Kingston 1 v Coulsdon 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 19 January 2025

Kingston 1’s only dropped match point so far this season was in the opening match at Coulsdon, so the return fixture was eagerly awaited. Our new GM Ameet Ghasi had agreed to play, and we knew in advance that our Thames Valley League team-mate Supratit Banerjee would be on board 1 for Coulsdon, so there were a few spectators as well as 14 boards crammed into the match room at the Willoughby.

However, the exchange of team sheets revealed that Coulsdon were missing several players from the team which had fully extended us in October. Some of their talented juniors, in particular, find it difficult to travel on a school night.

Three of the games were clearly in Kingston’s favour before the crowd had settled. First to finish on board 3 was David Maycock, whose opponent Ian Calvert had made a small slip in the Scandinavian Defence and found himself being pushed off the board. David was able to play his trademark g4 on move 14 and the game was soon over.

On board 8, Julian Way had won a pawn early on with Black against Ben Ruiz, and had a lead in activity as the endgame crystallised.

Peter Large’s opponent Timur Kuzhelev had tried the Vienna Game, but the position soon had the unmistakable look of a King’s Gambit gone wrong, with Black a pawn up and a tidal wave of pawns filling the holes around the beached white king.

Peter Lalić’s game with Black against Venkata Kilambi on board 4 was a well-balanced King’s Indian Defence until White allowed a winning sacrifice on move 18. Soon afterwards, there was an even more spectacular opportunity and the game was quickly over.

That took Kingston to a 4-0 lead, but before the match points could be sealed, Will Taylor had fallen into a tactic with Black against Anuj Venkatesh on board 6. He had chosen an active line against the Catalan which was objectively level but dangerous, and then found his queen being chased when it had multiple responsibilities.

Readers not familiar with the Catalan might like to note that Ng5 threatening mate on h7 by a queen on c2 while discovering an attack by the Catalan bishop on g2 is quite a common theme.

Mike Healey, very modestly positioned on board 5 (showing the great strength of this Kingston team), brought home the bacon despite stalwart resistance by Coulsdon captain Nick Edwards in a Caro-Kann in which Black was cramped but solid. It was difficult to withstand the pressure on the clock and the board, and Black eventually lost on time with a spectacular forced mate available to White on the board.  

David Rowson faced even tougher resistance with White against Paul Jackson on board 7. In a semi-blocked French Defence position, Black had opened the h-file against the white king before White could make progress on the queenside, giving him the advantage. But eventually the weakness of f7 told, and David was able to attack in front of his own king with two black pieces out of the main action on the queenside. An exchange sacrifice gave him time for a decisive penetration with his queen.

That left Kingston 6-1 ahead, with Ghasi v Banerjee on board 1 still in progress. This was a slow burner, with most of the tactics in the lines that were not chosen, and both sides trying to test the other by asking them to make decisions requiring some longer-term evaluation. The traps were all avoided, and eventually a little tactic by Supratit left a level major-piece ending.  With both sides down to around a minute on the clock, it would have been possible for either to play on in the hope of an error, but with the match already decided the players’ mutual respect was such that they agreed a draw and resumed the discussion downstairs.

Supratit is of course very much one of the Kingston gang (he plays for us in both the Thames Valley League and 4NCL), and he had a friendly post-mortem with Ameet and several of our other leading lights for over half an hour, although the nature of their game was such that few definitive conclusions were reached.

Meanwhile, Kingston extended their lead in Surrey division 1. We are still the only club to have scored any match points away from home, suggesting that our visits to Epsom in February and Guildford in March will be critical.  

Peter Andrews, Kingston captain in Surrey League division 1

Kingston 4 v Ashtead 2, Surrey League division 5 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 19 January 2025

This was an exciting and well-contested match, with Ashtead 4 eventually emerging as narrow winners by 3.5-2.5. But there were plenty of hard-luck stories for Kingston along the way, and our fourth team can be proud to have run a club second team so close.

The board 1 clash was especially interesting, with two Kingston players – Alicia Mason and Jon Eckert (here turning out for Ashtead) – going head to head. Jon played the French Defence and was slightly better out of the opening, but Alicia fought back tenaciously and established a plus. But with time starting to dwindle a draw was agreed, which is surely as it should be when two Kingston players with similar ratings meet.

