South Norwood 1 v Kingston 2, Surrey League division 2 match played at West Thornton Community Centre, Thornton Heath on 4 April 2024

South Norwood are usually a very different proposition at home compared with when they travel, and so it proved here. Threatened by relegation from Surrey division 2, they put out their strongest possible team against Kingston 2 and ran out winners by 5-2. But we had some hard luck stories, and on another night we might have come away with a 3.5-3.5 draw.

The first game to finish was a gloriously violent struggle between South Norwood’s Ronald Harris and Kingston’s Jon Eckert on board 4. Forty years ago, Ron was a 2200-level player and, now 80, has retained a great deal of his strength. He plays at rapid speed, loves to attack, will seize the initiative at every opportunity, and has probably forgotten more about chess than most of us will ever know.

Jon Eckert is now slouch either and is always up for an over-the-board punch-up. The two of them fashioned a game which, sitting next to them, I could barely take my eyes off. This was raw, kill-or-be-killed chess and is worth looking at in full – a glorious French Winawer in which both sides play with the zero regard for defence.

That made it 1-0 to South Norwood, but Kingston were soon on the board after a draw between old rivals Alan Scrimgour and Paul Dupré on board 3. Alan had made most of the running against Paul’s Alekhine’s Defence, but with time starting to become a factor he allowed his advantage to slip and by the end Black had not just equalised but established a small plus in the position below:

Peter Andrews got a good draw with Black against South Norwood’s highly rated Tariq Oozeerally on board 2 to make it 2-1 to South Norwood. Both players played with commendable accuracy in an Alapin Sicilian and peace was declared after 30 cagey moves in the dead-level position below:

Kingston’s Charlie Cooke lost a well-contested game with the higher-rated Michael Livesey on board 7 to put South Norwood 3-1 up, but I managed to win my game with White against Oliver Weiss on board 5 to narrow the gap to 3-2. I had also faced an Alekhine’s Defence, but unlike Alan did not have the courage to challenge it and played a rather anaemic opening. My opponent had a plus (at one point threateningly healthy) for most of the game, but as a messy middlegame developed he allowed me some counterplay and missed a forced mate in two in a position where with best play he had good drawing chances.

Beating a higher-rated player has been such a rarity for me this season that I have analysed the encounter in the Games section, though as others have pointed out the computer-heavy nature of the annotation does hint at the somewhat threadbare nature of my mid-game analysis. I really was guessing at key moments. But it was all fine in the end thanks to my opponent losing the thread in this position:

Black played 28… Be6 here, which allows an unstoppable mate after 29. Qc1. Instead he should play 28…Qf4, which gives good (if complicated) drawing chances. The lines which might ensue are shown in my annotation of the game in the Games section.

So 3-2 to South Norwood with two games to go. David Rowson stood better against the very strong Marcus Osborne on board 1 (their game is pictured above, alongside the Oozeerally-Andrews encounter). Another Kingston stalwart, Nick Grey, was battling hard on board 6 against South Norwood captain Simon Lea, and certainly didn’t look to be worse. At that stage, a drawn match looked perfectly plausible.

It was not to be, however. Nick went wrong in the endgame as time started to take its toll. “I was playing for a win ,” he explained afterwards, “and missed the fact that liquidating both h-pawns would have been drawing.” Even worse was David Rowson’s fate on board 1, where it was the familiar story of first the win going west and then the draw slipping away as well.

David’s game with Marcus Osborne was a very classy one up to the moment when the Kingston board 1 blundered. Marcus played a Sicilian Defence, to which David responded imaginatively, leading to this position after 15 moves:

The engine has a slight preference for Black here, but the white pawn lodged on e6 is potentially awkward for Black, and David made the running hereafter, winning the exchange after a slip by Marcus and having this objectively “won” position after 28 moves:

Of course the notion of an objectively won middlegame position is ludicrous, as the Dutch grandmaster Hein Donner noted in a famous remark: “I love all positions. Give me a difficult positional game, I’ll play it. Give me a bad position, I’ll defend it. Openings, endgames, complicated positions, and dull, drawn positions, I love them all and will give my best efforts. But totally winning positions I cannot stand.”

