Kingston A secure vital win at league leaders Ealing

Ealing A v Kingston A, Thames Valley League division 1 match played at Actonians Sports Club, London W5 on 16 December 2024

On Monday 16 December we visited league leaders Ealing for our second Thames Valley division 1 match. Last season we had beaten them away, but lost to them at home, so we expected a tough contest. I was ready to enjoy the unaccustomed luxury of being a non-playing captain, able to observe the match without any responsibility for the moves, but in the event the closeness of the games meant that I felt almost as nervous as if I was playing.

The first result was on board 5. John Hawksworth, with White against John Quinn, commented: “I had a clear advantage soon after the opening, but was just too timid at critical moments. In particular, instead of 16. Rb1 [see diagram below] I should have played 16. Qxd6, not being scared of 16…b4 because I can play 17. e5 Ne8 18. Qxc5 bxc3 19. Nxc3 when I have three pawns for a piece and a dominant position (+2 according to the computer).”

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As things turned out, the two Johns agreed a draw in a level position on move 25.

On board 3 Ash Stewart was facing the strong veteran Alan Perkins, who chose to counter Ash’s English Opening with the symmetrical system (1. c4 g6 2. Nc3 Bg7 3. g3 c5). Perfect symmetry it was not, however, as Black developed his king’s knight on h6 and then moved it to f5, while White made the early running on the queen’s side, pushing his pawn to b4. As often happens in the English, both players had to make a lot of difficult strategic decisions, backed up by tactical calculation. This position was reached after White’s 18th move:

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Here Black played 18…Ne5, an error allowing 19. Nxe5 dxe5 20. Nxe6+! winning a pawn.

This meant that at roughly the halfway stage Kingston were doing well in one game, but the situation on the other boards was much less clear. On the top board Rick McMichael had avoided Peter Large’s preparation by cunningly playing a line of the Philidor Defence (1.e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. dxe5 dxe5 5. Qxd8+ Kxd8 6. Bc4 Be6 7. Bxe6 fxe6) instead of his usual French. McMichael’s doubled isolated e-pawns might not have been aesthetically pleasing, but his position was very hard to attack. On board 2 David Maycock did not seem to have much play against Andrew Harley’s Ruy Lopez, and on board 6 Will Taylor was negotiating a complicated middlegame position arising from his opponent’s Bird’s Opening.

Peter Lalić’s games can usually be relied on for originality, and this one did not disappoint. Afterwards, I was surprised to see that when I put the score into chess.com it labelled the opening “Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defence”. It’s true that after four moves Peter, with Black, and his opponent Martin Smith (both pictured above, with Martin facing the camera) had reached the position below, but by a very unconventional route, as if using an idiosyncratic satnav.

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The second game to be completed put Kingston a point ahead, as Ash Stewart defeated Alan Perkins in a beautifully played game, which is featured with Ash’s notes in the Games section of the website. Following on from the position given above, Perkins sacrificed his knight on h4 to try to get a perpetual check, but the Kingston player parried this attempt efficiently and Black resigned a bishop down with his own king exposed.

Ealing, however, hit back soon after when Will Taylor, playing Black against Jonathan White, had to resign. He had fought for compensation after losing a pawn, but to no avail. So the score was 1.5-1.5, with three close games still to conclude.

Andrew Harley had succeeded in denying David Maycock any opportunities to unleash his tactical genius until the following position was reached:

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Here White went wrong with
31.Bb6?31.h4or31.Qa2would have been fine for White, although Black should hold the position. This allowed31…Bxb632.Qxb6Bxe4! when White cannot take the bishop because of the threat of a back-rank mate. The Ealing captain tried to defend with a queen exchange, but the resulting ending was a comfortable win for Black.0–1

Kingston were now one up, with two games to finish. The Large v McMichael game reached this position after move 17:

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Now White played
18.Bg3Peter commented afterwards: “I don’t think I should have allowed 18…Rxd3. I should have played 18. Rxd8 Rxd8 19. Bg3. Then I would have had an advantage after 19…Nd7 or 19…Bd6 20. Nd1, followed by manoeuvring the knight to d3, and after 19. Bxc3 bxc3, when Black can’t defend the pawn on e5 because Nd7 loses to 20. Bh4+ Nf6 21. f4! and Black has too many pieces on the h4-d8 diagonal. This line would have made sense of my plan with h4, h5 and Bf2.”18…Rxd319.cxd3Nd720.Kd2Bd621.Nd1Bc522.Ne3Bd423.b3a524.Rc1Bxe3+25.Kxe3c526.a3Ra827.Rb1Kf628.Bh4+Kf729.Be1b530.Bc3Ke7Peter continued: “The game rumbled on with rough equality until I played the erroneous 31. g3 and 32. f4.31.g3Kd632.f4After the excellent 32…b4! 33. axb4 axb4 34. Ra1 and 34…Ra3! White is on the verge of losing.”32…b4!
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33.axb4axb434.Ra1Ra3!
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35.Rxa3?35…bxa336.fxe5+Nxe537.d4Peter concluded: “After 37…Nc6?! (37…Nd7 would have posed more problems with White very short of time, although the ending is objectively a draw with best play), White is lucky to have 40. Bf8+ after 38. dxc5+ Kxc5 39. Bxg7 e5, and after 39… Kb4 White draws the ending with rook pawn against knight by one tempo.”37…Nc638.dxc5+Kxc539.Bxg7Kb440.Bf8+
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40…Kxb341.Bxa3Kxa342.Kf4Kb443.g4Kc544.g5hxg5+45.Kxg5Ne546.h6Nf7+47.Kf6Nxh648.Kxe6½–½

This made the score 3-2 to Kingston. We couldn’t lose the match, but could we win? In the last game to finish Peter Lalić had gambited his e-pawn, but after an exchange of queens on d1 White was unable to castle, and when Peter won the minor exchange his bishops and rooks pressured White’s position (see diagram below).

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Here Martin Smith played
34.Be1enabling Peter to infiltrate with his rook34…Rd1After White’s reply35.Rf2Peter had a winning chance. Instead of the move he chose35…Ra1which leaves a level position, he should have played35…Bf5+36.Kc3Rc1+37.Kb2Rb1+38.Ka2Rdd139.c6+Kb640.Nd4Ra1+41.Kb2Rdb1+42.Kc3Rxa3+White’s defenders are hopelessly ill-coordinated and further material loss is inevitable.36.Rd2Ra2+37.Kc1Ra1+38.Kb2Ra2+39.Kc1Raxd240.Bxd2Rd741.Bc3Bb342.Re1Rd343.Kb2c644.Nd4Bd545.Kc2Rg346.Re2Bf847.e6
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Here Black can play 47…Rxg2 to prevent the e-pawn advancing, but under time pressure Peter played
47…Kc8and after48.e7Bxe749.Nf5Rxg250.Nxe7+Kd751.Rxg2Bxg2However, in another dramatic turnaround, with both players almost depending on the increment and their team-mates watching on, the Ealing player blundered his knight and Peter won the opposite-coloured bishop ending.52.Nf5Be4+53.Kd2Bxf554.Bg7h555.Bh6Bxh356.Bxg5Ke657.Ke3Kd558.Kf3Bg4+59.Kg3Ke460.Bc1Bd161.Kf2Kd362.Bg5Bg463.Ke1Kc20–1

Thus a tight match ended on a dramatic note, and Kingston had won 4-2. A significant victory against one of our main rivals.

David Rowson, Kingston A captain in the Thames Valley League

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    David, by profession a teacher of English and history, is Kingston first-team captain in the Thames Valley League

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