South Norwood 2 fail to raise a team in the match against Kingston 3 due to be played at the Willoughby Arms on 11 March 2024, giving the match to Kingston by 6-0
For the second time in a fortnight, Kingston have won a home match by default. First, Guildford 1 failed to field a team on 26 February, and now South Norwood have done the same, blaming a lack of drivers to bring players on the long journey from South London. Not ideal, as we need to give players in division 4 of the Surrey League all the opportunities for game time we can, but we do sympathise as South Norwood are a relatively small club who face a lot of these epic treks. One hopes this will be the last default as we enter the final couple of months of the season.
Maidenhead A v Kingston A, Thames Valley division 1 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 4 March 2024
Peter Lalić (foreground, left) secured a crucial win on board 2 to earn a draw for Kingston against Maidenhead
Maidenhead A have been struggling in division 1 of the Thames Valley League this season, which is surprising given that they are a strong and much-improved side. They got a deserved 3-3 draw on their visit to Kingston, and we could have no complaints about a dropped half-point which further dents our already slim chances of catching Hammersmith in the race for the title.
Alan Scrimgour secured an early draw with Black on board 4 against Majid Mashayekh, and there was then a long period of struggle on the other five boards. The deadlock was finally broken on board 1, where FM Andrew Smith prevailed against Kingston’s David Maycock. Andrew played his usual Centre Game (1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Qxd4 Nc6 4.Qe3 Nf6 5.Nc3 Be7) and David responded enterprisingly, but the Kingston man missed a key tactic when he played 21. Be6 in this position:
That gave Maidenhead a 1.5-0.5 lead and at that stage we looked in danger. Peter Lalić was a little worse against Steve James on board 2 and William Castaneda had the bishop pair and a slight edge against Nick Grey on board 6. On the plus side, the evergreen John Foley was well placed against Nigel Smith on board 4, and Julian Way was engaged in a classy game with Ishan Wirantunga on board 3. The latter was the next game to finish – a draw by repetition after 41 moves, with Julian’s queen pitted against his opponent’s rooks (see final position below).
John Foley, who had hurried to the match after running the Kingston Chess Academy, then brought his well-constructed game to a glitzy finish in the position below.
White to play and win
By now Peter Lalić and his opponent were in a time scramble, and Peter, who had earlier had a draw offer turned down, is brilliant in these situations, setting problems until his opponent cracks. That duly happened in the position below when Black played 33…Bf5.
Peter’s win made it 3-2 to Kingston and we were sure of at least half a point. But that was all we were going to get. Valiantly though he fought, Nick Grey was unable to wrestle back the initiative in a losing endgame and eventually had to admit defeat. Honours were even, and Maidenhead could embark on their long trek home feeling a little more comfortable about retaining their place in Thames Valley division 1.
Kingston 4 v Coulsdon 3, Surrey League division 5 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 4 March 2024
Coulsdon 3 came to Kingston with a nice blend of youth and experience, and in the end were a little too strong for the home side, running out 4-2 winners in a well-contested match. But it was close: the board 2 game could have gone either way until time pressure told on the Kingston player.
Brother and sister Venkata and Aahna Kilambi both scored wins for Coulsdon. Venkata on top board looked an especially fine prospect, and his rating is already daunting in the Minor Trophy – division 5 of the Surrey League and designed to be a training division (with no promotion or relegation). Venkata will soon be progressing into the main league, part of Coulsdon’s never-ending supply of strong juniors (we will try not to be too jealous). On the plus side for Kingston were fine wins for Leon Mellor-Sewell and Robin Kerremans, both making their club debuts. Leon asked whether he got a GM norm for his win, but I assume he was joking. He and Robin are great additions to the club.
