Fifth Kingston Invitational (17–21 August 2026)

The fifth edition of the Kingston Invitational ran from Monday 17 to Friday 21 August at the Richard Mayo Centre, United Reformed Church, Eden Street, Kingston KT1 1HZ – home of the Kingston club. The tournament was a nine-round Fide-rated Swiss at a time control of 90 minutes + 30-second increment. The chief arbiter was Paul McKeown, supported by deputy chief arbiter Jack Hung and national arbiters Alexander Chmelev and Kai O’Neill.

The field comprised 77 players. The winner of the tournament received the Kingston Invitational Trophy and £500, with £250 to second and £100 to third. The leading junior (17 or under) received the Barden Cup (named in honour of long-time Guardian chess correspondent Leonard Barden) and £200. It had been agreed that there would be no play-off in the event of tied scores. Instead, the cash prize would be shared and the silverware awarded on the basis of a tie-break based on strength of opponents.

Stephen Moss, Kingston Chess Club captain

List of entrants [Fide rating in brackets]

Daniel Gormally [2393]
Adam A Taylor [2269]
Graeme Buckley [2262]
Jack Rudd [2252]
Thomas Villiers [2220]
Peter D Lalić [2208]
Alfie Onslow [2199]
Daniel Johnson [2194]
Danbe Luk [2187]
Menothuparambil Raju Sooraj [2187]
Henry Adams [2174]
Avyukt Dasgupta [2172]
Peter Finn [2165]
Mikhail Sedykh [2162]
Jai Kothari [2158]
David Okike [2158]
Pengxiao Zhu [2150]
Robert S Eames [2144]
Arya Cont [2143]
Alistair Hill [2143]
Peter G Large [2138]
Aayush Wadhwa [2117]
Michael W Healey [2112]
Richard J McMichael [2111]
Rock Yu [2105]
Mark Josse [2103]
Peter J Sowray [2093]
Robert F Willmoth [2090]
Zain Patel [2077]
Samuel A Walker [2075]
Sanjit S Kumar [2074]
Graham Keane [2068]
Raman Vashisht-Pigem [2053]
Noah Bevis [2035]
Zac Welling [2027]
Adrien Allorant [2026]
Saahil Bansal [2026]
Caspar J Bates [2020]
Philip J Horspool [2007]
Zoltan Kovacs [2007]
Keatan Patel [1999]
Balahari Bharat Kumar [1995]
Petr Vachtfeidl [1994]
Alan Scrimgour [1990]
Robin W Haldane [1982]
Jasper Tambini [1970]
Harvey Li [1967]
Alastair Armstrong [1964]
Yashwardhan Shankar [1955]
Yiwen Ding [1951]
James Stevenson [1951]
Gabriel Sherwood [1936]
Chris Fegan [1935]
Chris Rice [1920]
Sebastian Mokhber-Garcia [1918]
Mario Carrus [1911]
Anthony Hughes [1888]
Ananya Wadhwa [1887]
Carles Brugarolas Manzaneque [1884]
Isaac Lam [1884]
Yicheng Ding [1883]
Marcus Gosling [1882]
Teddy Onslow [1880]
Diego Anton Cordova-Lopez [1872]
Tim L Rogers [1871]
Maks Gajowniczek [1868]
Liam Clery [1866]
Xavier Cowan [1864]
Anixton Linton [1864]
Lev Razhnou [1855]
Om Reddy Jayar [1826]
Leo Kowalski Rubiales [1821]
Bobur Khakimov [1776]
Jonathan Eckert [1747]
Tom Mayers [1742]
Constantin Liesch [no current Fide rating]
Nicolas von Schlippe [no current Fide rating]

John Saunders’ reports

Chess journalist and photographer John Saunders did a brilliant daily blog of the event. The links are below. He once again perfectly summed up the atmosphere of the Invitational and annotated key games. Note that the dates at the top of John’s reports refer to the date he uploaded his blogs. John has also put all the games from the tournament on his brilliant BritBase website in an easily accessible and play-throughable form, preserved (we hope) in cyber-posterity for all time. Here are the links to John’s daily blogs from the tournament:

Day 1 – Monday 17 August

Opening ceremony and Round 1

Round 2

Day 2 – Tuesday 18 August

Round 3

Round 4

Day 3 – Wednesday 15 August

Round 5

Round 6

Day 4 – Thursday 16 August

Round 7

Round 8

Day 5 – Friday 17 August

Round 9

Results and final tournament table

The Invitational was won by Henry Adams – well done to Henry on a fantastic result. He scored 7.5/9, closely followed by IM Graeme Buckley (battling illness for the final few rounds but showing fierce determination) on 7/9 and GM Danny Gormally on 6.5/9. Seven players shared fourth place on 6/9.

The Barden Cup was won, for the second year in a row, by Jai Kothari. He tied with Rock Yu for first place and the prize money was shared, but Jai won the trophy itself on tie-break. Danbe Luk and Raman Vashisht-Pigem were joint third in the junior section.

