richmond C trouncing Kingston C by 3.5-0.5. Well done to Nette Robinson (pictured above in singing mode), who secured a draw to avoid a whitewash. And congratulations to Karl Stand’s Richmond C team on playing so well to secure an emphatic victory.

Stephen Moss is Kingston club captain

Kingston 2 v Guildford 2, Surrey League division 2 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 9 February 2026

Kingston 2 had a somewhat reshaped team for this match. My main concern was that Guildford 2 would turn up with the strength of which they are capable and our new and newish players might then have a discouraging experience.

My worries were half mitigated before and at the start. Guildford’s captain Clive Frostick, himself a Kingston player in the 4NCL, was unable to make the journey. And although we would be heavily outgunned on the top 3 boards, the match-ups looked close on the other four, and given that our new players tend to be improvers, I thought they might sneak a few results. The toss didn’t help – we lost for the sixth time in 7 matches, which in seven- board matches counts for a bit.

On board 2, Alan Scrimgour made a quick draw with Guildford’s stand-in captain Adrian Wallace in a Spanish. The computer evaluation of the final position, a queenless middle game, was indeed level. There was plenty of material and play left for both sides, but Alan was happy to take a draw on one of the “uphill” boards, especially as the situation was starting to look encouraging elsewhere.

Jon Eckert drew first blood with White on board 6 against Alvin Petersen. The game hung on a mistake in the position below.

Next, with White on board 4, Martyn Jones (pictured above in a previous match) terminated Alistair Jennis’s threatening attack by spotting mate the other way.

Guildford hit back in a fluctuating and spectacular battle on board 3 between our Stephen Lovell, who had Black, and Tim Foster.

Around the same time, I succumbed with Black on board 1 to Matthew Dishman, in a game that showed the danger of allowing emotion to override calculation. Early over-optimism was succeeded by premature pessimism.

That meant scores were level with two games still in progress, in both of which the Kingston player was making his second-team debut. So they were both getting a full evening’s entertainment. Could they also get the points to get us over the line in the match?

Constantin Liesch, with Black on board 7 against Anthony Garrood, certainly had a memorable introduction to second-team chess, with a crowd around the board in the later stages of this exciting battle.

That left another second-team debutant, Alex Chmelev, needing to win with Black on board 5 against Guildford veteran Trevor Jones to save the match. Fortunately he had won a pawn around move 20, and by the time spectator attention turned to his board he had reached what looked to be a winning rook and pawn ending, with his king able to get in front of his passed pawn and to the queening square, the textbook condition to win.

It was a long slog – the game went some 80 moves – and there may have been a few detours off the textbook path, but all was well that ended well. So we added a matchpoint to our tally and deprived Guildford of one. Despite being outrated in at least half our matches to date, we stand top of division 2. As the old hands at the club remind us, it is not so long since Kingston 1 were pleased to reach such heights.

Peter Andrews is captain of the Kingston first and second teams in the Surrey League