The experienced Chris Perks got the better of Rob Taylor on board 6; Mark Sheridan had a fine win over Nick Thynne on 5; and Adam Nakar and Aziz Sannie drew with Adrian Waldock and Robert Jurjevic respectively on 3 and 4. Adam and Aziz were, though, kicking themselves for letting the full point elude them. Aziz certainly had a winning rook and pawn endgame, but let it slip in time trouble.

The match was decided by the board 2 encounter between Kingston’s David Shalom and Ashtead’s Daniel Richmond. In a long game which became a battle between the heavy armour of queen and rooks, David played well with Black and was on top for most of the time. But his opponent didn’t worry about Black’s long-term pawn advantage. He kept presenting problems and looking to attack, and eventually it paid off when David blundered in time trouble. An annoying loss, which David as ever took phlegmatically. If only every chess player could accept the knocks with such equanimity.

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain

South Norwood 1 v Kingston 2, Surrey League division 2 match played at West Thornton Community Centre on 16 January 2025

This was the proverbial six-pointer. Lose and we would be sucked into a relegation dogfight in ultra-competitive Surrey League division 2, where Kingston 2 face three first teams and Guildford’s strong second team. Win and we would at least have some breathing space, with our opponents on the night South Norwood facing the dreaded drop.

There was thus a good deal at stake as we set off on the longish journey south. I had chosen a strong team, with IM John Hawksworth facing the anticipated threat of the highly rated Marcus Osborne on board 1; the evergreens Peter Andrews, John Foley and Alan Scrimgour on 2, 3 and 4; Stephen Lovell and Jon Eckert on 5 and 6; and debutant Zubair Froogh on 7. This was Zubair’s first ever classical rated game – he had played a lot as a junior but very little over the past 15 years. On the strength of a few rapidplay games against him, I decided to blood him in this important match.

He was up against South Norwood stalwart Ken Chamberlain, and I was worried about his position early on after he had castled queenside. This was how the game looked after 20 moves, with White to play:

The next game to finish was South Norwood captain Simon Lea against Stephen Lovell on board 5. Stephen has played very little chess over the past 10 years, but he is a strong player and probably a bit better than his current estimated rating of 1885 suggests. Stephen, with Black, played a very exact technical game, went a pawn up early on and never really relented, allowing his opponent little counterplay and eventually winning a second pawn to force resignation.

Jon Eckert played a powerful attacking game with White against Ibrahim Abouchakra on board 6 and eventually won queen for rook to make the result of the game a formality. That made it 3-0 to Kingston and we could start to breathe more easily. Peter Andrews’ game against Paul Dupré on board 2 was complicated and John Hawksworth appeared to have the worst of the position and a big time disadvantage on board 1, but John Foley and Alan Scrimgour were doing well on boards 3 and 4, and a single point from those two games would be enough to win the match.

Alan was up against Ron Harris, who plays very aggressively and at lightning speed. Alan was ready for this, though, and with White played forcefully in the opening to establish an advantage in this position:

Alan’s win made it 4-0 and the match was in the bag, but there were still three fierce struggles under way on the top boards. John Foley, with Black, had turned down a draw offer from Oliver Weiss on board 3 and was pressing for a win. His chance to seal the deal came in the position below, but with time short the winning move can often prove elusive:

Peter Andrews and Paul Dupré were having a ding-dong struggle on board 2. Peter had a small plus in the early middlegame, but then things started to go badly wrong, as he explains.

That left just one game in progress – Marcus Osborne versus IM John Hawksworth on board 1 – and what a game it was. Baffling to onlookers and at times possibly to the players as well. Marcus had blitzed out the opening moves, and at one point John was almost an hour behind on the look. To eventually win the game was little short of miraculous. John has been out of chess for more than 30 years, and has been feeling his way back in over the past few months. To win here against a player of Marcus’s quality and resilience suggests he is well and truly back in the groove.

John has annotated his win for the Games section. The victory made the final score in the match 5.5-1.5, and we can now start to believe that we will survive in Surrey division 2 for another season. South Norwood would have to take a point off either Wimbledon 1 or Surbiton 1 away to consign us to bottom place, and that will not be easy against two very strong teams who could hold their own in Surrey division 1.

