The promotion push by CSC/Kingston’s first team suffers a double blow and the second team continue to struggle, but at least the unsung thirds are holding their own
Not the best of 4NCL rounds (held over two different weekends at two different venues) for the CSC/Kingston squad. The biggest sufferers were the first team, playing in Telford, who lost both their matches – by the same margin, 5-3 – to two strong fellow promotion-chasers in division 2, The Audible Checks and Barbican.
The final long weekend, on 4/5/6 May when the first team will be in Daventry, now promises to be very tense, with CSC/Kingston 1 third in the table (three go up to division 1) but with five other teams snapping at our heels. Barbican and Audible Checks, first and second in the table, look nailed on to get promoted.
We outrated Audible Checks, so to lose that match on Saturday was disappointing. IM Martin Jogstad’s loss to Steven Jones on board 1 was a key defeat. Martin has been the side’s talisman and performed brilliantly over the past couple of seasons. Losses for Peter Finn and Luca Buanne, who had been winning for much of the game, sealed our fate, though there were high spots, notably a win for David Maycock (pictured above) against FM Jonathan Blackburn and a draw for Helen Frostick against the highly rated Lewis Turner. Peter Lalić and Vladimir Li, two Kingston Chess Club stalwarts, also secured solid draws, as did Ewan Wilson on board 6.
The loss on Sunday to league leaders Barbican was less surprising. Barbican are a division 1 team in all but name. David Maycock got a draw with grandmaster Jonathan Parker on board 2; Helen Frostick had a good win on board 8 to complete an excellent weekend for her; Martin Jogstad drew with Black against strong IM Alan Merry on board 1; Peter Finn and Peter Lalić drew against strong opponents; but losses for Vladimir Li (who erred in a level endgame), Ewan Wilson and Luca Buanne meant a second 5-3 loss of the weekend. Now we have to prepare for epic battles in Daventry in the final round of matches.
The second team won on Saturday, beating Sussex Martlets 4-2, but an unfortunate 3.5-2.5 loss on Sunday to Rhyfelwyr Essyllwg leaves the team second from bottom in division 3 and facing the fight of their lives to avoid the drop to division 4. Plaudits, though, to Tom Farrand for winning both his games, and to Mike Cresswell, who stepped in as a reserve on Sunday and got a tremendous draw against a player rated 300 points above him. Surely one of the performances of the weekend.
Meanwhile, playing in Warwick on the previous weekend, the third team continues to chug along in mid-table, losing 3.5-2.5 to Oxford 3 on Saturday but bouncing back to beat She Plays to Win Uni on Sunday. I missed a clear win (in time trouble, he adds hurriedly) on Sunday against youngster Navieinaah Haridas, but, having been under intense bombardment earlier and only narrowly managing to survive, I can’t really complain. The 4NCL is tough, as the whole CSC/Kingston outfit continues to discover.
Kingston 4 v Epsom 3, Surrey League division 2 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 18 March 2024
There was drama at the start of this Minor Trophy match when one of the Kingston players, Mark Sheridan, didn’t show up for the 7.30pm start and couldn’t be contacted. Kingston 4 captain Stephen Daines, nothing if not decisive, hauled new member Rob Taylor out of the bar where he was playing some social chess and subbed him in against Epsom captain David Flewellen on board 3, which was tough on Mark, who was driving to the venue and arrived shortly afterwards.
But every cloud and all that. Rob played really well in a hair-raising encounter and got a draw in what was the final game to finish. He actually had what looked a winning rook and pawn endgame, but went wrong under time pressure and allowed stalemate. Still, great performance and great debut.
Epsom were stronger than us on the top boards, and Sean Tay and Josh Lea went down to fighting defeats. Greg Heath missed a tactic that cost him a piece on board 4 and resigned on the spot. But Ergo Nobel continued his fine run of form with a win on board 6, and the fast-improving junior Jaden Mistry won on board 5 with some very astute and powerful play against Anthony Hunter’s Caro-Kann. A very good and well-contested match which ended 3.5-2.5 to Epsom. Mark will be miffed to have missed it, but the upside was that Kingston has another solid competition player in Rob Taylor.
