Kingston A v Ealing A, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Kingston on 20 April 2026

The visit of Ealing was significant for both Kingston A, looking to maintain their lead in Thames Valley League Division 1, and Kingston B, for whom Ealing are relegation rivals. It was therefore not ideal that the match coincided with the World Senior Team Championship in Albania, so Kingston were without their usual captain, IM Peter Large, although we welcomed John Foley back from a recent medical absence. Notwithstanding our rating advantage, it was a very well-contested match, with all six games going the distance in terms of time, moves or both, and for much of the evening the outcome was in doubt. The consensus at the end was that the score flattered Kingston on the run of play.

John Foley’s game on board 6 was the first to come to the boil. His play was full of energy, a brilliancy in the offing, and then went wrong, requiring a courageous rescue.

The game I was most confident of from an early stage was John Hawksworth’s on board 3. He has kindly provided notes on the whole game on which the following draw heavily.

Julian Way’s game on board 4 also only seemed likely to have one of two results, although it was some time before he had more than the edge White starts with.

When the teamsheets were exchanged, the smart money was on board 5 to produce an entertaining clash, since both Xavier Cowan, in the Surrey League a Kingston player but in the TVL representing his original club, and our own Jasper Tambini enjoy a battle. FM Vladimir Li kindly provided some expert evaluations in real time on most of the games for the benefit of those following on WhatsApp, but admitted he would have needed an engine for this one. Even more mind-blowing, neither player realised when White resigned that the final position was a draw – that only emerged when the engines dissected the drama several hours later.

And so, as in so many Kingston matches, the last two games in progress were those of David Maycock and Peter Lalić, although this time we had already scored enough to win the match. That was just as well, for neither were having things all their own way. On board 1, FM Andrew Harley had played very well against David. David has a great talent for continually creating activity and hence pressure, the more so as time runs short, but on this occasion he was definitely running a risk.

On board 2, Peter Lalić had defied stereotype by starting with 1. e4, but found himself on unfamiliar ground in the Petrov. He gained an advantage which gradually slipped away, and found himself in the unusual position of having to defend a difficult ending – more characteristically with very little time on the clock.

So there it was, a 5-1 win which could easily have been 3-3, and six games which all had some meat in, hence the length of this report. The A team now have a four-point lead over Hammersmith with only six more on the table, so confidence is justified, but, as these games showed, concentration and tenacity are still required. 

Peter Andrews was acting captain of Kingston A in this match