Stephen Moss, Kingston 2 captain in Surrey division 2

Maidenhead A v Kingston A, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at St Luke’s Community Hall, Maidenhead on 13 January 2025

It is a truth universally acknowledged that half the battle when it comes to winning away chess matches on winter evenings is getting a full team to the venue. This is particularly the case when it comes to Maidenhead (or South Norwood, where the second team ventured this same week). So the fact that six players, one unwell and one only 10 years old, made it to a church hall in distant Berkshire was a very good start. Three of us, very kindly driven there by Stephen Moss, arrived 10 minutes late due to traffic problems, but the Maidenhead captain, Nigel Smith, very sportingly did not start the clocks until we had sat down.

Maidenhead, like some of our other recent opponents, were surprisingly weaker than expected, especially given that they were playing at home. We, on the other hand, were near full strength, bolstered by the presence of Supratit Banerjee on board 3. How important this was rapidly became clear when, after less than an hour’s play, Supratit’s opponent resigned, after going wrong in a tactically complicated position, the kind of position where Supratit seems completely at home. At this point, after just seven moves, Black is already under pressure from the pin on the f6 knight:

On board 2 a Nimzowitsch-Larsen Attack led to a wild position. Things took off from here when David Maycock played the provocative 9…g5:

On board 5 John Hawksworth was consolidating a positional advantage. He commented: “My opponent Tony Milnes played an unusual combination of the Dutch and the Bogo-Indian. I didn’t know the theory, but got a pleasant position playing natural moves. He misplaced his knight with 17…Nb7, which I could completely neutralise with 18.b4!” This gave the position below:

John’s win made the score 3-0 to Kingston. In my own game on board 6, everything also appeared to be going swimmingly as my opponent allowed me to win two pawns early on:

The board 4 game had seen manoeuvring in the centre and on the queenside, with neither player gaining much advantage, until the following position was reached. At this point Charles Bullock had about three minutes to Peter Lalić’s one and a half, but Peter thrives in such situations and he was the one who was pressing.

This made the score 4.5-0.5, with the top-board contest still outstanding. From a Caro-Kann Defence Peter Large and his young opponent, Bohdan Terler, reached this position:

With all the games completed (but the long journey home still in front of the Kingston players), Kingston had chalked up another convincing Thames Valley League division 1 victory. Our record so far this season is played four, won four, with 20.5 game points out of a possible 24. However, we still have eight matches to play, and our next two may well be crucial in deciding whether we retain the title, as we face Hammersmith home and away.

David Rowson, Kingston A captain in the Thames Valley League

Kingston C v Hounslow C, Thames Valley League division X match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 13 January 2025

In the spirit of Thames Valley Div X, Kingston captain Jon Eckert chose a young and inexperienced team for this match, with three highly promising juniors on boards 1, 2 and 3 and Sean Tay holding the fort on 4. Sean won smoothly, while the juniors found it tough going against good-quality opposition. But the games were well contested and excellent training at a longish time control (65 minutes plus a 10-second increment) for Kingston’s rising talents. These are the players who in a few years’ time, as they rise up the ranks, will be carrying Kingston’s fortunes.

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain

Kingston A v Wimbledon A, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 6 January 2025

A whitewash is rare in the very competitive Thames Valley division 1, but it happened here. Wimbledon brought a depleted side shorn of their five strongest players to Fortress Willoughby and were duly trounced 6-0. They fought hard, especially with the White pieces, but the rating disparity was just too great.

Will Taylor on the Kingston Whatsapp group noted at the beginning of the match, when I cautioned against the counting of chickens, that our board 6 was stronger than Wimbledon’s board 1. He said he would “buy a chicken for every club member if we lost”. He never looked in danger of having to cough up. This, he said as the Kingston score mounted up, was one dangerous boast which would not be coming home to roost.