Kingston 2 v Coulsdon 2, Surrey League division 2 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 18 March 2024
Coulsdon, on paper a very strong club, have not been having a happy time of it in either division 1 or division 2 of the Surrey League and are threatened with relegation in both. In this match we felt something of a backlash because, in a last-ditch effort to save themselves in division 2, they brought a very strong team to the Willoughby that had more than enough firepower to defeat a pretty useful Kingston 2 side by 5-2.
John Bussmann, happily restored to the Kingston ranks and playing his first match of the season after injury (not chess related!), lost to the veteran Ian Calvert on board 3, and another Coulsdon old hand, Nick Edwards, outmanoeuvred Kingston newcomer Jameel Jameel on board 5. Talented Coulsdon youngster Shivam Agrawal defeated Julian Way on board 2, having a winning endgame after Julian had gone down the exchange, and on board 7 Charlie Cooke blundered in a good position against Brian Allan.
There were, though, three bright spots. David Rowson got a solid draw on board 1 against the highly rated Timur Kuzhelev. Timur played the interesting Nimzovich Sicilian (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6) and followed it up with an early and aggressive b5, but the promised fireworks never materialised, pieces were traded and a draw was agreed with knight and five pawns on both sides.
Kingston’s only winner of the night was Jon Eckert, who beat Matt Darville on board 4. Matt played King’s Indian Attack (1.e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3.Nbd2) against Jon’s French Defence, but Jon built up pressure in the centre, homing in on White’s backward d4 pawn, and Matt blundered a rook, forcing resignation on the spot.
The final game to finish was Nick Grey, who had Black against Paul Jackson. It was a humdinger that could have gone either way. Nick is a gentle soul, except when he plays chess, when he is tremendously attacking and often very inventive. He had a won endgame here, but was playing for a long period on the increment and couldn’t quite convert. Excellent performance, though, and a draw was perhaps fair in a game where both players battled hard and had winning chances.
Stephen Moss, Kingston captain in Surrey division 2
Hammersmith A v Kingston A, Thames Valley division 1 match played at the London MindSports Centre, London W6 on 14 March 2024
Fate, or the Thames Valley fixtures secretaries, decreed that in the week beginning 11 March our first team played season-defining matches against its two main rivals: Epsom in the Surrey League and Hammersmith in the Thames Valley League. We had recorded a famous victory against Epsom on the Monday; could we do the same at Hammersmith on the Thursday? They were also playing their second match in a week, but had only drawn at Richmond, so maybe we would go into the clash with more confidence.
On arrival at the impressive London MindSports Centre we discovered that the Hammersmith team was missing some of its strongest players, a few of whom were playing in the Reykjavik Open. They were still able to field a challenging team, however. Their top board, Thomas Bonn, had won seven and drawn just one of his eight TVL games before this match.
The game on board 3 was the first to finish. Peter Lalić opened with the Mieses Opening (1. d3) against Hammersmith captain Bajrush Kelmendi’s customary double fianchetto. Peter soon took control of the c-file and Bajrush’s pieces were an unhappy picture by move 27:
None of them can defend g6. There was a very conclusive denouement, starting from this position:
The evolution of the opening on board 6 was instructive. John Foley’s opponent, Greg Billenness, clearly wanted an attacking game, as he choose the Blackmar Gambit: 1.d4 d5 2. e4. However, John foiled this by playing 2…c6 to transpose to his familiar Caro-Kann Defence. White was still determined to have a tactical game and chose the double-edged Fantasy Variation (3. f3). John was ready for this, and played what he described as “the sharpest line of the sharpest line”, giving this position (not for the faint-hearted) after move 4.
