Kingston B v Surbiton A, Thames Valley League division 2 match played at the Willoughby Arms, Kingston on 3 March 2025
This was an unexpected victory against a strong Surbiton B team. We suffered an early blow when Jon Eckert was forced to pull out half an hour before the start. That meant I had to play: a disaster at the best of times, but a complete catastrophe on this occasion because, up against the in-form Graham Alcock’s time-honoured Scandinavian on board 4, I hung a rook on move 10 and it went downhill from there. The game was over mercifully quickly.
I thought that would be decisive in terms of the match, but how wrong I was. On board 1 John Foley (pictured foreground, left, above) outfoxed old adversary Liam Bayly in a rook and pawn endgame, winning a pawn and forcing it home for victory. A few moments later came a crunch result – John Bussmann beating the dangerous Paul Dupré on board 2 to give Kingston a 2-1 advantage and suddenly convince me we could get something from the match.
John B played a very imaginative and powerful game which we pick up on move 17 with White, who has an edge, to play.
The other key turnround was on board 3, where Surbiton’s experienced captain Nick Faulks was playing Kingston newcomer Zubair Froogh. NIck had been well on top in the opening and middle game, with Zubair’s queenside rook and knight horribly restricted. But Zubair has great resilience, fought back, equalised and even had chances to win in the endgame. The game ended in a draw, which felt to me like a win after the early horror show, though Zubair – nothing if not a perfectionist – was bemoaning his failure to convert his endgame advantage late into the night.
On board 5, Froogh Senior was up against the doughty Andrew Boughen. It was a good scrap decided by a middlegame error by Andrew in the position below:
On board 6 Alicia Mason, who is having an excellent first season for the club, had White against another Surbiton stalwart, David Cole. Some neat tactical play by Alicia in the middlegame settled the issue.
Kingston had won 4.5-1.5 – a victory that took us back to the top of Thames Valley division 2. Well played to the team (with the exception of that dozy board 4). The win showed great fighting spirit and the team’s (if not my) confidence appears to be rising as we sustain a slightly surprising promotion push. Soon we might have to start asking the perennial question: could we cope with two teams in Thames Valley Div 1?
Stephen Moss, Kingston club captain