Captain David Rowson, on board 6, claimed Kingston’s first win when Stephen Carpenter, playing Black, blundered a piece. “The game finished rather bathetically,” David explained later, “when my opponent, having made better decisions at many points of the game than me, overlooked that he needed to keep his queen protecting his knight. He took this catastrophe very well, very sportingly. I thought it was a rather unusual game in that White rarely castles queenside in the Italian Game, but by that point castling kingside looked suicidal, as I’d misplayed things (wasting time with my knights) and was very much on the defensive. Before the final mistake the position is probably roughly level.”

Peter Lalić’s board 2 win was typically Lalićian: queens off on move 3, win an early pawn, squeeze. Owen Phillips, with Black, tried to create counterplay, but Peter allowed nothing at all. When he wants to play in this style, he is a technical wizard and exerts complete control. Owen resigned in the position below with his remaining pieces virtually immobilised.

Tony Hughes and Luca Buanne fought out an inspired game on board 3. Luca countered Tony’s English Opening with some typically combative play – he is not afraid of double-edged games, as the following position after White’s 20th move shows. Visually this looks tricky for White: Black’s queen appears compromised and White’s kingside attack must surely come to something. But the engine favours Black here. Chess really is calculation, calculation, calculation. Tony throws the kitchen sink at Luca, but he survives and goes on to consolidate his material advantage.

A tremendous game in which both Luca and Tony played with great verve. The last three results came in a cluster. On board 5, Peter Andrews had Black against Gordon Rennie. Peter identified this as the key part of the struggle:

On board 4 Peter Hasson was up against former Wimbledon team-mate Sean Ingle. Peter got an advantage out of the opening and was applying steady pressure when Sean blundered away a piece, resulting in the second sudden denouement of the evening.

Peter Large – two-thirds of the Kingston team were called Peter – completed the 6-0 win with a well-controlled display against Neil Cannon, who held his own until deep into the game. The position below is level, but then matters start to go awry for White.

The win means we have won all three of our opening games in the Thames Valley League and are now level with pacesetters Ealing but with two games in hand. Early days – we have 12 matches in all, home and away against six strong A teams – but the start to our defence of the Thames Valley title could not have gone better. Fingers crossed the run continues when we meet mighty Hammersmith, who are in joint third place with Richmond, at home on Monday 27 January. That will be a pivotal encounter.

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain

Surbiton 1 v Kingston 2, Surrey League division 2 match played at Fircroft, Surbiton on 18 December 2024

Hubris is the word which springs to mind about this match. Excessive pride, dangerous overconfidence, foolish complacency. When I saw the Surbiton team sheet, shorn of several first-team stars, I thought we were home and hosed, done and dusted, sure to win. I would have estimated the likely margin at about 5-2. I was utterly, completely, ludicrously wrong.

At one stage – at around 10.20pm to be precise – we looked destined to lose the match. This would have been poetic justice for my earlier arrogant dismissal of our near neighbours’ chances. In Greek mythology, hubris is inevitably followed by nemesis, the act of retribution which pricks the balloon of overinflated pride. We were a whisker away from that ugly fate, but by winning an endgame in a time scramble in a technically drawn position Stephen Lovell, a strong but very occasional player, defied the gods and έσωσε το μπέικον μας, which is apparently Greek for saved our bacon.

Even I, a notoriously bad reader of positions, knew quite early on that all was not going according to plan. David Rowson, who had been feeling unwell, had a tricky-looking position with Black on board 2 against dangerous veteran Altaf Chaudhry. Julian Way was also in a bind against Joseph Morrison, also dangerous but almost 50 years younger than Altaf, on board 3. Peter Andrews looked cramped against Graham Alcock on board 4, and Alan Scrimgour was the exchange down against David Cole on board 6.

On the upside, John Foley had a very promising position with White on board 5 against Mark Hogarth, and Stephen Lovell (aka the “Homeric hero of the tale”) was having the best of the game against Paul McCauley, whom he heavily outrated, on board 6. The board 1 game between Kingston’s Peter Hasson and Surbiton captain David Scott was largely impenetrable. And don’t take my inexpert word for it. Even Peter Lalić, at Surbiton as a spectator, couldn’t understand what was going on.

