Richmond B v Kingston B, Thames Valley League division 2 match played at the Adelaide pub Teddington on 3 June 2025
Richmond wanted to prove a point in this match – that their B team could live with our title-winning side – and they proved it emphatically, running out winners by 5.5-0.5. We are champions of the division, but we were humbled by this result – the second team’s first defeat of the season in its final match. Indeed, the club’s final match of the season. All that remains is the Thames Valley Knockout final away to Harrow on 19 June – a tough assignment.
Richmond B, under their determined and resourceful captain Alastair Armstrong, put out an extremely strong team, spearheaded by the 2200-plus Maxim Dunn. We competed for a large part of the evening, but in the end as time pressure kicked in – Richmond use a tight control of 65 minutes plus 10-second increment – we crumbled.
Peter Andrews, with White against Maxim on board 1, was level (indeed felt he was slightly better when Maxim rebuffed his draw offer), but was outmanoeuvred as time took its toll. “Maxim found a plan and I didn’t,” was Peter’s succinct summing up. The litany of our woes on the other boards is almost too painful to recount. On board 2 Will Taylor, with Black, had fought valiantly against the Richmond captain and had a draw for the taking, but he had to find the correct move in the position below:
Homayoon Froogh, with White against the durable Sampson Low on board 5 (the two are pictured above, with Homayoon on the left), also blundered in time trouble in a position that was probably winning, and John Foley let at least a draw slip with White against John Burke on board 3. This really wasn’t our night. Jon Eckert, Black on board 6, lost the exchange against Pablo Soriano, and the Richmond man was in the box seat thereafter, smoothly converting in a well-played game.
Zubair Froogh, with Black on board 4 against the accomplished John Bass, saved us from the humiliation of a whitewash, getting a draw to cap an excellent first season for the club. The arrival of father Homayoon and son Zubair at Kingston this season has been one reason why we have ended up as champions of division 2 (see the final division 2 table at the foot of this report). It has been a truly fantastic season for Kingston B, and once we get over the pain of this defeat we will celebrate winning the title in appropriate style. For the club to win both Thames Valley division 1 and 2 is a truly remarkable achievement and surely a first in Kingston’s history.
Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain
Final Thames Valley division 2 table