Sitting next to John, I spent almost as much time looking at his game as my own, since it seemed much more interesting. After 5. dxe5 Bc5 6. Na4 Qa5+ 7. c3 Bxg1 8.Rxg1 John could have played 8…dxe4, winning back the pawn, but instead chose to make it a gambit with Nd7. John built up pressure in the centre and as a result Greg first gave up a pawn and then the exchange. John had to be careful, as White’s queen and knight threatened to combine against Black’s king, but in the end the Hammersmith player’s time pressure told and he blundered the knight. 2-0 to Kingston.
David Maycock is never afraid to sacrifice the exchange for an attack, and in this game, a Sicilian Defence, he did it twice. First, in the position below.
David decided to use his mobile pawn majority by playing 20. c5. Black took the rook – 20…Nxc1 21. Rxc1 – but erred by playing 21…dxc5 (Rd8 was better), which was answered by 22. d6! Three moves later this position arose, with White to play.
My own game featured a reversal of fortunes. Reaching this position from a Giuoco Piano, I felt I was on top and just needed to work out how to pursue a kingside attack:
As we were well ahead in the match I offered a draw here. It’s actually still quite a tricky position for both sides. A queen exchange is likely to favour Black, whose rook and king will be better placed, but my opponent was probably worried about his time, so he accepted the offer.
On board 4 Will Taylor was facing Christof Brixel, who must be underrated – he’s actually won all his TVL games this season. In a difficult position arising from an English Opening, Will lost the exchange and had to resign soon after.
The final game finished in unusual circumstances. Silverio Abasolo, who had loyally come all the way from Kent to play, needed to finish in time to catch the train back. In a close ending he blitzed out his moves and eventually the players agreed a draw, unfortunately too late for Silverio to get the train he wanted. We were very grateful for his participation, as apart from giving the team an extra half-point it also meant that his team-mates below him played a board lower than they otherwise would have.
This completed a perfect week for Kingston’s first team, with wins against our main rivals in the two leagues, leaving us with an outside chance of the title in both. This victory put us level with Hammersmith on match points, but they had three game points more, so as well as winning our final two matches we would need to win well and hope our rivals slipped up.
David Rowson, Kingston A captain in the Thames Valley League
Kingston 1 v Epsom 1, Surrey League division 1 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 11 March 2024
There was a great deal riding on this match. Epsom, newly promoted but with three IMs on their top boards and masses of ambition under president-for-life Marcus Gosling, are top of division 1 and needed only a draw to secure their first ever Surrey Trophy. They beat us with ease back in November, when we put out a stronger team than the one we fielded here, but on this occasion we turned the tables and won a famous victory by 5-3.
Epsom are still favourites to win the title – relegation-threatened Wimbledon would need to get at least a draw in their match with Epsom on 18 April for us to have any chance of overhauling them at the top. But at least we have made it difficult for them, and given the energetic Epsom president a few sleepless nights.
This was officially an away match for us, but it was switched to the Willoughby Arms when Epsom discovered they could not use their venue on the designated day (they have since announced that they are moving to a new venue). Epsom fielded exactly the same team that had beaten us in November, but this time we were ready and oddly always felt confident about doing well in the match.
It is the solidity of the team’s performance that is striking: no losses across the eight boards; Epsom’s mighty IM spearhead nullified by our own super-trio of Peter Lalić, Vladimir Li and David Maycock; a brilliant win by Luca Buanne against the dangerous Robin Haldane on board 4; and, fittingly, a match-winning victory by Kingston captain David Rowson against the very promising junior Zain Patel on board 5 (the climax of their nail-biting clash, hemmed in by team-mates and supporters, is shown in the photograph above). The perfect team performance, and very welcome after a season in which we have occasionally spluttered following last season’s “Quadruple”-winning heroics.
The first game to finish was on board 6, where Julian Way had Black against the 1965 British champion Peter Lee, who has made a welcome return to chess at the tender age of 80. Peter played a Ruy Lopez, but Julian had no difficulty equalising and may even at one point have had a slight edge, but after 25 moves peace was declared in the position below.