Alan Scrimgour, with Black on board 6 against the doughty David Cole, is keen for us to skate over his game. He was certainly not anxious to share the score afterwards. “I obtained a roughly level position as Black,” he said later, “before making a simple one-move blunder that lost the exchange. Luckily my opponent, short of time, incorrectly returned the exchange creating a drawn endgame.” On 1 January we will publish our much-loved New Year resolutions feature, in which club members declare their intentions for next year, and Alan has already announced his number one resolution: “To stop making one-move blunders!” This game hurt.

Peter Andrews, with Black against Graham Alcock on board 4, also drew. Peter had been surprised by what he considered a novelty in an Alapin Sicilian, and felt himself to be under a certain amount of pressure (though computer evaluations are more sanguine). As the position stabilised, Peter had a fleeting opportunity to get on top (see diagram below), but changing the mindset from “Can I hang on here?” to “Hello, isn’t that move potentially winning?” is not always easy. “As so often, I need to be braver,” said Peter ruefully afterwards, adding: “Of course if I had been braver more generally, I would probably play something other than chess.”

The third draw of the evening came on board 1. After a richly inventive short game, a draw was agreed after White’s 25th move in (25. Rae1) in the position below. The engine evaluation slightly favours Black because of White’s compromised pawn structure, but it is not really able to prove the alleged advantage.

There were problems brewing for Kingston on board 3. Julian Way had a huge time advantage, and young Joseph Morrison was already playing on the increment, but the latter had also launched a ferocious attack and, if he could avoid losing on time, was potentially moving in for the kill. Julian’s pieces became becalmed on the first rank and Joseph had all the play. Playing on the increment meant he missed several killer blows as Julian attempted to wriggle free, but a series of pragmatic moves resulted in the position below, in which Julian will at best have to trade down into a losing endgame.

This result made the score 2.5-1.5 to Surbiton, and worse David Rowson was in a spot of bother on board 2. Relief, though, was at hand. Kingston president John Foley, with White against Mark Hogarth on board 5, had looked to have been ahead from an early stage – and so it proved. White’s dark-squared bishop’s odyssey in the sequence below is rather pleasing (notes by John):

John’s win tied the scores at 2.5-2.5, but David Rowson’s situation was worsening against Altaf Chaudhry on board 2. A misjudgment in the position shown below was, he says, the turning point.

“Stockfish says that on move 17 I should just have moved my h5 knight back to f6, Petrosian-like, with no disadvantage,” says David. “20..f6 was a bad move. I’m realising that in this kind of opening it’s usually bad, as it blocks the g7 bishop and weakens g6, apart from fatally taking a retreat square from my h5 knight. I overlooked his 21. Ne3, expecting it to head to d6 instead. After 23. Bxh5 my position looked horrible, but I could still have put up better resistance. At the end I was rather randomly playing for a swindle; instead of that, if I’d had the time and patience, I could have calculated properly and made life harder for him, though he still should have won.”

Surbiton would now 3.5-2.5 ahead and couldn’t lose the match. The assembled experts reckoned the board 7 game between Stephen Lovell and Paul McCauley was a technical draw, but is there any such thing in a time scramble? The photograph above was taken at a very late stage in the encounter, and the tension is palpable from the concentration of the onlookers.

Stephen’s much higher rating gave us hope, though he said later this was the first proper endgame he’d played in a decade. Both players go wrong, but as ever the final error – allowing the White king to infiltrate and round up a pawn – is decisive. Let us recount the game from the middlegame position where Stephen felt he had allowed his advantage to slip

We had our draw and nemesis had been narrowly averted. I will never again underestimate the opposition or assume that victory is guaranteed because a couple of opposition players I had expected to turn up do not appear. I will try to curb my hubristic tendencies and treat all our opponents with proper respect. The half-point we gained with this draw could be very important in Surrey division 2, where we seem eternally to be struggling to avoid relegation, and attention now shifts to our vital away match against fellow strugglers South Norwood on Thursday 16 January. But for now we relax and accentuate the positives. Happy Christmas!

Stephen Moss, Kingston captain in Surrey division 2

Ealing A v Kingston A, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at Actonians Sports Club, London W5 on 16 December 2024

On Monday 16 December we visited league leaders Ealing for our second Thames Valley division 1 match. Last season we had beaten them away, but lost to them at home, so we expected a tough contest. I was ready to enjoy the unaccustomed luxury of being a non-playing captain, able to observe the match without any responsibility for the moves, but in the event the closeness of the games meant that I felt almost as nervous as if I was playing.