The Chess Results link to the final table is here. These were the top 18 in the final table:

Best Game prize

John Saunders and the arbiters awarded the best game prize, jointly, to Avyukt Dasgupta and Raman Vashisht-Pigem. John explained the decisions on his blog: “We had a lot of fun sifting through the submissions, finally settling on a game that we both agreed was totally bonkers but hugely entertaining, played by two young men overflowing with youthful exuberance and imagination. Whether the game was sound or not … well, frankly, who cares. It was a lot of fun and played in the right spirit. Do play through it – there are 97(!) [or is it 98!?] moves to enjoy.”

A personal note

The event was only made possible by the hard work of chief arbiter Paul McKeown, deputy chief arbiter Jake Hung and national arbiters Alexander Chmelev and Kai O’Neill, supported brilliantly by Dominic Fogg, who oversaw logistics and provided daily sustenance for players and officials. John Saunders’ daily reports and evocative photographs added lustre to the event.

The wonderful Robin Haldane acted as a filler when we needed him, so that no one was forced to take a bye. Many thanks to Robin. the nicest man in chess, an inspiration to me and a terrific and highly creative player in his own right, always flirting with time trouble in his pursuit of the perfect move.

I must also thank John Foley, honorary president of Kingston Chess Club, for giving support on many fronts, and the mayor of Kingston, Councillor Thay Thayalan, for opening the event with a ceremonial first move that made the players on top board in round 1– GM Danny Gormally (with Black) and Philip Horspool – laugh (see John’s photograph at the top of the report).

Thanks also to Catherine Treweek and her colleagues at the United Reformed Church/Richard Mayo Centre in central Kingston for hosting us, and to the staff of the nearby All Saints Church for allowing us to use space there for lunchtime game analysis.

Stephen Moss, Kingston Invitational tournament director

A selection of John Saunders’ photographs from the Kingston Invitational

A general shot of the playing hall at Kingston’s United Reformed Church as the players begin a round
American visitor Aayush Wadhwa enjoyed an excellent tournament
Despite feeling unwell in the latter part of the tournament, IM Graeme Buckley secured second place with fighting play
Peter Lalić courted controversy in the first round with an inordinately long game against Alan Scrimgour
IM Jack Rudd as usual played at supersonic speed and recovered well from a shock first-round reverse
Adam Taylor (right) faces Sanjit S Kumar in the third round. The game was drawn
Nicholas von Schlippe returned to tournament action after a gap of 30 years and lasted the course well
Alfie Onslow (left) faces Michael Healey in round 3. Onslow won with White, but both had good tournaments
Mikhail Sedykh performed strongly to come joint fourth with a tournament performance rating of 2287
Arya Cont also enjoyed a good tournament, scoring 5.5/9 and adding 13 Fide rating points
Veteran FM Peter Sowray had a terrific tournement. also scoring 5.5/9 and gaining 34 rating points
Henry Adams unexpectedly took the title with a magnificent 7.5/9 to make him the clear winner
Former Tiffin student Isaac Lam had a wonderful week, scoring 6/9 and adding no fewer than 125 rating points
Ananya Wadhwa, sister of Aayush, played solidly to record 5/9 and make a small rating gain
Rob Willmoth, in one of his trademark stylish (and invariably loud) shirts, made a welcome return to Kingston
Young Tom Mayers, a newcomer at Kingston Chess Club, played in his first Invitational and certainly looked the part
Jai Kothari once again had a superb week and won the Barden Cup for the second year in a row
Swedish player Daniel Johnson was leading for much of the tournament, but faltered late on to finish joint fourth
Peter Finn, who was undefeated during the tournament, was another of the posse of seven players to finish in joint fourth
Tournament favourite, GM Daniel Gormally, was also undefeated, but too many draws with Black meant he only came third
IM Peter Large, one of only three players to have played in all five Kingston Invitationals, showed his usual determination
Rock Yu had a terrific tournament, coming joint first with Jai Kothari in the Barden Cup but losing out on tie-break
Michael Healey, another of the Invitational ever-presents (with Peters Large and Lalić) smiles sweetly for the camera
Twelve-year-old Harvey Li performed well. The following week, at Mindsports, he did even better and is an emerging star
Gabriel Sherwood had a fabulous tournament, scoring 5/9 and adding more than 100 Fide rating points
The tournament first and second, Henry Adams (right) and Graeme Buckley, face off in their crucial drawn round 8 game
The tournament honoured the memory of Richmond player Peter Kasprowicz, who tragically died earlier this year
Chief arbiter Paul McKeown flanked by Alexander Chmelev (left) and Kai O’Neill, both holding their arbiter norm certificates
Kingston president John Foley (centre) hands the cheque for Best Game to Avyukt Dasgupta (left) and Raman Vashisht-Pigem
President Foley gives the prize for joint third in the junior section to Danbe Luk (left) and Raman Vashisht-Pigem
That man Foley hands joint first prize in the junior section to Rock Yu (left) and Jai Kothari
Jai Kothari, who pipped Rock Yu on tie-break, wins the Barden Cup for the second year in succession
Henry Adams, seeded 11th in the tournament, holds up the Kingston Invitational Trophy at the end of a glorious week