Coulsdon 1 v Kingston 1, Surrey League division 1, Coulsdon, 15 January 2024
The match was a curtain-raiser to the forthcoming semi-final in the Alexander Cup. Coulsdon brought along four juniors, with the talented Supratit Banerjee moving up to board 1 where he faced Kingston’s regular top board David Maycock. Supratit had done well at Hastings, where he drew with Kingston’s new signing Ameet Ghasi in the first round (see their game in the footnote). Ameet, who came a commendable third at Hastings, was full of praise for the youngster.
In the pre-match preparation, we identified the endgame as Supratit’s relative weak point. In a league match earlier in the year, John Foley had beaten Supratit from a level position in the endgame. David Maycock followed the plan and reached a theoretically level endgame position, which he then proceeded to win. This required some careful play, but when you know what you are doing chess can feel easy.