The first result was on board 5. John Hawksworth, with White against John Quinn, commented: “I had a clear advantage soon after the opening, but was just too timid at critical moments. In particular, instead of 16. Rb1 [see diagram below] I should have played 16. Qxd6, not being scared of 16…b4 because I can play 17. e5 Ne8 18. Qxc5 bxc3 19. Nxc3 when I have three pawns for a piece and a dominant position (+2 according to the computer).”

As things turned out, the two Johns agreed a draw in a level position on move 25.

On board 3 Ash Stewart was facing the strong veteran Alan Perkins, who chose to counter Ash’s English Opening with the symmetrical system (1. c4 g6 2. Nc3 Bg7 3. g3 c5). Perfect symmetry it was not, however, as Black developed his king’s knight on h6 and then moved it to f5, while White made the early running on the queen’s side, pushing his pawn to b4. As often happens in the English, both players had to make a lot of difficult strategic decisions, backed up by tactical calculation. This position was reached after White’s 18th move:

Here Black played 18…Ne5, an error allowing 19. Nxe5 dxe5 20. Nxe6+! winning a pawn.

This meant that at roughly the halfway stage Kingston were doing well in one game, but the situation on the other boards was much less clear. On the top board Rick McMichael had avoided Peter Large’s preparation by cunningly playing a line of the Philidor Defence (1.e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. dxe5 dxe5 5. Qxd8+ Kxd8 6. Bc4 Be6 7. Bxe6 fxe6) instead of his usual French. McMichael’s doubled isolated e-pawns might not have been aesthetically pleasing, but his position was very hard to attack. On board 2 David Maycock did not seem to have much play against Andrew Harley’s Ruy Lopez, and on board 6 Will Taylor was negotiating a complicated middlegame position arising from his opponent’s Bird’s Opening.

Peter Lalić’s games can usually be relied on for originality, and this one did not disappoint. Afterwards, I was surprised to see that when I put the score into chess.com it labelled the opening “Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defence”. It’s true that after four moves Peter, with Black, and his opponent Martin Smith (both pictured above, with Martin facing the camera) had reached the position below, but by a very unconventional route, as if using an idiosyncratic satnav.

The second game to be completed put Kingston a point ahead, as Ash Stewart defeated Alan Perkins in a beautifully played game, which is featured with Ash’s notes in the Games section of the website. Following on from the position given above, Perkins sacrificed his knight on h4 to try to get a perpetual check, but the Kingston player parried this attempt efficiently and Black resigned a bishop down with his own king exposed.

Ealing, however, hit back soon after when Will Taylor, playing Black against Jonathan White, had to resign. He had fought for compensation after losing a pawn, but to no avail. So the score was 1.5-1.5, with three close games still to conclude.

Andrew Harley had succeeded in denying David Maycock any opportunities to unleash his tactical genius until the following position was reached:

Kingston were now one up, with two games to finish. The Large v McMichael game reached this position after move 17:

This made the score 3-2 to Kingston. We couldn’t lose the match, but could we win? In the last game to finish Peter Lalić had gambited his e-pawn, but after an exchange of queens on d1 White was unable to castle, and when Peter won the minor exchange his bishops and rooks pressured White’s position (see diagram below).

Thus a tight match ended on a dramatic note, and Kingston had won 4-2. A significant victory against one of our main rivals.

David Rowson, Kingston A captain in the Thames Valley League

Coulsdon 3 v Kingston 4, Surrey League division 5 match played at Coulsdon on 16 December 2024

For the second week in succession, Ed Mospan’s travelling army got a win at one of the more distant outposts on the Surrey circuit. After a fine victory at Guildford last week, they faced Coulsdon 4 and once again emerged triumphant.

Coulsdon were nothing like as strong as Guildford 4 had been, but the job still had to be done, and Kingston won handsomely by 4.5, with successes for Ye Kwaw, Aziz Sannie, Mark Sheridan and the in-form captain himself. An excellent end to 2024 for Ed’s hard-working and much-travelled team.