Young Jaden Mistry lost on board 4 against Bartosz Wojtowicz, and David Bickerstaff was very unlucky to lose on board 2 against Anuj Venkatesh, blundering a piece in time trouble in a position that may have been winning. That made it 4-2 to Coulsdon, but the great thing about this division is that, rather than bemoaning the lost half-point and worrying about the danger of relegation, we can celebrate the fact that a dozen up-and-coming players had an evening of highly competitive but pressure-free (because no promotion or relegation) chess.
Guildford 1 fail to raise a team in the match against Kingston 1 due to be played at the Willoughby Arms on 26 February 2024, giving the match to Kingston by 8-0
Three days before this significant and eagerly awaited match, Kingston Surrey League division 1 captain Peter Andrews received the news that Guildford were unable to raise a team and would be defaulting the match. We took this to mean that they could not raise a team of sufficient quality, because a club of Guildford’s size should certainly be able to get eight bodies over to Kingston.
This was disappointing news as we do not like to be handed a win in this manner, and it also affects the integrity of Surrey’s very strong division 1. But, on the upside, the default victory by 8-0 propels us to second place in the table and gives us a slim chance of overhauling runaway leaders Epsom.
We now have to beat Epsom away on 11 March and they need to slip up against Wimbledon, who are mired in a relegation struggle and currently have nul points, on 18 April. We would also need to beat Wimbledon at home on 8 April. An unlikely scenario – Epsom’s IM-packed team is unlikely to take their foot off the pedal now as they home in on their first ever Surrey Trophy – but we will keep plugging away in defence of our title and hope for the best (or, in Epsom’s case, the worst).
Maidenhead C v Kingston C, Thames Valley division X match played at St Luke’s Community Hall, Maidenhead, on 26 February 2024
Well done to Kingston C for making the great trek to Maidenhead on an uninviting evening and coming away with a draw. Charlie Cooke came unstuck against a dangerous junior on board 1 – ignore the rating; as so often with juniors it means very little. Captain Stephen Daines, no doubt exhausted after the long drive, also lost on board 3. But honour was salvaged by fine wins by Ergo Nobel, who has settled in brilliantly at Kingston, and Colin Lyle on boards 2 and 4. Medals will be struck for all four of the Kingston heroes who braved the journey.
Wimbledon 1 v Kingston 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at St Winifride’s Church Hall, Wimbledon on 15 February 2024
Confidence in advance of this match was not high, given the depleted team we were able to field: Thursday is an inconvenient evening for several regulars, and illness took out Vladimir Li and Julian Way in the 24 hours before the match. Some team-mates thought our situation resembled that of Henry V before Agincourt:
O that we had now hereBut one ten thousand of those men in England that do no work today. What’s he that wishes so? …. The fewer men the greater share of honour.
That was perhaps an exaggeration: Kingston Chess Club does not yet have 10,000 members; Nick Grey and Charlie Cooke, stepping in at short notice, ensured we had as many players as Wimbledon; and the ratings of the two sides were almost equal. But if the thought helped stiffen our sinews it was a good one.
Charlie Cooke faced an uphill battle on board 8 with Black against the higher-rated John Polanyk. Having neutralised a dangerous-looking attack, a small slip allowed an exchange sacrifice which eventually won at least a piece. Jon Eckert and Nick Grey on boards 6 and 7 drew relatively early. Nick was frustrated that his edge from a better pawn structure did not crystallise into a win, but his was one of the boards where we were outrated, so this was nevertheless an important contribution.
Alan Scrimgour had found himself in a line of the French Defence known better by his opponent. Kings castled on opposite sides, and Alan sacrificed the exchange to try to drum up an attack; he accepted a draw offer when he realised that there was not much there. John Foley equalised the score with a convincing win with black against Wimbledon secretary Gordon Rennie. He has analysed this in more depth in the Games section. From my observation point on the next board, he built up the pressure impressively to reach this position after 22 Re3.
My own game finished shortly after John’s. At the time, I thought it had been an anodyne draw, with my opponent successfully neutralising the slight disadvantage of an isolated pawn. Imagine my frustration when Stockfish showed me three distinct winning opportunities I had missed, each of them instructive.