It is when they have “won” positions that many chess players (at club level at least) start feeling queasy, while the player with the “lost” position has nothing to lose, can throw caution to the wind and will draw on all sorts of resources to try to equalise. Marcus is just such a player and he showed his resilience in the rest of the game.

David, perhaps subconsciously relaxing in that “won position”, blundered to give back the exchange and lead to a level position, but after that, as David later, said Marcus showed his ability and played the final part of the game well. Here is the denouement from move 34.

A desperate finish for David who, behind his brave facade, was very disappointed by the result. Chess is cruel – a conclusion we could draw after pretty much every match we play. But we fight on. We are not quite clear of the relegation mire yet (see table below, under the match scorecard), but once our relegation rivals South Norwood 1 and Coulsdon 2 have played on 15 April we will know exactly what we have to do against Ashtead 1 and Surbiton 1, the two strongest teams in the division. A narrow win for Coulsdon 2 would leave us having to accumulate a handful of game points to survive. We can surely manage that … can’t we?

Stephen Moss, Kingston 2 captain in Surrey division 2

Guildford 4 v Kingston 3, Surrey League division 4 match played at the Guildford Institute on 25 March 2024

Guildford are a large club with considerable strength in depth, as they proved in this Surrey Centenary Trophy match, running out 5-1 winners against a competitive Kingston 3 side. Ergo Nobel, on board 6, deserves a prize for getting our solitary point and avoiding a whitewash, though all the Kingston players fought hard.

On board 1 Charlie Cooke lost to Neil Crosswell, who has an ECF rating of 1748, pretty handy for a fourth team! On board 2 Sean Tay faced the veteran Peter Horlock, and it was even well into the middlegame. Sean then missed a tactic and dropped the exchange, but he had a big time advantage and offered a draw, which Peter (who is not unused to time scrambles) rejected. Sean sought to complicate to exploit Peter’s time crisis, but Peter negotiated the endgame well and forced resignation.

On board 4 Mark Sheridan faced Richard Duncalfe and it proved an evenly matched, carefully played game in which Mark defended adroitly. But gradually Mark’s opponent began to exert pressure, and after almost three hours’ play Mark, having just made an illegal move (pointed out by a bystander, which is not actually permitted under the rules), chose to resign.

Now for the good news. On board 6 Ergo Nobel had Black against Stephen Taylor. It was a highly tactical game encounter, but Ergo played a well-controlled game and always maintained a time advantage. As he exerted pressure down the h-file, the main site of the battle for much of the game, his opponent’s position became more difficult and in the end he ran out of time. Ergo, who joined the Kingston club at the start of the season, is proving a huge asset and is really on a roll.

I was facing Tony Garrood on board 3, and tried to attack on the kingside against Tony’s Sicilian, but I blundered the exchange (rook for bishop), missed several opportunities for counterplay and in the end succumbed to Tony’s attack. We defaulted board 5, the club’s first default for several years – our player is still missing somewhere in darkest Surrey – so the final score was 5-1. We live and, hopefully, learn.

Edward Mospan

Kingston B v Staines A, Thames Valley division 2 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 25 March 2024

Staines, missing several players because of illness, brought only half a team to the Willoughby, so we started 3-0 up, which was reassuring. Nick Grey drew with Ye Kyaw on board 1 to ensure victory; newcomer Leon Mellor-Sewell lost with Black to the experienced David Beam; and David Shalom made sure the margin of victory was a comfortable 4.5-1.5 by beating Clive Lawrence after a long struggle when the Staines player went wrong in a drawish endgame.

Kingston B continue to more than hold their own in division 2 of the Thames Valley League and some optimists are even contemplating the possibility of promotion, though Hounslow A and Surbiton B, whom we will face in our two remaining fixtures in this division, will no doubt have other ideas.

Stephen Moss

Kingston A v Surbiton A, Thames Valley division 1 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 21 March 2024

Surbiton came to Kingston with a much-weakened team and had not been helped when their top board dropped out on the morning of the match because of illness. We needed to win well to keep up the pressure on Hammersmith at the top of Thames Valley division 1; we expected to win well because we outrated Surbiton by an average of 250 points a board; and we did indeed win well, with a final score of 5-1.