Ed (pictured) is captaining Kingston’s third and fourth teams in the Surrey League and doing half a dozen other jobs at the club besides, thus making himself (as usual) a leading contender to win Club Person of the Year. We may as well just give him the award in perpetuity.

Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain

Ashtead 1 v Kingston 1, Surrey League division 2 match played at the Peace Memorial Hall, Ashtead on 10 December 2024

A somewhat depleted Kingston team nevertheless outrated newly promoted Ashtead on all boards. We are, however, far too experienced to expect an easy match, and this was confirmed by the early results – there weren’t any, and it became clear that most games were heading for time trouble, where, as we have already seen this season, anything can happen.

On board 5, David Rowson had conceded a space advantage against Ashtead captain Bertie Barlow, who had also played for Richmond against our TVL first team the previous night. He found a good sequence of exchanges to get to a slightly better endgame (queen, rook and bishop each), but the position was blocked and with progress unlikely a draw was agreed.

Alan Scrimgour struck our first blow on board 7. A couple of inaccuracies as White had allowed his opponent Tom Barton to equalise. He prepared a kingside attack which induced his opponent to weaken on that side, pounced on the opportunity to open the h-file for his rooks, and quickly won decisive material.

Peter Large has been in tremendous form for Kingston, but got no change out of Phil Brooks’ French Defence on board 1. Computer post-mortem analysis found a couple of opportunities to establish a +1 edge, but requiring an indifference to the pawn count which is difficult for human beings. No one can accuse these top players of a grandmasterly draw – the battle ended with bare kings.

The highlight of the match was Peter Lalić’s game on board 2 as Black against Dan Rosen, who is able to play for Ashtead in division 1 this year now that Wimbledon are in division 2. After characteristic early exchanges, Peter had the advantage in the early endgame based on White’s doubled e-pawns. In trying to defend those, the white rook became trapped in a box on the queenside, only able to extricate itself by means of an exchange which ruined his queenside structure. Despite getting down to a minute on his clock, Peter was able to set up a prolonged zugzwang, starting on move 36.

On board 6, Ian McLeod accepted my offer to go into an unbalanced middle game, in which he gave up bishop for knight to double my f-pawns.

My judgement was that the resulting big centre and two bishops would outweigh the doubled pawns and the difficulty in finding a safe place to put my king. The final position illustrates the success of that strategy, with White immobilised by the black pawn rush.

By now White was almost on the increment and struggling to find sensible moves to play. Material is still level, but the e3 pawn is about to fall, and after Black plays e5 white will be almost paralysed. So White resigned. I had had some amusement in the game from making my first move with my king’s bishop on move 25. But this was misleading, as the bishop had protected several important squares from its initial position and had retained the choice of diagonal on which to emerge until the last minute. Motionless but not inactive.

That took us to four points, with three games still in play. Unfortunately, Jasper Tambini had drawn a short straw on board 4. As an overseas newcomer, James Allison’s estimated ECF rating is derived from his Fide rating, and (to judge from the usual difference between Fide and ECF) is at least 150 points too low. For a long time the post-mortem computer evaluation was that White had little more than his starting edge, but Jasper found his activity limited against white’s Catalan structure, tried a sacrificial approach to break out, and conceded defeat a rook down when it became clear that black’s counterplay had been thwarted.

Peter Hasson’s game against Jonathan Hinton on board 3 had so much in it that it would justify its own blog, and we are grateful to him for reconstructing it despite having stopped recording well before the end of the game. Peter had White and opening subtleties had given him a big advantage by move 23, when he missed a lovely combination.

Last to finish was John Bussmann on board 8. John had built an advantage in the middle game, won a pawn, and then sacrificed the exchange for a second pawn to maintain the initiative. Strictly the sacrifice was not necessary, but he rebuilt his advantage after it. In the position below, he had a clear win.

So in the end we scraped home by the minimum margin. Well done Ashtead for outperforming their ratings; let’s hope they can repeat that fighting spirit in their other home games and nick some points off other teams, which would help us in the title race. Thanks to the Kingston players for making the journey, especially Peter Hasson, whose trip home to Farnham was delayed by a road closure, completing what for poor Peter (one of our four Peters!) was a very frustrating evening.

Peter Andrews, Kingston 1 captain in the Surrey League