Alexander Cup semi-final played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 25 January 2024

Kingston, who have won the 10-board Alexander Cup – Surrey’s premier knockout competition – for the past two years and are bidding for a historic hat-trick have made it to the final, where they will face Wimbledon. But it was far from easy against a tough Coulsdon team, and with a quarter of an hour to go in the match a 5-5 tie and a decision by board count looked much more likely than the eventual 6-4 scoreline in favour of the home side.

Kingston were the stronger of the two teams in rating terms, but somehow it never felt like that. Indeed, there were long stretches of the evening where the play seemed to favour Coulsdon, who were an intriguing mix of talented juniors and canny veterans. Does no one aged between 20 and 70 play chess in south London?

The first games to finish were on boards 8, where Peter Andrews with White drew with Matt Darville, and 7, where Julian Way with Black drew with Olufemi George. Peter’s game, an English that turned into a kind of Amsterdam Attack, was short but very interesting, with the two players attacking on opposite sides of the board. It could have produced a dramatic and violent game, but with so much at stake they opted for peace in the position below, where White has a small edge but is anxious about his ragged pawn structure.

“At the end,” said Peter later, “I was worried about my e-pawn, thinking I would have to play Bc1 and Bd2 before castling. And I was worried about my h-pawn. I didn’t like e4 because of the hole on d4. But 19. e4 Nd4 20. Nxd4 exd4 21. Nd5 is good for White. I thought I was worse, and that he was offering a draw because of my rating and the situation on the clock. I was more than 20 minutes behind, having felt that I was under pressure when in fact I was never worse and was repeatedly missing chances to play d4 and be significantly better – a lesson I shall take away when playing this sort of position both as White and as Black.”

Julian Way’s opponent chose a sharp e4 opening and was looking to get on the front foot for most of their game, but Julian defended with characteristic skill and White was soon out of attacking ideas, pieces were liquidated and a draw was inevitable in this completely level position:

John Foley’s game on board 9 against Paul Jackson, who had beaten him in a recent league match at Coulsdon, also ended in a draw shortly afterwards. John, with Black, had gone a pawn down and in the position in which a draw was agreed (see below) White has a small edge, but he may have felt that Black’s bishop – faced with an array of tempting White squares – had more long-term potential than his own somewhat inhibited knight.

The first decisive blow was struck on board 10, and it was a moment of near despair for Kingston. Jon Eckert was playing confidently with White against Venerando Bermudez, who is modestly rated but clearly highly regarded by Coulsdon.

Jon had built up an excellent attacking position and the talk in the bar downstairs was of a guaranteed point for Kingston. This position was reached after White’s 35th move:

The next game to finish was Will Taylor’s, and the denouement was sudden owing to an unfortunate blunder by his opponent Nick Edwards, who had been playing very imaginatively with Black to this point. In this position Black has a slight edge, but disaster is lurking just around the corner.

Matches in amateur chess – perhaps much professional chess too – always hinge on blunders, but this sudden collapse levelled the scores and lifted the Kingston spirits. As Will Taylor said after the match: “If my opponent hadn’t blundered into a queen trap then anything could have happened, but I got away with it.” Will’s win was absolutely critical, and I couldn’t resist giving him a bear hug. Hope was reviving.

David Maycock looked to be in trouble on board 1 – a piece down with some degree of compensation in terms of his opponent’s tangled pieces, but surely not enough to offset the material deficit. But Peter Lalić and Vladimir Li were doing well, Silverio Abasolo’s game looked drawish, and Kingston debutant Luca Buanne on board 5 also looked solid, though his opponent had a substantial time advantage.

The results in the final five games – on boards 1 to 5 significantly – came thick and fast as we reached the last 20 minutes of the three-hour playing session. There is some dispute over who finished next, but I am going to plump for Peter, who appeared in the bar downstairs to celebrate his crucial victory with Black on board 4 against the youthful Timur Kuzhelev, a player he had done battle with in recent congresses. Peter is always so reliable in these vital cup games, and time pressure seems to bring out the best in him.

John Saunders, the distinguished chess journalist and commentator, who was kindly attending the match to take photographs, declared this the game of the match.

Peter Andrews summed up Peter’s performance in this game well afterwards. “Rxe5 was an unbelievable move to find over the board in a time scramble,” he said. “I was watching live at that point and my head hurt. What a pity Peter didn’t find 30. Be5, leaving the queen and rook where they can be captured unprotected and putting the bishop en prise as well. There would have been metaphorical gold coins on the board for that one.”

On board 5, Luca Buanne with Black was engaged in a tough struggle with Nasir Rizvi, who played the English (a favourite among Coulsdon players). Luca played the opening well and emerged with a small plus. Nasir temporarily gave up a pawn for rook activity, but soon got it back and had a slight advantage as time trouble loomed. There followed one of those rook endgames where, if you get an opportunity, it has to be taken and Nasir’s came in the position below:

The game on board 2 between Vladimir Li and the prodigy Supratit Banerjee was also drawn, but it was incident-packed. This was the position after Black’s 16th move:

As the game proceeded, Vladimir seemed to be getting the upper hand, and we had high hopes of netting the full point. But things soon went awry.

We calculated that if David lost on board 1 and Silverio drew on board 3, we would still win 12-11 on board count. Silverio kept his part of the bargain, drawing against the talented junior Balahari Bharat Kumar after a protracted, highly technical and very high-class struggle.

Balahari looked ready to repeat moves at one stage, but Silverio chose to keep the game going by playing 21…c4 in the position below to force an exchange of queens. Black had an edge for much of the game, but in the end Balahari was able to draw without undue alarm.

We believed we had won the match on board count, but David Maycock – aka “the Magician” – put it beyond all doubt by conjuring up a win against Mark Gray on board 1. This was the tactical sequence which had panicked the Kingston bar-flies in the early part of the game:

There were differing views among the spectators as to whether David had any compensation for the lost piece. Objectively, he probably doesn’t, but what a tangled web he weaves, especially with Mark’s rook and queen marooned away from the action. White’s decisive error came in this position:

A remarkable end to a remarkable night. Kingston had won 6-4; Coulsdon had played with great skill and determination; and the match – overseen by Kingston captain Ljubica Lazarevic, who is a qualified arbiter – was played in tremendous spirit. Coulsdon, with their posse of talented juniors, are rising fast, and we urgently needed this win because it won’t get any easier in the future. Now for Wimbledon in the final and the chance of a hat-trick of Alexander Cup wins for the first time in the club’s 150-year history.

Stephen Moss