That left the scores level at 3-3, with Kingston apparently slightly worse on both remaining boards. Luca Buanne, on his league debut, faced Dan Rosen’s Grand Prix attack. This game, which was a tense but fairly balanced struggle from the outset, is provided in full in the Games section, with annotations by Luca and John Foley. The rest of the team started to focus on his game around this critical moment, after 37. Rc1 by White.
So it all came down to board 1. Peter Lalić, against the IM Alberto Suarez Real, played a trademark queenless middle game. Around the point the other games were over, he was a pawn down but solid and with reasonable activity, and his chances to hold were improved because his opponent was down to a minute on the clock while Peter still had more than five.
Thus we won the match, securing our position in division 1 and (such is the closeness of the race) keeping us in with an outside shot at the title. To beat a 2400+ IM in that ending starting from a pawn down was an epic performance. Peter will remember with advantages what feats he did that day[1].
Peter Andrews, Kingston captain in Surrey division 1
[1] Shakespeare was of course expert in the pressures and rewards of Surrey League chess.
Richmond B v Kingston B, Thames Valley division 2 match played at the Adelaide pub, Teddington on 13 February 2024
We arrived at the Adelaide pub in Teddington to be met by a very strong Richmond B side. Richmond’s A team are struggling in the top division of the Thames Valley League, and apparently their cunning plan is to put out strong teams in division 2 to compete for promotion in order to give them a safety net in case the unthinkable happens. This meant that their bottom board was higher rated than our third.
With this probably playing on my mind, given the 200-point rating disparity I faced against my opponent Bertie Barlow on board 3, I offered a draw after 25 moves when I felt Bertie had equalised as Black in the Scandinavian Defence and had thwarted my main plan to attack down the queenside. He accepted.
Alan Scrimgour drew shortly after on board 2 against John Burke. He felt he had equalised, but could see a flurry of exchanges that he felt left him without much of a plan to make progress and offered a draw which was duly accepted.
Kingston newcomer Jameel Jameel (left) on his way to victory against Pablo Soriano
Jameel Jameel, a newcomer to the club this season, produced the fireworks of the night, wrapping up an impressive 19-move victory on board 6. He played the Accelerated Dragon, and, with his opponent castling queenside, Jameel went for the kill after the c3 pawn was ominously pushed. With White cramped in the corner, Jameel was able to sac his queen on a2 and mate on the flank with his lifted rook, with all flight squares covered by his bishop and his opponent’s pieces. A lovely sequence and a great victory for Jameel, who is coming on leaps and bounds. This is Jameel’s first published game.
Nick Grey looked to be doomed as Sampson Low got the better of the opening, stopping Nick from castling and winning a pawn. But these dynamic positions are the ones Nick likes and he managed to get some tricky counterplay that, if played incorrectly, could have been disastrous for Sampson. Sampson negotiated the situation well, but Nick had regained equality and a draw was agreed, with neither side fancying the unclear endgame.
David Shalom played accurately against Alastair Armstrong on board 5, building up a nice edge after he managed to blunt his opponent’s early g5, which led to a big hole in his kingside. However, David felt he didn’t manage the position well, and the game flipped suddenly, with the Richmond player capitalising on some unsound tactics. This levelled the match at 2.5-2.5.
The last game to finish was on top board between John Foley and Maxim Dunn. John was pressing down the kingside with a chain of pawns dominating the white squares and doubled rooks on the h-file. However, Maxim defended the position well, managing to mitigate John’s attack and, as John fell into time trouble, picking up a pawn on the queenside. Running out of good moves, John flagged, Maxim was victorious and Richmond had prevailed.