But those ratings averages can be deceptive. Surbiton still brought six very good chess players. Sean Butler and Graham Alcock got draws against strong opponents on boards 5 and 6; Paul Dupré blundered when ahead against Kingston captain David Rowson on board 4; rising Surbiton star Joshua Pirgon gave Peter Lalić a tough fight on board 2 and their endgame, with both players on the increment, went on late into the night; and stand-in board 1 Nick Faulks threw everything he could muster at Kingston’s Vladimir Li in their encounter.

The big news for Kingston was the league debut for the club of 10-year-old superstar Supratit Banerjee (pictured above), who was playing on board 3. He was up against Surbiton captain Angus James and played the Rubinstein Variation of the French Defence. Supratit played disconcertingly quickly and established a big time advantage, even though the players had barely entered the middle game. Angus, perhaps a little shellshocked at the speed and precision of Supratit’s play (he said afterwards it felt like a prepared line), resigned in the position below after Black had played 18. Rd5, attacking queen and bishop.

Julian Way and Sean Butler had a fascinating battle on board 5. Sean has returned to chess after a spell away, is playing a lot for Surbiton – I had seen him in action the previous night playing at home against Dorking when he drew with a 1950-rated player – and his strength is clearly returning. A draw was agreed in the position below.

This is one of those remarkable positions where everything is hanging and, with kings horribly exposed, both sides look in imminent danger of collapse, yet the probable outcome is a draw by repetition after 37…Rxf2 38. Qg3+. Julian was starting to run short of time and Sean would probably have settled for a draw against a player rated 300 points above him, so a draw it was. But this is a game that will demand a great deal of further analysis.

Peter Andrews and Graham Alcock also settled on a draw on board 6, and again time was a factor, with Peter down to three minutes and starting to fret. “For once it has been morale-building to stick the game in the machine,” Peter said a few days after the match. “It seems my play was reasonably accurate, that I had built a decent edge, and that even the final position was still better, although trying to win from +0.8 with three minutes against 50 would have been reckless.” This was the position in which peace was declared.

Nick Faulks opted for his usual English Opening against Vladimir Li on board 2 and played quickly and aggressively, attacking on the kingside while castling queenside and allowing his own king to be assaulted. It was kill or be killed, and after a 27-move slugfest this was the position.

Here Vladimir forced resignation on the spot with 27…Rxe4+ . The rook cannot be taken because of mate after the queen recaptures, so the king is forced to f1. White can play on, but Nick clearly decided that a player of Vladimir’s calibre was not going to blow an advantage of at least +3. That made it 3-1 to Kingston. Almost game, set and match.

Next to finish was the board 4 match-up between David Rowson, with White, and Paul Dupré. Paul played an enterprising French Defence and went the exchange (bishop for rook) up after David overlooked that his rook on h1 would be trapped by the raking bishop on b7. But David had some compensation in the shape of a dangerous e-pawn, and this position was reached with Black to play on move 40.

David’s win made it 4-1 to secure the match. That left Peter Lalić v Joshua Pirgon on board 2, and this was a battle royal. Peter had an edge in the middle game, but Joshua fought back well and by move 40, in the position below with Black to play, had all but equalised.

But Black makes a mistake here, playing 40…Ke7 when f6 would win the g-pawn and lead to an equal position. Peter, who had only a few minutes left on his clock and had already stopped notating (under the five-minute rule), is brilliant in these situations and never looked back after his opponent’s misjudgement. It took another 30 moves, with both players operating on the increment in a frantic denouement, but Peter was not to be denied and Joshua was forced to concede.

That made it 5-1 and allowed us to edge ahead of Hammersmith in the division 1 table (see below, beneath the match score). But with a match in hand and a superior game difference (the chess equivalent of goal difference) they remain favourites to win the title. Nevertheless, we have had a good run of late, and are at least making the Hammers work to take our crown.

Stephen Moss

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.

Stephen Moss

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.

Stephen Moss

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.

Stephen Moss

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.