Surrey League division 5 (Minor Trophy) match played at the Haywain Brewers Fayre, Epsom on 27 November 2023

This Minor Trophy match, away against Epsom 5, was played on the same night as Kingston 1’s first-division encounter with Epsom, played at Kingston, and sadly the result was the same. A victory for Epsom who, after reforming under the ambitious leadership of Marcus Gosling in 2018, are proving to be a force to be reckoned with.

Jameel Jameel was making his debut for Kingston on board 1 and was well placed against the veteran Michael Wickham, but miscalculated while launching an attack on the uncastled black king and suffered material losses from which he was unable to recover. Jameel, a great addition to the club, blamed over-ambition and impulsiveness on his debut.

Josh Lea, Jaden Mistry and captain Stephen Daines all went down fighting against the home contingent, but Ergo Nobel, a new player who has made an impressive start to his Kingston career, won with a French Defence on board 6, benefiting from several killer pins, and Jimmy Kerr, yet another player new to the club this season, secured a draw on board 3. That made it 4.5-1.5 to Epsom on the night.

Jimmy was two pawns down in the opening but had plenty of compensation and was able to equalise down to an endgame with same-coloured bishops and six pawns each. He had a significant time advantage and considered playing on, but in the end felt it would be impossible to gain a decisive advantage.

A tough night for the team in a competition we have entered for the first time this season, but great to see so many new players getting game time (the reason for fielding a team in Surrey division 5) and making a mark. Thanks to Stephen Daines, who is doing herculean work running three teams this season, for captaining and getting the team over to Epsom.

Stephen Moss