Gregor Smith, Kingston captain in Thames Valley division 2
Kingston v Richmond, Thames Valley Knockout semi-final played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 12February 2024
Kingston were keen to retain the trophy we won last year when we beat Harrow in the final. However, we knew this would be a tough match, as only recently our first team were held to a 3-3 draw by Richmond A in Thames Valley division 1– a match which at one point they had looked nailed on to win.
We had strengthened our team with the inclusion of David Maycock and Peter Andrews, and we anticipated that Richmond would do the same. Their surprise inclusion was Casper Bates, who plays for the Richmond London League team but is not a Thames Valley regular, on board 3. Peter Lalić’s unorthodox opening, giving up a pawn, created the sort of unbalanced position in which Peter thrives. However, his opponent advanced his h-pawn, and Peter eventually ran out of time trying to stop the pawn promotion.
A couple of decisive games, one for each side, are discussed below.
This was a hard-fought match deservedly won by Richmond, who seemed to have an edge for most of the playing session.
Alan Scrimgour, Kingston captain in the Thames Valley Knockout
On the same evening, packed into the upstairs room at the Willoughby, Kingston 3 were hosting Epsom 3 in a Centenary Trophy (Surrey division 4) match. The match was drawn 3-3. Nick Grey and Ed Mospan (game) were the winners for Kingston, with Charlie Cooke and Greg Heath obtaining draws.
Our first team continued their impressive run in the second division of the 4NCL with two victories this weekend whilst our second team are feeling the heat
The Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) third weekend took place on 10/11 February 2024 over two locations. Our first team, CSC/Kingston 1, played at the Mercure in Telford, whereas the second and third teams played at the Delta Marriott Hotel in Warwick. Our top team won both their matches and now sit atop the second division. There are only two weekends to go and bookies have stopped taking bets on whether we will get promoted to the first division. Team manager Kate Cooke played down the prospect, wisely taking one weekend at a time, especially as we have yet to play our main competitors.
For those unfamiliar with 4NCL, it is for national chess teams conducted over four divisions. It is played to the highest international standards, with strict rules about mobile phones. Players are randomly scanned for electronic devices as they enter the playing hall. Players are not permitted to visit the bookstall nor their car, for which the penalty is a default. The time control is 40 moves in 100 minutes followed by 50 minutes for the rest of the game. For each move there is an increment of 30 seconds, which means that players must always write down their moves, even if there is less than 5 minutes left.
Saturday 10 February
The first team line-up was strengthened by the addition of IM Graeme Buckley on board 1. In Saturday’s key game against rivals The Sharks 2, Graeme had a convincing victory over IM Peter Roberson. The match was won 5.5-2.5.
CSC/Kingston 1 riding high in the second division
Although CSC/Kingston 1 are riding high, a print of which should be framed, it should be noted that we have yet to play the teams in second, third and fourth places. Hence, the rigorous training sessions for the team conducted at our secret base in Surrey will be even more intensive.
Meanwhile, on Saturday over at Warwick, another recent recruit to the team, 15-year-old Luca Buanne, was top board for CSC/Kingston 2. The opponents were the hardy Hull and East Riding team, strengthened by some Ukrainian players. Luca made short work of his opponent in a sharp Pirc. The match was drawn 3-3.
Our third team played She Plays to Win, a training team for girls run by IM Lorin d’Costa. Although the girls were heavily outrated, they fought hard and drew the match. Nick Grey rued that he had lost to a 13-year-old, a common lament from the older generation.
Sunday 11 February
Our first team continued their winning ways beating the dangerous Anglian Avengers in the sixth round. The match was in the balance until going home time when Tom Farrand obtained a draw to secure victory. Plaudits to two first-team players who led the way with two wins each for the weekend: Peter Lalić and Clive Frostick. David Maycock launched a powerful attack against the Classical Caro-Kann.
Over at Warwick, our second team were facing the Wessex A team. The teams were evenly matched and the match score was level until the last game in which Wessex’s Allan Pleasants beat Julian Way with a tactical flourish.