On board 2 Peters Lalić, with White, and Large (how many Peters were playing in this match?) had an even shorter game – just 14 moves – but those moves seemed to take an eternity as the two prizefighters, who know each other’s games so well, circled the ring looking for an opportunity to land a punch. Objectively, the Epsom Peter has a small plus in the position in which a draw was agreed (see below), but the open g-file bearing down on the king may have given him pause for thought. Epsom IM No 1 neutralised.
Epsom IM No 2, Graeme Buckley, had White against Kingston FM Vladimir Li on board 2, and this game was always likely to be one of the key determinants of the match. Vladimir defended superbly, but was a little worried when this position was reached after move 25. The comments and variants which follow are Vladimir’s, supplied more or less off the cuff on the night of the match.
Vladimir’s draw on board 2 meant the second of Epsom’s trio of IMs had been neutralised. On board 3 David Maycock did not have neutralisation on his mind against Susan Lalić and had (as usual) sac’d the exchange in the interests of a creative attack. But it was petering (geddit?) out, and we started to fear the worst. John Foley was also up against it in the Battle of the Presidents on board 8, though President Gosling was starting to come under time pressure, so all was not quite lost despite some dangerous-looking passed pawns.
Meanwhile on board 4, Luca Buanne was playing skilfully with Black in a Sicilian against the attack-minded Robin Haldane. The position was level until Robin allowed his knight one adventure too many in the position below. After that the roof caved in, and Luca finished in style – such style indeed that Robert Waller, one of our great supporters, raised his arms in the air in triumph as he made the move. I tried to restrain him in a somewhat po-faced, let’s-respect-chess-decorum kind of way, but Rob was having none of it. This was insurgent Epsom after all, the would-be chess empire that had to be held in check by the gatekeepers of the Galactic Republic.
Luca’s win put us in front and, in a match this tight, was always going to be crucial. At one point it looked likely to be the only decisive result of the evening. Peter Andrews and Chris Wright played out a draw on board 7, though not without alarms on both sides. Peter was very critical of his own play, and at one point missed a chance to win the exchange, but he is captain of the Kingston first team in the Surrey League and captaincy can do that to players. You are trying to follow all eight games and can sometimes neglect your own, with the result that captains often play a little below their true strength.
So 3-2 to Kingston with three games still in progress: two of them were unfavourable to us – President Foley was in a spot if bother against President Gosling and David Maycock was down against Susan Lalić, though as ever creating complications – and only David Rowson looked to have a small plus. This was by no means done and dusted yet.
Key to our victory in the match was that Epsom did not win the two games in which they were manifestly up. On board 8, John Foley feared the game was slipping away, but Marcus Gosling was short of time and John is an astute defender. We pick up the game on White’s 36th move. The notes are supplied by John, who at this point felt his position was “dire” and that “the only hope was to get opposite-coloured bishops or to aim for a tricky knight and queen ending”.
Now attention shifted to David Maycock’s struggle with the third of Epsom’s IMs, Susan Lalić, who is also a woman grandmaster (WGM) and five-times British women’s chess champion. As in the clash of presidents on board 8, the Epsom player was objectively winning but had very little time, with David causing problems and angling for a perpetual check, which he did indeed eventually achieve. The crunch came in the position below. One move wins; the other draws. Susan chose the wrong one.
Susan, under great time pressure remember, went for Kf8 and repeated moves – zeitnot scrambles even experts’ brains. But Ke8 is winning because within a few moves Black will be able to block the queen checks by playing Bd7 and that will more or less be that. A great – and in terms of securing the match vital – escape for Kingston’s Mexican-born wizard.
Now Captain Rowson had only to draw on board 5 to win the match, but he was looking for more than that against Zain Patel after setting a neat trap in the position below.
David’s victory made it 5-3 to Kingston on the night. Epsom took defeat very sportingly and their chance will come again when they play Wimbledon away on 18 April. We have to beat Wimbledon at home on 8 April and then hope Wimbledon get some sort of miracle result against Epsom, who are sure to put out a very strong team. But whatever the destination of the Surrey Trophy title, this was a night we will savour for a long time to come.
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.