The second team at the start of the match. Left foreground: Roger de Coverly facing John Foley, Julian Way to John’s right
CSC/Kingston 2 are now struggling not to be relegated from division 3. We have lost three matches by the smallest of margins 3.5-2.5. There are still five rounds to go conducted over a weekend in March and a long weekend in May. Unfortunately in March both the first team and the second team are playing in Telford and we have found it difficult to get our best teams together for the cross-country trip. We face the dissonant prospect of having one team in the first division and two teams in the fourth division next season.
Meanwhile, our third team battled The Full Ponty, which included in-form Tony Hughes on board 5, winner of the recent All Saints Blitz. We were outrated by an average of 200 elo points per player. However the team played out of their socks with wins for Petr Vachtfeidl on board 1, the newcomer Fabio Buanne (father of Luca) on board 6 and, at well past going home time, Nick Grey on board 4. Nick’s position did not look convincing, but he played the endgame well and pulled a victory out of the hat against a player he first faced in 1979. The drawn match means that CSC/Kingston 3 remains mid-table with little prospect of promotion unless we do exceptionally well in the next two weekends.
New recruit Fabio Buanne on the left scored 75% on his first 4NCL weekend
Surrey League division 5 match played at the Peace Memorial Hall, Ashtead on 6 February 2024
Sometimes a defeat can feel almost as good as a victory, and this was one of those occasions. When Kingston captain Stephen Daines posted the opposing team on the club WhatsApp group, we feared the worst. Kingston’s fourth team were up against Ashtead 2 in the Minor Trophy (Surrey division 5) and we were outrated by an average of around 180 points a board. Most of our players have only been playing competitively since the end of the pandemic. Adrian Waldock, Ashtead’s experienced board 2, has been playing since around the end of the Paleozoic. One feared a whitewash.
In the end, though, it was a wonderfully close match, with Ashtead winning by just 3.5-2.5 – testament to how quickly our players are improving and the great spirit with which they compete. Captain Daines played what he called a “disastrous opening” with Black and quickly succumbed as his opponent Nick Thynne capitalised on his errors. But at least that gave him more time to enjoy his players’ performances.
Promising junior Jaden Mistry drew with Jack Buckley, rated 1580, on board 5, and at one point – with a passed pawn charging up the board – had winning chances. But they evaporated when Jaden decided to mop up his opponent’s pawns rather than support his own, and a draw was agreed with the position level.
Mark Sheridan lost against Daniel Richmond on board 3, making it 2.5-0.5 to Ashtead, but the remaining three boards were all very good news stories. Dieter McDougall outmanoeuvred Robert Jurjevic in a knight and pawn endgame, making his extra pawn tell to win a game that had looked more likely to end in a draw. Dieter has made a fine start to his Kingston career.
Just as impressive were the draws achieved by Sean Tay and Jimmy Kerr against Patrick O’Mara and Adrian Waldock on boards 1 and 2. Sean pressed but couldn’t quite convert what looked to be a small advantage, while Jimmy was under the cosh the entire game but managed to hold out and with time trouble looming a draw was agreed. The Waldock-Kerr game threw up one splendid position which must be shown:
Adrian chose to cash in here by playing 15. Nxh8 to win the exchange. That should indeed have been enough to win the game, but he misses a delightful win on the spot. Do you see it? 15. Nb5+! Black is forced to play 15…Kxd5 and 16. Nf4! is mate. Mated by two knights, with a bit of help from the queen, pinning the pawn on e5. Adrian missed it and chased the Black king all round the board for another 30 moves. He still had an advantage in the endgame – two rooks and six pawns to rook, bishop and five, but exhaustion may have been setting in and time was becoming a factor, so Adrian (always a pacific fellow) took a gentlemanly draw.
Full marks to Jimmy for fighting on in what at times seemed a hopeless position. As I said to him later, if he can survive that he can survive anything. It was a result of which he should be proud, as indeed should the entire team.
